Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

List of thumbnails

< >
41
41 		42
42
43
43 		44
44
45
45 		46
46
47
47 		48
48
49
49 		50
50
< >
page |< < of 679 > >|
    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="7"/>
              mankind, but on the contrary, like a beneficent and kindly mother she yields
                <lb/>
              in large abundance from her bounty and brings into the light of day the
                <lb/>
              herbs, vegetables, grains, and fruits, and the trees. </s>
              <s>The minerals on the
                <lb/>
              other hand she buries far beneath in the depth of the ground; therefore,
                <lb/>
              they should not be sought. </s>
              <s>But they are dug out by wicked men who, as
                <lb/>
              the poets say, are the products of the Iron Age.” Ovid censures their
                <lb/>
              audacity in the following lines:—</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>“And not only was the rich soil required to furnish corn and due
                <lb/>
              sustenance, but men even descended into the entrails of the earth, and
                <lb/>
              they dug up riches, those incentives to vice, which the earth had hidden
                <lb/>
              and had removed to the Stygian shades. </s>
              <s>Then destructive iron came
                <lb/>
              forth, and gold, more destructive than iron; then war came forth.”
                <emph type="sup"/>
              13
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Another of their arguments is this: Metals offer to men no advantages,
                <lb/>
              therefore we ought not to search them out. </s>
              <s>For whereas man is composed
                <lb/>
              of soul and body, neither is in want of minerals. </s>
              <s>The sweetest food of the
                <lb/>
              soul is the contemplation of nature, a knowledge of the finest arts and sciences,
                <lb/>
              an understanding of virtue; and if he interests his mind in excellent things,
                <lb/>
              if he exercise his body, he will be satisfied with this feast of noble thoughts and
                <lb/>
              knowledge, and have no desire for other things. </s>
              <s>Now although the human
                <lb/>
              body may be content with necessary food and clothing, yet the fruits of the
                <lb/>
              earth and the animals of different kinds supply him in wonderful abundance
                <lb/>
              with food and drink, from which the body may be suitably nourished and
                <lb/>
              strengthened and life prolonged to old age. </s>
              <s>Flax, wool, and the skins of
                <lb/>
              many animals provide plentiful clothing low in price; while a luxurious kind,
                <lb/>
              not hard to procure—that is the so called
                <emph type="italics"/>
              seric
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              material, is furnished by the
                <lb/>
              down of trees and the webs of the silk worm. </s>
              <s>So that the body has absolutely
                <lb/>
              no need of the metals, so hidden in the depths of the earth and for the greater
                <lb/>
              part very expensive. </s>
              <s>Wherefore it is said that this maxim of Euripides is
                <lb/>
              approved in assemblies of learned men, and with good reason was always on
                <lb/>
              the lips of Socrates:</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>“Works of silver and purple are of use, not for human life, but
                <lb/>
              rather for Tragedians.”
                <emph type="sup"/>
              14
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>These critics praise also this saying from Timocreon of Rhodes:</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>“O Unseeing Plutus, would that thou hadst never appeared in the
                <lb/>
              earth or in the sea or on the land, but that thou didst have thy habita­
                <lb/>
              tion in Tartarus and Acheron, for out of thee arise all evil things which
                <lb/>
              overtake mankind”
                <emph type="sup"/>
              15
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              .</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>They greatly extol these lines from Phocylides:</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>“Gold and silver are injurious to mortals; gold is the source of
                <lb/>
              crime, the plague of life, and the ruin of all things. </s>
              <s>Would that thou
                <lb/>
              were not such an attractive scourge! because of thee arise robberies,
                <lb/>
                <lb/>
              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
Impressum