Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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mankind, but on the contrary, like a beneficent and kindly mother she yields
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in large abundance from her bounty and brings into the light of day the
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herbs, vegetables, grains, and fruits, and the trees. </
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<
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>The minerals on the
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other hand she buries far beneath in the depth of the ground; therefore,
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they should not be sought. </
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>But they are dug out by wicked men who, as
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the poets say, are the products of the Iron Age.” Ovid censures their
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audacity in the following lines:—</
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<
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>“And not only was the rich soil required to furnish corn and due
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sustenance, but men even descended into the entrails of the earth, and
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they dug up riches, those incentives to vice, which the earth had hidden
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and had removed to the Stygian shades. </
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<
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>Then destructive iron came
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forth, and gold, more destructive than iron; then war came forth.”
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13
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<
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>Another of their arguments is this: Metals offer to men no advantages,
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therefore we ought not to search them out. </
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>For whereas man is composed
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of soul and body, neither is in want of minerals. </
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>The sweetest food of the
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soul is the contemplation of nature, a knowledge of the finest arts and sciences,
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an understanding of virtue; and if he interests his mind in excellent things,
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if he exercise his body, he will be satisfied with this feast of noble thoughts and
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knowledge, and have no desire for other things. </
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<
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>Now although the human
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body may be content with necessary food and clothing, yet the fruits of the
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earth and the animals of different kinds supply him in wonderful abundance
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with food and drink, from which the body may be suitably nourished and
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strengthened and life prolonged to old age. </
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<
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>Flax, wool, and the skins of
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many animals provide plentiful clothing low in price; while a luxurious kind,
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not hard to procure—that is the so called
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seric
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material, is furnished by the
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down of trees and the webs of the silk worm. </
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<
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>So that the body has absolutely
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no need of the metals, so hidden in the depths of the earth and for the greater
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part very expensive. </
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<
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>Wherefore it is said that this maxim of Euripides is
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approved in assemblies of learned men, and with good reason was always on
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the lips of Socrates:</
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<
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>“Works of silver and purple are of use, not for human life, but
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rather for Tragedians.”
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14
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<
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>These critics praise also this saying from Timocreon of Rhodes:</
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<
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>“O Unseeing Plutus, would that thou hadst never appeared in the
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earth or in the sea or on the land, but that thou didst have thy habita
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tion in Tartarus and Acheron, for out of thee arise all evil things which
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overtake mankind”
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15
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.</
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<
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>They greatly extol these lines from Phocylides:</
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<
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>“Gold and silver are injurious to mortals; gold is the source of
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crime, the plague of life, and the ruin of all things. </
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<
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>Would that thou
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were not such an attractive scourge! because of thee arise robberies,
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