Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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>TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS
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AND MOST MIGHTY DUKES OF
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Saxony, Landgraves of Thuringia, Margraves of Meissen,
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Imperial Overlords of Saxony, Burgraves of Altenberg
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and Magdeburg, Counts of Brena, Lords of
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Pleissnerland, To MAURICE Grand Marshall
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and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire
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and to his brother AUGUSTUS,
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<
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>GEORGE AGRICOLA S. D.</
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>Most illustrious Princes, often have I considered
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the metallic arts as a whole, as Moderatus Columella
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considered the agricultural arts, just as if I
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had been considering the whole of the human
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body; and when I had perceived the various parts
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of the subject, like so many members of the body,
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I became afraid that I might die before I should
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understand its full extent, much less before I
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could immortalise it in writing. </
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>This book
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itself indicates the length and breadth of the subject, and the number
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and importance of the sciences of which at least some little knowledge
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is necessary to miners. </
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>Indeed, the subject of mining is a very extenÂ
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sive one, and one very difficult to explain; no part of it is fully dealt
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with by the Greek and Latin authors whose works survive; and since
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the art is one of the most ancient, the most necessary and the most profitable
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to mankind, I considered that I ought not to neglect it. </
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>Without doubt,
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none of the arts is older than agriculture, but that of the metals is not
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less ancient; in fact they are at least equal and coeval, for no mortal man ever
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tilled a field without implements. </
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>In truth, in all the works of agriculÂ
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ture, as in the other arts, implements are used which are made from metals,
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or which could not be made without the use of metals; for this reason
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the metals are of the greatest necessity to man. </
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>When an art is so poor that
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it lacks metals, it is not of much importance, for nothing is made without
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tools. </
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>Besides, of all ways whereby great wealth is acquired by good and
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honest means, none is more advantageous than mining; for although from
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fields which are well tilled (not to mention other things) we derive rich yields,
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yet we obtain richer products from mines; in fact, one mine is often much
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more beneficial to us than many fields. </
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<
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>For this reason we learn from the
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history of nearly all ages that very many men have been made rich by the
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