BOOK II.
Qualities which the perfect miner should possess
and the arguments which are urged for and against
the arts of mining and metallurgy, as well
as the people occupied in the industry, I
have sufficiently discussed in the first Book. Now
I have determined to give more ample information
concerning the miners.
and the arguments which are urged for and against
the arts of mining and metallurgy, as well
as the people occupied in the industry, I
have sufficiently discussed in the first Book. Now
I have determined to give more ample information
concerning the miners.
In the first place, it is indispensable that they
should worship God with reverence, and that they
understand the matters of which I am going to speak, and that they
take good care that each individual performs his duties efficiently and
diligently. It is decreed by Divine Providence that those who know
what they ought to do and then take care to do it properly, for the
most part meet with good fortune in all they undertake; on the other
hand, misfortune overtakes the indolent and those who are careless in
their work. No person indeed can, without great and sustained effort and
labour, store in his mind the knowledge of every portion of the metallic
arts which are involved in operating mines. If a man has the means
of paying the necessary expense, he hires as many men as he needs, and
sends them to the various works. Thus formerly Sosias, the Thracian, sent
into the silver mines a thousand slaves whom he had hired from the Athenian
Nicias, the son of Niceratus1. But if a man cannot afford the expenditure
he chooses of the various kinds of mining that work which he himself can
most easily and efficiently do. Of these kinds, the two most important
are the making prospect trenches and the washing of the sands of rivers, for
out of these sands are often collected gold dust, or certain black stones
from which tin is smelted, or even gems are sometimes found in them; the
trenching occasionally lays bare at the grass-roots veins which are found rich
in metals. If therefore by skill or by luck, such sands or veins shall fall
into his hands, he will be able to establish his fortune without expenditure,
and from poverty rise to wealth. If on the contrary, his hopes are not realised,
then he can desist from washing or digging.
should worship God with reverence, and that they
understand the matters of which I am going to speak, and that they
take good care that each individual performs his duties efficiently and
diligently. It is decreed by Divine Providence that those who know
what they ought to do and then take care to do it properly, for the
most part meet with good fortune in all they undertake; on the other
hand, misfortune overtakes the indolent and those who are careless in
their work. No person indeed can, without great and sustained effort and
labour, store in his mind the knowledge of every portion of the metallic
arts which are involved in operating mines. If a man has the means
of paying the necessary expense, he hires as many men as he needs, and
sends them to the various works. Thus formerly Sosias, the Thracian, sent
into the silver mines a thousand slaves whom he had hired from the Athenian
Nicias, the son of Niceratus1. But if a man cannot afford the expenditure
he chooses of the various kinds of mining that work which he himself can
most easily and efficiently do. Of these kinds, the two most important
are the making prospect trenches and the washing of the sands of rivers, for
out of these sands are often collected gold dust, or certain black stones
from which tin is smelted, or even gems are sometimes found in them; the
trenching occasionally lays bare at the grass-roots veins which are found rich
in metals. If therefore by skill or by luck, such sands or veins shall fall
into his hands, he will be able to establish his fortune without expenditure,
and from poverty rise to wealth. If on the contrary, his hopes are not realised,
then he can desist from washing or digging.