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BOOK I.
not many years after, he attained wealth from the mines of Fiirst, whichis a city in Lorraine, and took his name from “ Luck .” 30 Nor wouldKing Vladislaus have restored to the Assembly of Barons, Tursius, acitizen of Cracow, who became rich through the mines in that part of thekingdom of Hungary which was formerly called Dacia . 31 Nay, not even thecommon worker in the mines is vile and abject. For, trained to vigilanceand work by night and day, he has great powers of endurance when occasiondemands, and easily sustains the fatigues and duties of a soldier, for he isaccustomed to keep long vigils at night, to wield iron tools, to dig trenches,to drive tunnels, to make machines, and to carry burdens. Therefore, expertsin military affairs prefer the miner, not only to a commoner from the town,but even to the rustic.
But to bring this discussion to an end, inasmuch as the chief callingsare those of the moneylender, the soldier, the merchant, the farmer, and theminer, I say, inasmuch as usury is odious, while the spoil cruelly capturedfrom the possessions of the people innocent of wrong is wicked in the sightof God and man, and inasmuch as the calling of the miner excels in honourand dignity that of the merchant trading for lucre, while it is not less noblethough far more profitable than agriculture, who can fail to realize thatmining is a calling of peculiar dignity ? Certainly, though it is but one often important and excellent methods of acquiring wealth in an honourableway, a careful and diligent man can attain this result in no easier waythan by mining.
“ These Phoenician workings are in Thasos itself, between Coenyra and a place called“ Aenyra over against Samothrace ; a high mountain has been turned upside down in“ the search for ores.” (Rawlinson’s Trans.). The occasion of this statement of Herodotuswas the relations of the Thasians with Darius (521-486 b.c.). The date of the Phoeniciancolonization of Thasos is highly nebular—anywhere from 1200 to 900 B.c.
30 Agricola, De Veteribus et Novis Metallis, Book 1., p. 392, says :—“ Conrad, whose“ nickname in former years was ‘ pauper,’ suddenly became rich from the silver mines of“ Mount Jura, known as the Firstum.” He was ennobled with the title of Graf Cuntzvon Gluck by the Emperor Maximilian (who was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,1493-1519). Conrad was originally a working miner at Schneeberg where he was knownas Armer Cuntz (poor Cuntz or Conrad) and grew wealthy from the mines of Fiirst inLeberthal. This district is located in the Vosges Mountains on the borders of Lorraineand Upper Alsace. The story of Cuntz or Conrad von Gluck is mentioned by Albinus{Meissnische Land und Berg Chronica, Dresden, 1589, p. 116), Mathesius (Sarepta, Nurem-berg, 1578, fol. xvi.), and by others.
31 Vladislaus III. was King of Poland, 1434-44, and also became King of Hungary in1440. Tursius seems to be a Latinized name and cannot be identified.
END OF BOOK I.