Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950
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              <s>
                <pb pagenum="xxxi"/>
              not read or heard of from persons upon whom I can rely. </s>
              <s>That which I have
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              neither seen, nor carefully considered after reading or hearing of, I have not
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              written about. </s>
              <s>The same rule must be understood with regard to all my in­
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              struction, whether I enjoin things which ought to be done, or describe things
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              which are usual, or condemn things which are done. </s>
              <s>Since the art of mining
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              does not lend itself to elegant language, these books of mine are correspond­
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              ingly lacking in refinement of style. </s>
              <s>The things dealt with in this art of
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              metals sometimes lack names, either because they are new, or because, even
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              if they are old, the record of the names by which they were formerly known
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              has been lost. </s>
              <s>For this reason I have been forced by a necessity, for which I
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              must be pardoned, to describe some of them by a number of words combined,
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              and to distinguish others by new names,—to which latter class belong
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              Ingestor,
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              Discretor, Lotor,
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              and
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              Excoctor.
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                <emph type="sup"/>
              13
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              Other things, again, I have alluded to by old
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              names, such as the
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              Cisium;
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              for when Nonius Marcellus wrote,
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              14
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              this was
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              the name of a two-wheeled vehicle, but I have adopted it for a small vehicle
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              which has only one wheel; and if anyone does not approve of these names,
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              let him either find more appropriate ones for these things, or discover the
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              words used in the writings of the Ancients.</s>
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              <s>These books, most illustrious Princes, are dedicated to you for many
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              reasons, and, above all others, because metals have proved of the greatest
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              value to you; for though your ancestors drew rich profits from the revenues
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              of their vast and wealthy territories, and likewise from the taxes which were
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              paid by the foreigners by way of toll and by the natives by way of tithes, yet
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              they drew far richer profits from the mines. </s>
              <s>Because of the mines not a few
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              towns have risen into eminence, such as Freiberg, Annaberg, Marienberg,
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              Schneeberg, Geyer, and Altenberg, not to mention others. </s>
              <s>Nay, if I under­
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              stand anything, greater wealth now lies hidden beneath the ground in the
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              mountainous parts of your territory than is visible and apparent above
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              ground. </s>
              <s>Farewell.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Chemnitz, Saxony,
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              </s>
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            <p type="main">
              <s>
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              December First,
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              1550.
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              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
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