Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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BOOK II.
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<
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>Qualities which the perfect miner should possess
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and the arguments which are urged for and against
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the arts of mining and metallurgy, as well
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as the people occupied in the industry, I
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have sufficiently discussed in the first Book. </
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<
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>Now
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I have determined to give more ample information
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concerning the miners.</
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>In the first place, it is indispensable that they
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should worship God with reverence, and that they
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understand the matters of which I am going to speak, and that they
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take good care that each individual performs his duties efficiently and
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diligently. </
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>It is decreed by Divine Providence that those who know
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what they ought to do and then take care to do it properly, for the
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most part meet with good fortune in all they undertake; on the other
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hand, misfortune overtakes the indolent and those who are careless in
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their work. </
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<
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>No person indeed can, without great and sustained effort and
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labour, store in his mind the knowledge of every portion of the metallic
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arts which are involved in operating mines. </
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<
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>If a man has the means
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of paying the necessary expense, he hires as many men as he needs, and
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sends them to the various works. </
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<
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>Thus formerly Sosias, the Thracian, sent
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into the silver mines a thousand slaves whom he had hired from the Athenian
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Nicias, the son of Niceratus
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1
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. </
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<
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>But if a man cannot afford the expenditure
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he chooses of the various kinds of mining that work which he himself can
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most easily and efficiently do. </
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<
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>Of these kinds, the two most important
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are the making prospect trenches and the washing of the sands of rivers, for
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out of these sands are often collected gold dust, or certain black stones
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from which tin is smelted, or even gems are sometimes found in them; the
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trenching occasionally lays bare at the grass-roots veins which are found rich
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in metals. </
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<
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>If therefore by skill or by luck, such sands or veins shall fall
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into his hands, he will be able to establish his fortune without expenditure,
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and from poverty rise to wealth. </
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>
<
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>If on the contrary, his hopes are not realised,
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then he can desist from washing or digging.</
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<
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>When anyone, in an endeavour to increase his fortune, meets the
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expenditure of a mine alone, it is of great importance that he should attend
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to his works and personally superintend everything that he has ordered to
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be done. </
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<
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>For this reason, he should either have his dwelling at the mine, </
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