(1) This larger context is the proem , or introductory poem, which prefaced the invocation.

(2) The proem to the Ode ‘On the Morning of Christ's Nativity’ describes the poem as both a ‘hymn’ and a ‘humble ode.’

(3) In the first five lines, however, Archytas provides a proem on the value of the sciences (mathêmata) in general.

(4) ‘The Hymn’ that follows the proem presents an array of conflicting, powerful voices, whether divine, human, natural, bestial, or demonic.

(5) The book's epigraph-like proem is a hint of what's to come.