Card V-1: NICOLAUS COPERNICUS – Although there are countless scourges by which kingdoms … decline, these four are in my judgment the most serious: discord, mortality, barren soil and the debasement of the coinage.

Series V · Card 1 of 21 · THE MINE

Although there are countless scourges by which kingdoms … decline, these four are in my judgment the most serious: discord, mortality, barren soil and the debasement of the coinage.

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS · MONETE CUDENDE RATIO · 1526

Original (Latin)

Quanquam innumere pestes sunt, quibus regna … decrescere solent, hec tamen quattuor (meo iudicio) potissima sunt: discordia, mortalitas, terre sterilitas et monete vilitas.

Translation: Benedikt Stafflinger

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Source

“Monete cudende ratio” (1526), opening sentence (abridged)

Open source · la.wikisource.org ↗

About the author

Astronomer, physician and canon in Warmia (1473–1543). Founded the heliocentric view of the cosmos and in 1526 wrote a treatise on currency debasement that anticipated Gresham’s law.

The question on the back

How often do you notice your money getting weaker in everyday life?