Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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from the owners than necessity demands. </
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>Nay, I will admit that a for
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man may plaster over, or hide with a structure, a vein where it is rich i
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metals. </
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>Is the wickedness of one or two to brand the many honest wit
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fraud and trickery? </
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>What body is supposed to be more pious and virtuou
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in the Republic than the Senate? </
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>Yet some Senators have been detecte
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in peculations, and have been punished. </
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>Is this any reason that so honour
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able a house should lose its good name and fame? </
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>The superintenden
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cannot exact contributions from the owners without the knowledge an
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permission of the Bergmeister or the deputies; for this reason decep
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tion of this kind is impossible. </
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>Should the foremen be convicted o
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fraud, they are beaten with rods; or of theft, they are hanged. </
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>I
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is complained that some sellers and buyers of the shares in mines ar
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fraudulent. </
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>I concede it. </
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>But can they deceive anyone except a stupid
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careless man, unskilled in mining matters? </
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>Indeed, a wise and pruden
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man, skilled in this art, if he doubts the trustworthiness of a seller o
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buyer, goes at once to the mine that he may for himself examine the vei
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which has been so greatly praised or disparaged, and may consider whethe
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he will buy or sell the shares or not. </
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>But people say, though such an on
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can be on his guard against fraud, yet a simple man and one who is easil
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credulous, is deceived. </
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>But we frequently see a man who is trying to mislea
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another in this way deceive himself, and deservedly become a laughing
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stock for everyone; or very often the defrauder as well as the dupe i
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entirely ignorant of mining. </
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>If, for instance, a vein has been found to b
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abundant in ore, contrary to the idea of the would-be deceiver, then he wh
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was to have been cheated gets a profit, and he who has been the deceive
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loses. </
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>Nevertheless, the miners themselves rarely buy or sell shares, bu
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generally they have
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jurati venditores
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who buy and sell at such prices as the
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have been instructed to give or accept. </
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<
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>Seeing therefore, that magistrate
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decide disputes on fair and just principles, that honest men deceive nobody
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while a dishonest one cannot deceive easily, or if he does he cannot do s
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with impunity, the criticism of those who wish to disparage the honesty
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miners has therefore no force or weight.</
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<
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>In the next place, the occupation of the miner is objectionable t
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nobody. </
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>For who, unless he be naturally malevolent and envious, wi
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hate the man who gains wealth as it were from heaven? </
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>Or who will hat
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a man who to amplify his fortune, adopts a method which is free fro
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reproach? </
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>A moneylender, if he demands an excessive interest, incurs th
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hatred of men. </
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>If he demands a moderate and lawful rate, so that he is n
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injurious to the public generally and does not impoverish them, he fails t
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become very rich from his business. </
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>Further, the gain derived from minin
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is not sordid, for how can it be such, seeing that it is so great, so plentifu
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and of so innocent a nature. </
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<
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>A merchant's profits are mean and base whe
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he sells counterfeit and spurious merchandise, or puts far too high a pri
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on goods that he has purchased for little; for this reason the mercha
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