Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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although these attacks against gold and silver may be directed especially
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against money, yet inasmuch as the Poets one after another condemn it,
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their criticism must be met, and this can be done by one argument alone.
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<
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>Money is good for those who use it well; it brings loss and evil to those who
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use it ill. </
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<
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>Hence, very rightly, Horace says:</
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<
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>“Dost thou not know the value of money; and what uses it serves?</
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<
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>It buys bread, vegetables, and a pint of wine.”</
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<
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>And again in another place:</
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<
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>“Wealth hoarded up is the master or slave of each possessor; it
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should follow rather than lead, the ‘twisted rope.’ ”
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23
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<
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>When ingenious and clever men considered carefully the system of barter,
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which ignorant men of old employed and which even to-day is used by
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certain uncivilised and barbarous races, it appeared to them so troublesome
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and laborious that they invented money. </
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<
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>Indeed, nothing more useful
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could have been devised, because a small amount of gold and silver is of as
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great value as things cumbrous and heavy; and so peoples far distant from one
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another can, by the use of money, trade very easily in those things which
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civilised life can scarcely do without.</
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>The curses which are uttered against iron, copper, and lead have no
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weight with prudent and sensible men, because if these metals were done
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away with, men, as their anger swelled and their fury became unbridled,
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would assuredly fight like wild beasts with fists, heels, nails, and teeth.
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<
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>They would strike each other with sticks, hit one another with stones, or
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dash their foes to the ground. </
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<
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>Moreover, a man does not kill another with
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iron alone, but slays by means of poison, starvation, or thirst. </
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<
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>He may
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seize him by the throat and strangle him; he may bury him alive in the
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ground; he may immerse him in water and suffocate him; he may burn
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or hang him; so that he can make every element a participant in the death
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of men. </
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<
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>Or, finally, a man may be thrown to the wild beasts. </
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<
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>Another
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may be sewn up wholly except his head in a sack, and thus be left to be
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devoured by worms; or he may be immersed in water until he is torn to
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pieces by sea-serpents. </
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<
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>A man may be boiled in oil; he may be greased,
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tied with ropes, and left exposed to be stung by flies and hornets; he may
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be put to death by scourging with rods or beating with cudgels, or struck
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down by stoning, or flung from a high place. </
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<
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>Furthermore, a man
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may be tortured in more ways than one without the use of metals; as when
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the executioner burns the groins and armpits of his victim with hot wax;
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or places a cloth in his mouth gradually, so that when in breathing he
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draws it slowly into his gullet, the executioner draws it back suddenly and
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violently; or the victim's hands are fastened behind his back, and he is
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drawn up little by little with a rope and then let down suddenly. </
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<
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>Or
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similarly, he may be tied to a beam and a heavy stone fastened by a
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cord to his feet, or finally his limbs may be torn asunder. </
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<
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>From these
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examples we see that it is not metals that are to be condemned, but our
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vices, such as anger, cruelty, discord, passion for power, avarice, and lust.</
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