Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              from the owners than necessity demands. </s>
              <s>Nay, I will admit that a for
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              man may plaster over, or hide with a structure, a vein where it is rich i
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              metals. </s>
              <s>Is the wickedness of one or two to brand the many honest wit
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              fraud and trickery? </s>
              <s>What body is supposed to be more pious and virtuou
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              in the Republic than the Senate? </s>
              <s>Yet some Senators have been detecte
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              in peculations, and have been punished. </s>
              <s>Is this any reason that so honour
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              able a house should lose its good name and fame? </s>
              <s>The superintenden
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              cannot exact contributions from the owners without the knowledge an
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              permission of the Bergmeister or the deputies; for this reason decep
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              tion of this kind is impossible. </s>
              <s>Should the foremen be convicted o
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              fraud, they are beaten with rods; or of theft, they are hanged. </s>
              <s>I
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              is complained that some sellers and buyers of the shares in mines ar
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              fraudulent. </s>
              <s>I concede it. </s>
              <s>But can they deceive anyone except a stupid
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              careless man, unskilled in mining matters? </s>
              <s>Indeed, a wise and pruden
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              man, skilled in this art, if he doubts the trustworthiness of a seller o
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              buyer, goes at once to the mine that he may for himself examine the vei
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              which has been so greatly praised or disparaged, and may consider whethe
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              he will buy or sell the shares or not. </s>
              <s>But people say, though such an on
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              can be on his guard against fraud, yet a simple man and one who is easil
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              credulous, is deceived. </s>
              <s>But we frequently see a man who is trying to mislea
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              another in this way deceive himself, and deservedly become a laughing
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              stock for everyone; or very often the defrauder as well as the dupe i
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              entirely ignorant of mining. </s>
              <s>If, for instance, a vein has been found to b
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              abundant in ore, contrary to the idea of the would-be deceiver, then he wh
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              was to have been cheated gets a profit, and he who has been the deceive
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              loses. </s>
              <s>Nevertheless, the miners themselves rarely buy or sell shares, bu
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              generally they have
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              jurati venditores
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              28
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              who buy and sell at such prices as the
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              have been instructed to give or accept. </s>
              <s>Seeing therefore, that magistrate
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              decide disputes on fair and just principles, that honest men deceive nobody
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              while a dishonest one cannot deceive easily, or if he does he cannot do s
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              with impunity, the criticism of those who wish to disparage the honesty
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              miners has therefore no force or weight.</s>
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              <s>In the next place, the occupation of the miner is objectionable t
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              nobody. </s>
              <s>For who, unless he be naturally malevolent and envious, wi
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              hate the man who gains wealth as it were from heaven? </s>
              <s>Or who will hat
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              a man who to amplify his fortune, adopts a method which is free fro
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              reproach? </s>
              <s>A moneylender, if he demands an excessive interest, incurs th
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              hatred of men. </s>
              <s>If he demands a moderate and lawful rate, so that he is n
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              injurious to the public generally and does not impoverish them, he fails t
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              become very rich from his business. </s>
              <s>Further, the gain derived from minin
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              is not sordid, for how can it be such, seeing that it is so great, so plentifu
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              and of so innocent a nature. </s>
              <s>A merchant's profits are mean and base whe
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              he sells counterfeit and spurious merchandise, or puts far too high a pri
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              on goods that he has purchased for little; for this reason the mercha
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              </s>
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