Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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21
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finally, the mine foreman may conceal the vein by plastering over with
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clay that part where the metal abounds, or by covering it with earth,
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stones, stakes, or poles, in the hope that after several years the pro
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prietors, thinking the mine exhausted, will abandon it, and the foreman
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can then excavate that remainder of the ore and keep it for himself.
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</
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<
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>They even state that the scum of the miners exist wholly by fraud,
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deceit, and lying. </
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<
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>For to speak of nothing else, but only of those
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deceits which are practised in buying and selling, it is said they either
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advertise the veins with false and imaginary praises, so that they can
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sell the shares in the mines at one-half more than they are worth, or
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on the contrary, they sometimes detract from the estimate of them so
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that they can buy shares for a small price. </
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<
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>By exposing such frauds our
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critics suppose all good opinion of miners is lost. </
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<
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>Now, all wealth,
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whether it has been gained by good or evil means, is liable by some adverse
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chance to vanish away. </
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<
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>It decays and is dissipated by the fault and care
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lessness of the owner, since he loses it through laziness and neglect, or
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wastes and squanders it in luxuries, or he consumes and exhausts it in gifts,
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or he dissipates and throws it away in gambling:</
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<
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>“Just as though money sprouted up again, renewed from an exhausted
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coffer, and was always to be obtained from a full heap.”</
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<
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>It is therefore not to be wondered at if miners do not keep in mind the
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counsel given by King Agathocles: “Unexpected fortune should be held
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in reverence,” for by not doing so they fall into penury; and particularly
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when the miners are not content with moderate riches, they not rarely spend
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on new mines what they have accumulated from others. </
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<
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>But no just ruler
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or magistrate deprives owners of their possessions; that, however, may be
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done by a tyrant, who may cruelly rob his subjects not only of their goods
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honestly obtained, but even of life itself. </
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<
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>And yet whenever I have inquired
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into the complaints which are in common vogue, I always find that the
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owners who are abused have the best of reasons for driving the men from
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the mines; while those who abuse the owners have no reason to complain
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about them. </
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<
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>Take the case of those who, not having paid their contributions,
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have lost the right of possession, or those who have been expelled by the magis
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trate out of another man's mine: for some wicked men, mining the small
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veins branching from the veins rich in metal, are wont to invade the property
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of another person. </
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<
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>So the magistrate expels these men accused of wrong,
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and drives them from the mine. </
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<
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>They then very frequently spread
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unpleasant rumours concerning this amongst the populace. </
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<
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>Or, to take
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another case: when, as often happens, a dispute arises between neighbours,
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arbitrators appointed by the magistrate settle it, or the regular judges
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investigate and give judgment. </
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<
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>Consequently, when the judgment is given,
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inasmuch as each party has consented to submit to it, neither side should
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complain of injustice; and when the controversy is adjudged, inasmuch as
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the decision is in accordance with the laws concerning mining, one of the
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parties cannot be injured by the law. </
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<
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>I do not vigorously contest the point,
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that at times a mine superintendent may exact a larger contribution </
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