Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

Table of figures

< >
[Figure 31]
Page: 102
[Figure 32]
Page: 102
[Figure 33]
Page: 103
[Figure 34]
Page: 104
[Figure 35]
Page: 105
[Figure 36]
Page: 105
[Figure 37]
Page: 106
[Figure 38]
Page: 107
[Figure 39]
Page: 107
[Figure 40]
Page: 108
[Figure 41]
Page: 109
[Figure 42]
Page: 112
[Figure 43]
Page: 115
[Figure 44]
Page: 115
[Figure 45]
Page: 115
[Figure 46]
Page: 116
[Figure 47]
Page: 116
[Figure 48]
Page: 122
[Figure 49]
Page: 122
[Figure 50]
Page: 123
[Figure 51]
Page: 125
[Figure 52]
Page: 136
[Figure 53]
Page: 139
[Figure 54]
Page: 140
[Figure 55]
Page: 141
[Figure 56]
Page: 156
[Figure 57]
Page: 159
[Figure 58]
Page: 161
[Figure 59]
Page: 167
[Figure 60]
Page: 169
< >
page |< < of 679 > >|
    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="14"/>
              of wood without the aid of iron? </s>
              <s>The cloth or web must be cut into lengths
                <lb/>
              for the tailor. </s>
              <s>Can this be done without knife or scissors? </s>
              <s>Can the tailor
                <lb/>
              sew together any garments without a needle? </s>
              <s>Even peoples dwelling beyond
                <lb/>
              the seas cannot make a covering for their bodies, fashioned of feathers,
                <lb/>
              without these same implements. </s>
              <s>Neither can the furriers do without them
                <lb/>
              in sewing together the pelts of any kind of animals. </s>
              <s>The shoemaker needs
                <lb/>
              a knife to cut the leather, another to scrape it, and an awl to perforate it
                <lb/>
              before he can make shoes. </s>
              <s>These coverings for the body are either woven
                <lb/>
              or stitched. </s>
              <s>Buildings too, which protect the same body from rain, wind,
                <lb/>
              cold, and heat, are not constructed without axes, saws, and augers.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>But what need of more words? </s>
              <s>If we remove metals from the service
                <lb/>
              of man, all methods of protecting and sustaining health and more care­
                <lb/>
              fully preserving the course of life are done away with. </s>
              <s>If there were no
                <lb/>
              metals, men would pass a horrible and wretched existence in the midst of
                <lb/>
              wild beasts; they would return to the acorns and fruits and berries of the
                <lb/>
              forest. </s>
              <s>They would feed upon the herbs and roots which they plucked up
                <lb/>
              with their nails. </s>
              <s>They would dig out caves in which to lie down at night,
                <lb/>
              and by day they would rove in the woods and plains at random like beasts,
                <lb/>
              and inasmuch as this condition is utterly unworthy of humanity, with its
                <lb/>
              splendid and glorious natural endowment, will anyone be so foolish or
                <lb/>
              obstinate as not to allow that metals are necessary for food and clothing and
                <lb/>
              that they tend to preserve life?</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Moreover, as the miners dig almost exclusively in mountains otherwise
                <lb/>
              unproductive, and in valleys invested in gloom, they do either slight damage
                <lb/>
              to the fields or none at all. </s>
              <s>Lastly, where woods and glades are cut down,
                <lb/>
              they may be sown with grain after they have been cleared from the roots of
                <lb/>
              shrubs and trees. </s>
              <s>These new fields soon produce rich crops, so that they repair
                <lb/>
              the losses which the inhabitants suffer from increased cost of timber. </s>
              <s>More­
                <lb/>
              over, with the metals which are melted from the ore, birds without number,
                <lb/>
              edible beasts and fish can be purchased elsewhere and brought to these
                <lb/>
              mountainous regions.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>I will pass to the illustrations I have mentioned. </s>
              <s>Bias of Priene, when his
                <lb/>
              country was taken, carried away out of the city none of his valuables. </s>
              <s>So
                <lb/>
              strong a man with such a reputation for wisdom had no need to fear personal
                <lb/>
              danger from the enemy, but this in truth cannot be said of him because he
                <lb/>
              hastily took to flight; the throwing away of his goods does not seem to me
                <lb/>
              so great a matter, for he had lost his house, his estates, and even his country,
                <lb/>
              than which nothing is more precious. </s>
              <s>Nay, I should be convinced of Bias's
                <lb/>
              contempt and scorn for possessions of this kind, if before his country was
                <lb/>
              captured he had bestowed them freely on relations and friends, or had
                <lb/>
              distributed them to the very poor, for this he could have done freely and
                <lb/>
              without question. </s>
              <s>Whereas his conduct, which the Greeks admire so
                <lb/>
              greatly, was due, it would seem, to his being driven out by the enemy and
                <lb/>
              stricken with fear. </s>
              <s>Socrates in truth did not despise gold, but would not
                <lb/>
              accept money for his teaching. </s>
              <s>As for Aristippus of Cyrene, if he had gath­
                <lb/>
              ered and saved the gold which he ordered his slaves to throw away, he might </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
Impressum