It is not my intention to detract anything from the dignity of
agri
culture, and that the profits of mining are less stable I will always and readly
admit, for the veins do in time cease to yield metals, whereas the fields bring
lorth fruits every year. But though the business of mining may be loss
reliable it is more productive, so that in reckoning up, what is wanting in
stability is found to be made up by productiveness. Indeed, the yearly
profit of a lead mine in comparison with the fruitfulness of the best fields,
is three times or at least twice as great. How much does the profit from
gold or silver mines exceed that earned from agriculture? Wherefore truly
and shrewdly does Xenophon12 write about the Athenian silver mines:
“There is land of such a nature that if you sow, it does not yield crops,
but if you dig, it nourishes many more than if it had borne fruit.” So let
the farmers have for themselves the fruitful fields and cultivate the fertile
hills for the sake of their produce; but let them leave to miners the gloomy
valleys and sterile mountains, that they may draw forth from these, gens
and metals which can buy, not only the crops, but all things that are sold.
culture, and that the profits of mining are less stable I will always and readly
admit, for the veins do in time cease to yield metals, whereas the fields bring
lorth fruits every year. But though the business of mining may be loss
reliable it is more productive, so that in reckoning up, what is wanting in
stability is found to be made up by productiveness. Indeed, the yearly
profit of a lead mine in comparison with the fruitfulness of the best fields,
is three times or at least twice as great. How much does the profit from
gold or silver mines exceed that earned from agriculture? Wherefore truly
and shrewdly does Xenophon12 write about the Athenian silver mines:
“There is land of such a nature that if you sow, it does not yield crops,
but if you dig, it nourishes many more than if it had borne fruit.” So let
the farmers have for themselves the fruitful fields and cultivate the fertile
hills for the sake of their produce; but let them leave to miners the gloomy
valleys and sterile mountains, that they may draw forth from these, gens
and metals which can buy, not only the crops, but all things that are sold.
The critics say further that mining is a perilous occupation to pursue,
because the miners are sometimes killed by the pestilential air which they
breathe; sometimes their lungs rot away; sometimes the men perish by being
crushed in masses of rock; sometimes, falling from the ladders into the
shafts, they break their arms, legs, or necks; and it is added there is no com
pensation which should be thought great enough to equalize the extreme
dangers to safety and life. These occurrences, I confess, are of exceeding
gravity, and moreover, fraught with terror and peril, so that I should con
sider that the metals should not be dug up at all, if such things were to happen
very frequently to the miners, or if they could not safely guard against such
risks by any means. Who would not prefer to live rather than to possess
all things, even the metals? For he who thus perishes possesses nothing,
but relinquishes all to his heirs. But since things like this rarely happen,
and only in so far as workmen are careless, they do not deter miners from
carrying on their trade any more than it would deter a carpenter from his,
because one of his mates has acted incautiously and lost his life by falling
from a high building. I have thus answered each argument which critics are
wont to put before me when they assert that mining is an undesirable occuppa
tion, because it involves expense with uncertainty of return, because it is
changeable, and because it is dangerous to those engaged in it.
because the miners are sometimes killed by the pestilential air which they
breathe; sometimes their lungs rot away; sometimes the men perish by being
crushed in masses of rock; sometimes, falling from the ladders into the
shafts, they break their arms, legs, or necks; and it is added there is no com
pensation which should be thought great enough to equalize the extreme
dangers to safety and life. These occurrences, I confess, are of exceeding
gravity, and moreover, fraught with terror and peril, so that I should con
sider that the metals should not be dug up at all, if such things were to happen
very frequently to the miners, or if they could not safely guard against such
risks by any means. Who would not prefer to live rather than to possess
all things, even the metals? For he who thus perishes possesses nothing,
but relinquishes all to his heirs. But since things like this rarely happen,
and only in so far as workmen are careless, they do not deter miners from
carrying on their trade any more than it would deter a carpenter from his,
because one of his mates has acted incautiously and lost his life by falling
from a high building. I have thus answered each argument which critics are
wont to put before me when they assert that mining is an undesirable occuppa
tion, because it involves expense with uncertainty of return, because it is
changeable, and because it is dangerous to those engaged in it.
Now I come to those critics who say that mining is not useful to the
rest of mankind because forsooth, gems, metals, and other mineral products
are worthless in themselves. This admission they try to extort from us,
partly by arguments and examples, partly by misrepresentations and abuse of
us. First, they make use of this argument: “The earth does not conceal
and remove from our eyes those things which are useful and necessary to
rest of mankind because forsooth, gems, metals, and other mineral products
are worthless in themselves. This admission they try to extort from us,
partly by arguments and examples, partly by misrepresentations and abuse of
us. First, they make use of this argument: “The earth does not conceal
and remove from our eyes those things which are useful and necessary to
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