deal with me, as you are wont to deal with all, and read this book
and conceal its imperfections with the exercise of your toleration
and gentleness. For you are so richly endowed with these and other
virtues--which, through the divine power, cause lofty things not to
keep aloof from humble ones; and which, in addition to your own natural
greatness, have placed your Excellency in your present office for the
good of these realms, where you reward and favor the good, and correct
and check the opposite. In such rule consists the welfare of the state;
and this made the ancient philosopher, Democritus, say that reward and
punishment were true gods. In order to enjoy this happiness, we need
not crave any bygone time, but, contenting ourselves with the present,
pray that God may preserve your Excellency to us for many years.

DON ANTONIO DE MORGA [2]

To the reader [3]

The greatness of the monarchy of the Spanish kings is due to the zeal
and care with which they have defended, within their own hereditary
kingdoms, the holy Catholic faith taught by the Roman church, against
all enemies who oppose it, or seek by various errors to obscure its
truth which the kings have disseminated throughout the world. Thus,
by the mercy of God, they preserve their kingdoms and subjects in
the purity of the Christian religion, meriting thereby their glorious
title and renown of "Defenders of the Faith." Moreover, by the valor
of their indomitable hearts, and at the expense of their revenues and
possessions, they have ploughed the seas with Spanish fleets and men,
and discovered and conquered vast kingdoms in the most remote and
unknown parts of the world. They have led the inhabitants of these
regions to a knowledge of the true God, and into the fold of the