14 BOOK I. 



of wood without the aid of iron ? The cloth or web must be cut into lengths 

 for the tailor. Can this be done without knife or scissors ? Can the tailor 

 sew together any garments without a needle ? Even peoples dwelling beyond 

 the seas cannot make a covering for their bodies, fashioned of feathers, 

 without these same implements. Neither can the furriers do without them 

 in sewing together the pelts of any kind of animals. The shoemaker needs 

 a knife to cut the leather, another to scrape it, and an awl to perforate it 

 before he can make shoes. These coverings for the body are either woven 

 or stitched. Buildings too, which protect the same body from rain, wind, 

 cold, and heat, are not constructed without axes, saws, and augers. 



But what need of more words ? If we remove metals from the service 

 of man, all methods of protecting and sustaining health and more care- 

 fully preserving the course of life are done away with. If there were no 

 metals, n^^would pass a horrible and wretched existence in the midst of 

 wild beasT^r they would return to the acorns and fruits and berries of the 

 forest. They would feed upon the herbs and roots which they plucked up 

 with their nails. They would dig out caves in which to lie down at night, 

 and by day they would rove in the woods and plains at random like beasts, 

 and inasmuch as this condition is utterly unworthy of humanity, with its 

 splendid and glorious natural endowment, will anyone be so foolish or 

 obstinate as not to allow that metals are necessary for food and clothing and 

 that they tend to preserve life ? 



Moreover, as the miners dig almost exclusively in mountains otherwise 

 unproductive, and in valleys invested in gloom, they do either slight damage 

 to the fields or none at all. Lastly, where woods and glades are cut down, 

 they may be sown with grain after they have been cleared from the roots of 

 shrubs and trees. These new fields soon produce rich crops, so that they repair 

 the losses which the inhabitants suffer from increased cost of timber. More- 

 over, with the metals which are melted from the ore, birds without number, 

 edible beasts and fish can be purchased elsewhere and brought to these 

 mountainous regions. 



I will pass to the illustrations I have mentioned. Bias of Priene, when his 

 country was taken, carried away out of the city none of his valuables. So 

 strong a man with such a reputation for wisdom had no need to fear personal 

 danger from the enemy, but this in truth cannot be said of him because he 

 hastily took to flight ; the throwing away of his goods does not seem to me 

 so great a matter, for he had lost his house, his estates, and even his country, 

 than which nothing is more precious. Nay, I should be convinced of Bias's 

 contempt and scorn for possessions of this kind, if before his country was 

 captured he had bestowed them freely on relations and friends, or had 

 distributed them to the very poor, for this he could have done freely and 

 without question. Whereas his conduct, which the Greeks admire so 

 greatly, was due, it would seem, to his being driven out by the enemy and 

 stricken with fear. Socrates in truth did not despise gold, but would not 

 accept money for his teaching. As for Aristippus of Cyrene, if he had gath- 

 ered and saved the gold which he ordered his slaves to throw away, he might 



