Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
Text
Text Image
Image
XML
Thumbnail overview
Document information
None
Concordance
Figures
Thumbnails
Page concordance
<
1 - 30
31 - 60
61 - 90
91 - 120
121 - 150
151 - 180
181 - 210
211 - 240
241 - 270
271 - 300
301 - 330
331 - 360
361 - 390
391 - 420
421 - 450
451 - 480
481 - 510
511 - 540
541 - 570
571 - 600
601 - 630
631 - 660
661 - 679
>
Scan
Original
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
<
1 - 30
31 - 60
61 - 90
91 - 120
121 - 150
151 - 180
181 - 210
211 - 240
241 - 270
271 - 300
301 - 330
331 - 360
361 - 390
391 - 420
421 - 450
451 - 480
481 - 510
511 - 540
541 - 570
571 - 600
601 - 630
631 - 660
661 - 679
>
page
|<
<
of 679
>
>|
<
archimedes
>
<
text
>
<
body
>
<
chap
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>
<
pb
pagenum
="
19
"/>
alone she uses her beauty aright, but if she lives wantonly and is a victim
<
lb
/>
of passion, she misuses her beauty. </
s
>
<
s
>In like manner, a youth who devotes
<
lb
/>
himself to learning and cultivates the liberal arts, uses his genius rightly.
<
lb
/>
</
s
>
<
s
>But he who dissembles, lies, cheats, and deceives by fraud and dishonesty,
<
lb
/>
misuses his abilities. </
s
>
<
s
>Now, the man who, because they are abused, denies that
<
lb
/>
wine, strength, beauty, or genius are good things, is unjust and blasphemous
<
lb
/>
towards the Most High God, Creator of the World; so he who would remove
<
lb
/>
metals from the class of blessings also acts unjustly and blasphemously
<
lb
/>
against Him. </
s
>
<
s
>Very true, therefore, are the words which certain Greek
<
lb
/>
poets have written, as Pindar:</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>“Money glistens, adorned with virtue; it supplies the means by
<
lb
/>
which thou mayest act well in whatever circumstances fate may
<
lb
/>
have in store for thee.”
<
emph
type
="
sup
"/>
26
<
emph.end
type
="
sup
"/>
</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>And Sappho:</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>“Without the love of virtue gold is a dangerous and harmful guest,
<
lb
/>
but when it is associated with virtue, it becomes the source and height
<
lb
/>
of good.”</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>And Callimachus:</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>“Riches do not make men great without virtue; neither do virtues
<
lb
/>
themselves make men great without some wealth.”</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>And Antiphanes:</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>“Now, by the gods, why is it necessary for a man to grow rich?
<
lb
/>
</
s
>
<
s
>Why does he desire to possess much money unless that he may, as
<
lb
/>
much as possible, help his friends, and sow the seeds of a harvest of
<
lb
/>
gratitude, sweetest of the goddesses.”
<
emph
type
="
sup
"/>
27
<
emph.end
type
="
sup
"/>
</
s
>
</
p
>
<
p
type
="
main
">
<
s
>Having thus refuted the arguments and contentions of adversaries,
<
lb
/>
let us sum up the advantages of the metals. </
s
>
<
s
>In the first place, they are
<
lb
/>
useful to the physician, for they furnish liberally the ingredients for medi
<
lb
/>
cines, by which wounds and ulcers are cured, and even plagues; so that
<
lb
/>
certainly if there were no other reasons why we should explore the depths of
<
lb
/>
the earth, we should for the sake of medicine alone dig in the mines. </
s
>
<
s
>Again,
<
lb
/>
the metals are of use to painters, because they yield certain pigments which,
<
lb
/>
when united with the painter's slip, are injured less than others by the moisture
<
lb
/>
from without. </
s
>
<
s
>Further, mining is useful to the architects, for thus is found
<
lb
/>
marble, which is suitable not only for strengthening large buildings, but
<
lb
/>
also for decoration. </
s
>
<
s
>It is, moreover, helpful to those whose ambition urges
<
lb
/>
them toward immortal glory, because it yields metals from which are made
<
lb
/>
coins, statues, and other monuments, which, next to literary records, give men
<
lb
/>
in a sense immortality. </
s
>
<
s
>The metals are useful to merchants with very great cause,
<
lb
/>
for, as I have stated elsewhere, the use of money which is made from metals is
<
lb
/>
much more convenient to mankind than the old system of exchange of commodi
<
lb
/>
ties. </
s
>
<
s
>In short, to whom are the metals not of use? </
s
>
<
s
>In very truth, even the works
<
lb
/>
of art, elegant, embellished, elaborate, useful, are fashioned in various shapes by
<
lb
/>
the artist from the metals gold, silver, brass, lead, and iron. </
s
>
<
s
>How few artists
<
lb
/>
</
s
>
</
p
>
</
chap
>
</
body
>
</
text
>
</
archimedes
>