Agostino Steucho, a Vatican librarian in the mid-16th century, presented Pope Paul III with this copy of his elaborate treatise "On the Perennial Philosophy."
He argued, on the basis of copious evidence exhaustively examined, that the best Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, the ancient Chaldean sages, and the sibyls had all concurred in teaching the central importance of piety and worship. He illustrated this "perennial philosophy" with what he described as "flowers picked from all of philosophy that give off the scent of divinity" and presented this handsome copy of his text to a pope whose concern for the buildings and libraries of Rome he warmly praised.
