Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              <s>
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              had betaken themselves to flight, he was asked by one, why he carried
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              away none of his goods with him, and he replied, “I carry all my possessions
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              with me.” And it is said that Socrates, having received twenty minae sent
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              to him by Aristippus, a grateful disciple, refused them and sent them back to
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              him by the command of his conscience. </s>
              <s>Aristippus, following his example
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              in this matter, despised gold and regarded it as of no value. </s>
              <s>And once
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              when he was making a journey with his slaves, and they, laden with the
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              gold, went too slowly, he ordered them to keep only as much of it as they
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              could carry without distress and to throw away the remainder
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              16
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              . </s>
              <s>Moreover,
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              Anacreon of Teos, an ancient and noble poet, because he had been troubled
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              about them for two nights, returned five talents which had been given him
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              by Polycrates, saying that they were not worth the anxiety which he had
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              gone through on their account. </s>
              <s>In like manner celebrated and exceedingly
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              powerful princes have imitated the philosophers in their scorn and contempt
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              for gold and silver. </s>
              <s>There was for example, Phocion, the Athenian, who was
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              appointed general of the army so many times, and who, when a large sum of gold
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              was sent to him as a gift by Alexander, King of Macedon, deemed it trifling and
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              scorned it. </s>
              <s>And Marcus Curius ordered the gold to be carried back to the
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              Samnites, as did also Fabricius Luscinus with regard to the silver and
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              copper. </s>
              <s>And certain Republics have forbidden their citizens the use and
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              employment of gold and silver by law and ordinance; the Lacedaemonians,
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              by the decrees and ordinances of Lycurgus, used diligently to enquire among
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              their citizens whether they possessed any of these things or not, and the
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              possessor, when he was caught, was punished according to law and justice.
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              </s>
              <s>The inhabitants of a town on the Tigris, called Babytace, buried their gold
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              in the ground so that no one should use it. </s>
              <s>The Scythians condemned the
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              use of gold and silver so that they might not become avaricious.</s>
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              <s>Further are the metals reviled; in the first place people wantonly
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              abuse gold and silver and call them deadly and nefarious pests of the human
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              race, because those who possess them are in the greatest peril, for those who
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              have none lay snares for the possessors of wealth, and thus again and again
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              the metals have been the cause of destruction and ruin. </s>
              <s>For example,
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              Polymnestor, King of Thrace, to obtain possession of his gold, killed Polydorus,
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              his noble guest and the son of Priam, his father-in-law, and old friend.
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              </s>
              <s>Pygmalion, the King of Tyre, in order that he might seize treasures of gold
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              and silver, killed his sister's husband, a priest, taking no account of either
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              kinship or religion. </s>
              <s>For love of gold Eriphyle betrayed her husband
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              Amphiaraus to his enemy. </s>
              <s>Likewise Lasthenes betrayed the city of
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              Olynthus to Philip of Macedon. </s>
              <s>The daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, having
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              been bribed with gold, admitted the Sabines into the citadel of Rome.
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              </s>
              <s>Claudius Curio sold his country for gold to Cæsar, the Dictator. </s>
              <s>Gold, too,
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              was the cause of the downfall of Aesculapius, the great physician, who it was
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              believed was the son of Apollo. </s>
              <s>Similarly Marcus Crassus, through his
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              eager desire for the gold of the Parthians, was completely overcome together
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              with his son and eleven legions, and became the jest of his enemies; for they </s>
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