Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="32"/>
              be made serviceable for many things; for water will never be wanting and
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              can be carried through wooden pipes to baths in dwelling-houses; it may
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              be carried to the works, where the metals are smelted; and finally, if the
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              conditions of the place will allow it, the water can be diverted into the
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              tunnels, so that it may turn the underground machinery. </s>
              <s>Yet on the other
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              hand, to convey a constant supply of water by artificial means to mines
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              where Nature has denied it access, or to convey the ore to the stream,
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              increases the expense greatly, in proportion to the distance the mines are
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              away from the river.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>The miner also should consider whether the roads from the neighbouring
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              regions to the mines are good or bad, short or long. </s>
              <s>For since a region
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              which is abundant in mining products very often yields no agricultural
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              produce, and the necessaries of life for the workmen and others must all be
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              imported, a bad and long road occasions much loss and trouble with
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              porters and carriers, and this increases the cost of goods brought in, which,
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              therefore, must be sold at high prices. </s>
              <s>This injures not so much the work­
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              men as the masters; since on account of the high price of goods, the work­
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              men are not content with the wages customary for their labour, nor can
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              they be, and they ask higher pay from the owners. </s>
              <s>And if the owners
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              refuse, the men will not work any longer in the mines but will go elsewhere.
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              </s>
              <s>Although districts which yield metals and other mineral products are
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              generally healthy, because, being often situated on high and lofty ground,
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              they are fanned by every wind, yet sometimes they are unhealthy, as has
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              been related in my other book, which is called “
                <emph type="italics"/>
              De Natura Eorum Quae
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              Effluunt ex Terra.
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              ” Therefore, a wise miner does not mine in such places,
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              even if they are very productive, when he perceives unmistakable signs
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              of pestilence. </s>
              <s>For if a man mines in an unhealthy region he may be alive
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              one hour and dead the next.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Then, the miner should make careful and thorough investigation con­
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              cerning the lord of the locality, whether he be a just and good man or a
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              tyrant, for the latter oppresses men by force of his authority, and seizes
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              their possessions for himself; but the former governs justly and lawfully
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              and serves the common good. </s>
              <s>The miner should not start mining opera­
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              tions in a district which is oppressed by a tyrant, but should carefully
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              consider if in the vicinity there is any other locality suitable for mining and
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              make up his mind if the overlord there be friendly or inimical. </s>
              <s>If he be
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              inimical the mine will be rendered unsafe through hostile attacks, in one of
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              which all of the gold or silver, or other mineral products, laboriously col­
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              lected with much cost, will be taken away from the owner and his workmen
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              will be struck with terror; overcome by fear, they will hastily fly, to free
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              themselves from the danger to which they are exposed. </s>
              <s>In this case, not
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              only are the fortunes of the miner in the greatest peril but his very life is
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              in jeopardy, for which reason he should not mine in such places.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Since several miners usually come to mine the veins in one locality, a
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              settlement generally springs up, for the miner who began first cannot keep
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              it exclusively for himself. </s>
              <s>The
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Bergmeister
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              gives permits to some to mine </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
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