Make no mistake it is through this planetary dialogue, through these cosmic hieroglyphics in the sky, that God speaks to us and daily reveals His Will. Since before the dawn of time, He has shown His Truth to the humble, to the shepherds — a truth that is hidden from the vain, who are blinded by worldly pleasures, but which is written in the skies, which nightly speaks of the Glory of God.

He is wise who understands that the stars are luminaries, created as signs, and it is he who will conquer the stars that hold God's mysterious keys of the Universe. In this research into the architecture of the Universe, one can only triumph over nature by obeying it. If you understand this, you will also know that events that are destined to come about can be predicted through the stars, the celestial lights of the night, and through the spirit of prophecy, which can only be acquired with Divine Inspiration.

If I express myself somewhat obscurely, it is because I wish to withhold my words from common understanding. Thereby sparing those who are ill equipped to face what the future may bring in upheavals of religion or leadership. I deliberately chose nebulous and complex sentences to describe future events, even the most dramatic, to avoid infringing upon man's fragile capacity to hear, as all things happen according to the laws of destiny. If a mortal could comprehend the law of cause and effect, and understand the cause of the future, he would then be able to foresee what will happen to him or to others. Future events never occur in isolation, spontaneously; they always follow from what has been before, as a cable that is constantly unrolling, in a continuous repetition of the same events — this is the knowledge of those who devote themselves to divining, and to the observation of the stars and signs. So, I have written these books (Prophecies), each one composed of 100 quatrains of prophecies based on Astronomy and Astrology, which I have purposely rendered obscure, dating from the present time to the year 3797.

In every part of the world, in every circumstance, I took nourishment from what the world had to offer, and my food, in turn, bore these fruits. Through the knowledge of medicine, I tried to relieve human suffering where it cried out. Through the knowledge of Astrology and through the advice I was able to give, I fed my children and compiled almanacs to provide for their needs. For what I have received from my colleagues and apothecaries who opened their stores and secrets to me,* I leave this treatise on different powders and balms for the beauty of skin and face, and also ways of making various jams, beneficial to those desirous of a healthy body, and to those who collect recipes of excellence.

For what the scholars of old have shown us, that words and reason are the source of the greatest of all gifts, art and philosophy, I leave this translation of Galena's "paraphrase" of the exhortation of Menedotus, as well as this study of the hieroglyphics of Orus Apollo, son of Osiris, King of Egypt, which I dedicate to the Princess of Navarre in gratitude for the hospitality and protection she has offered to so many great and erudite men.

Finally, for what life has taught me, I leave these ten Centuries, which were published in Lyon, as were my other works, because that city did so much, with so many, an honest bookstore, to spread knowledge and learning for posterity. These Centuries were born out of my nocturnal prophetic calculations, and from an instinctive nature, when seated near the bronze tripod, like the Delphi Oracle, God's messengers of fire came to me, and with the gift of judicious Astrology, I could foresee the moments and hours of events.

Events of human origin are not certain, but everything is ordered and governed by the incalculable power of God, inspiring in us not through drunken fury, nor by frantic movement, but through the influences of the stars. Only those divinely inspired can predict particular things in a prophetic spirit. For a long time I have been making many predictions, far in advance, of events that have since come to pass, naming the particular place. I attribute all this to divine power and inspiration.

Pronounced events, both happy and sad, have come to pass within the 'climate' of the world with increasing promptness: However, because of the possibility of harm, not just for the present but also most of the future, I became willing to remain silent and refrain from putting them into writing. Because the reigns, sects, and religions will make changes so diametrically opposite, that, if I came to reveal what will happen in the future, the great ones of the above reigns, sects, religions, and faiths would find it so badly in accord with what their fantasy wishes to hear that they would damn that which future centuries will know and see to be true. As the true Savior said, "give not that which is holy unto dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and rend you." This has been the cause of my withholding my tongue from the populace and my pen from paper.