Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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poured liquid gold into the gaping mouth of the slain Crassus, saying:
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“Thou hast thirsted for gold, therefore drink gold.”</
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<
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>But why need I cite here these many examples from history?
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17
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It is
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almost our daily experience to learn that, for the sake of obtaining gold and
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silver, doors are burst open, walls are pierced, wretched travellers are struck
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down by rapacious and cruel men born to theft, sacrilege, invasion, and
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robbery. </
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<
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>We see thieves seized and strung up before us, sacrilegious persons
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burnt alive, the limbs of robbers broken on the wheel, wars waged for the
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same reason, which are not only destructive to those against whom they are
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waged, but to those also who carry them on. </
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<
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>Nay, but they say that the
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precious metals foster all manner of vice, such as the seduction of women,
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adultery, and unchastity, in short, crimes of violence against the person.
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<
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>Therefore the Poets, when they represent Jove transformed into a golden
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shower and falling into the lap of Danae, merely mean that he had found
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for himself a safe road by the use of gold, by which he might enter the tower
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for the purpose of violating the maiden. </
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<
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>Moreover, the fidelity of many
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men is overthrown by the love of gold and silver, judicial sentences are
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bought, and innumerable crimes are perpetrated. </
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<
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>For truly, as Propertius
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says:</
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<
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>“This is indeed the Golden Age. </
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>The greatest rewards come from
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gold; by gold love is won; by gold is faith destroyed; by gold is justice
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bought; the law follows the track of gold, while modesty will soon
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follow it when law is gone.”</
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<
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>Diphilus says:</
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<
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>“I consider that nothing is more powerful than gold. </
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<
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>By it all
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things are torn asunder; all things are accomplished.”</
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<
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>Therefore, all the noblest and best despise these riches, deservedly and
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with justice, and esteem them as nothing. </
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<
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>And this is said by the old man
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in Plautus:</
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<
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>“I hate gold. </
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>It has often impelled many people to many wrong
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acts.”</
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<
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>In this country too, the poets inveigh with stinging reproaches against money
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coined from gold and silver. </
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<
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>And especially did Juvenal:</
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<
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>“Since the majesty of wealth is the most sacred thing among us;
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although, O pernicious money, thou dost not yet inhabit a temple, nor
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have we erected altars to money.”</
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<
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>And in another place:</
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<
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>“Demoralising money first introduced foreign customs, and
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voluptuous wealth weakened our race with disgraceful luxury.”
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18
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<
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>And very many vehemently praise the barter system which men used before
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money was devised, and which even now obtains among certain simple
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peoples.</
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<
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>And next they raise a great outcry against other metals, as iron, than
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