BOOK I. ig 



alone she uses her beauty aright, but if she lives wantonly and is a victim 

 of passion, she misuses her beauty. In like manner, a youth who devotes 

 himself to learning and cultivates the liberal arts, uses his genius rightly. 

 But he who dissembles, lies, cheats, and deceives by fraud and dishonesty, 

 misuses his abilities. Now, the man who, because they are abused, denies that 

 wine, strength, beauty, or genius are good things, is unjust and blasphemous 

 towards the Most High God, Creator of the World ; so he who would remove 

 metals from the class of blessings also acts unjustly and blasphemously 

 against Him. Very true, therefore, are the words which certain Greek 

 poets have written, as Pindar : 



" Money glistens, adorned with virtue ; it supplies the means by 



which thou mayest act well in whatever circumstances fate may 



have in store for thee."^^ 

 And Sappho : 



" Without the love of virtue gold is a dangerous and harmful guest, 



but when it is associated with virtue, it becomes the source and height 



of good." 

 And Callimachus : 



" Riches do not make men great without virtue ; neither do virtues 



themselves make men great without some wealth." 

 And Antiphanes : 



" Now, by the gods, why is it necessary for a man to grow rich ? 



Why does he desire to possess much money unless that he may, as 



much as possible, help his friends, and sow the seeds of a harvest of 



gratitude, sweetest of the goddesses."^' 



Having thus refuted the arguments and contentions of adversaries, 

 let us sum up the advantages of the metals. In the first place, they are 

 useful to the physician, for they furnish liberally the ingredients for medi- 

 cines, by which wounds and ulcers are cured, and even plagues ; so that 

 certainly if there were no other reasons why we should explore the depths of 

 the earth, we should for the sake of medicine alone dig in the mines. Again, 

 the metals are of use to painters, because they yield certain pigments which, 

 when united with the painter's slip, are injured less than others by the moisture 

 from without. Further, mining is useful to the architects, for thus is found 

 marble, which is suitable not only for strengthening large buildings, but 

 also for decoration. It is, moreover, helpful to those whose ambition urges 

 them toward immortal glory, because it yields metals from which are made 

 coins, statues, and other monuments, which, next to literary records, give men 

 in a sense immortality. The metals are useful to merchants with very great cause, 

 for, as I have stated elsewhere, the use of money which is made from metals is 

 much more convenient to mankind than the old system of exchange of commodi- 

 ties. In short, to whom are the metals not of use ? In very truth, even the works 

 of art, elegant, embellished, elaborate, useful, are fashioned in various shapes by 

 the artist from the metals gold, silver, brass, lead, and iron. How few artists 



""Pindar. Olymp. u., 58-60. 

 "Antiphanes, 4. 



