Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

Page concordance

< >
Scan Original
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
< >
page |< < of 679 > >|
    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="xxxi"/>
              not read or heard of from persons upon whom I can rely. </s>
              <s>That which I have
                <lb/>
              neither seen, nor carefully considered after reading or hearing of, I have not
                <lb/>
              written about. </s>
              <s>The same rule must be understood with regard to all my in­
                <lb/>
              struction, whether I enjoin things which ought to be done, or describe things
                <lb/>
              which are usual, or condemn things which are done. </s>
              <s>Since the art of mining
                <lb/>
              does not lend itself to elegant language, these books of mine are correspond­
                <lb/>
              ingly lacking in refinement of style. </s>
              <s>The things dealt with in this art of
                <lb/>
              metals sometimes lack names, either because they are new, or because, even
                <lb/>
              if they are old, the record of the names by which they were formerly known
                <lb/>
              has been lost. </s>
              <s>For this reason I have been forced by a necessity, for which I
                <lb/>
              must be pardoned, to describe some of them by a number of words combined,
                <lb/>
              and to distinguish others by new names,—to which latter class belong
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Ingestor,
                <lb/>
              Discretor, Lotor,
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              and
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Excoctor.
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
                <emph type="sup"/>
              13
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              Other things, again, I have alluded to by old
                <lb/>
              names, such as the
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Cisium;
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              for when Nonius Marcellus wrote,
                <emph type="sup"/>
              14
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              this was
                <lb/>
              the name of a two-wheeled vehicle, but I have adopted it for a small vehicle
                <lb/>
              which has only one wheel; and if anyone does not approve of these names,
                <lb/>
              let him either find more appropriate ones for these things, or discover the
                <lb/>
              words used in the writings of the Ancients.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>These books, most illustrious Princes, are dedicated to you for many
                <lb/>
              reasons, and, above all others, because metals have proved of the greatest
                <lb/>
              value to you; for though your ancestors drew rich profits from the revenues
                <lb/>
              of their vast and wealthy territories, and likewise from the taxes which were
                <lb/>
              paid by the foreigners by way of toll and by the natives by way of tithes, yet
                <lb/>
              they drew far richer profits from the mines. </s>
              <s>Because of the mines not a few
                <lb/>
              towns have risen into eminence, such as Freiberg, Annaberg, Marienberg,
                <lb/>
              Schneeberg, Geyer, and Altenberg, not to mention others. </s>
              <s>Nay, if I under­
                <lb/>
              stand anything, greater wealth now lies hidden beneath the ground in the
                <lb/>
              mountainous parts of your territory than is visible and apparent above
                <lb/>
              ground. </s>
              <s>Farewell.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Chemnitz, Saxony,
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              December First,
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              1550.
                <lb/>
              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
Impressum