Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              <s>
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              of wood without the aid of iron? </s>
              <s>The cloth or web must be cut into lengths
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              for the tailor. </s>
              <s>Can this be done without knife or scissors? </s>
              <s>Can the tailor
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              sew together any garments without a needle? </s>
              <s>Even peoples dwelling beyond
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              the seas cannot make a covering for their bodies, fashioned of feathers,
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              without these same implements. </s>
              <s>Neither can the furriers do without them
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              in sewing together the pelts of any kind of animals. </s>
              <s>The shoemaker needs
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              a knife to cut the leather, another to scrape it, and an awl to perforate it
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              before he can make shoes. </s>
              <s>These coverings for the body are either woven
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              or stitched. </s>
              <s>Buildings too, which protect the same body from rain, wind,
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              cold, and heat, are not constructed without axes, saws, and augers.</s>
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              <s>But what need of more words? </s>
              <s>If we remove metals from the service
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              of man, all methods of protecting and sustaining health and more care­
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              fully preserving the course of life are done away with. </s>
              <s>If there were no
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              metals, men would pass a horrible and wretched existence in the midst of
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              wild beasts; they would return to the acorns and fruits and berries of the
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              forest. </s>
              <s>They would feed upon the herbs and roots which they plucked up
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              with their nails. </s>
              <s>They would dig out caves in which to lie down at night,
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              and by day they would rove in the woods and plains at random like beasts,
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              and inasmuch as this condition is utterly unworthy of humanity, with its
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              splendid and glorious natural endowment, will anyone be so foolish or
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              obstinate as not to allow that metals are necessary for food and clothing and
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              that they tend to preserve life?</s>
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              <s>Moreover, as the miners dig almost exclusively in mountains otherwise
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              unproductive, and in valleys invested in gloom, they do either slight damage
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              to the fields or none at all. </s>
              <s>Lastly, where woods and glades are cut down,
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              they may be sown with grain after they have been cleared from the roots of
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              shrubs and trees. </s>
              <s>These new fields soon produce rich crops, so that they repair
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              the losses which the inhabitants suffer from increased cost of timber. </s>
              <s>More­
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              over, with the metals which are melted from the ore, birds without number,
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              edible beasts and fish can be purchased elsewhere and brought to these
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              mountainous regions.</s>
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              <s>I will pass to the illustrations I have mentioned. </s>
              <s>Bias of Priene, when his
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              country was taken, carried away out of the city none of his valuables. </s>
              <s>So
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              strong a man with such a reputation for wisdom had no need to fear personal
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              danger from the enemy, but this in truth cannot be said of him because he
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              hastily took to flight; the throwing away of his goods does not seem to me
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              so great a matter, for he had lost his house, his estates, and even his country,
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              than which nothing is more precious. </s>
              <s>Nay, I should be convinced of Bias's
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              contempt and scorn for possessions of this kind, if before his country was
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              captured he had bestowed them freely on relations and friends, or had
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              distributed them to the very poor, for this he could have done freely and
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              without question. </s>
              <s>Whereas his conduct, which the Greeks admire so
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              greatly, was due, it would seem, to his being driven out by the enemy and
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              stricken with fear. </s>
              <s>Socrates in truth did not despise gold, but would not
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              accept money for his teaching. </s>
              <s>As for Aristippus of Cyrene, if he had gath­
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              ered and saved the gold which he ordered his slaves to throw away, he might </s>
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