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. </s>
              <s>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. </s>
              <s>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:—</s>
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              <s>“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. </s>
              <s>Then destructive iron came
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              forth, and gold, more destructive than iron; then war came forth.”
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              <s>Another of their arguments is this: Metals offer to men no advantages,
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              therefore we ought not to search them out. </s>
              <s>For whereas man is composed
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              of soul and body, neither is in want of minerals. </s>
              <s>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. </s>
              <s>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. </s>
              <s>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. </s>
              <s>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. </s>
              <s>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:</s>
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              <s>“Works of silver and purple are of use, not for human life, but
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              rather for Tragedians.”
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              </s>
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              <s>These critics praise also this saying from Timocreon of Rhodes:</s>
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              <s>“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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              .</s>
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              <s>They greatly extol these lines from Phocylides:</s>
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              <s>“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. </s>
              <s>Would that thou
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              were not such an attractive scourge! because of thee arise robberies,
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              </s>
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