BOOK VI.

217

in silver mines ; it creeps unobserved and brings destruction upon thosewho imprudently sit on it. But, as the same writer tells us, springs of warmand salubrious waters gush out in certain places, which neutralise the venominserted by the ants.

In some of our mines, however, though in very few, there are otherpernicious pests. These are demons of ferocious aspect, about which I havespoken in my book De Animantibus Subterraneis. Demons of this kindare expelled and put to flight by prayer and fasting . 26

Some of these evils, as well as certain other things, are the reason whypits are occasionally abandoned. But the first and principal cause is thatthey do not yield metal, or if, for some fathoms, they do bear metal theybecome barren in depth. The second cause is the quantity of water whichflows in; sometimes the miners can neither divert this water into thetunnels, since tunnels cannot be driven so far into the mountains, or theycannot draw it out with machines because the shafts are too deep ; or if theycould draw it out with machines, they do not use them, the reasonundoubtedly being that the expenditure is greater than the profits of amoderately poor vein. The third cause is the noxious air, which the ownerssometimes cannot overcome either by skill or expenditure, for which reasonthe digging is sometimes abandoned, not only of shafts, but also of tunnels. Thefourth cause is the poison produced in particular places, if it is not in ourpower either completely to remove it or to moderate its effects. This is thereason why the caverns in the Plain known as Laurentius 27 used not to be

26 The presence of demons or gnomes in the mines was so general a belief that Agricolafully accepted it. This is more remarkable, in view of our author’s very general scepticismregarding the supernatural. He, however, does not classify them all as bad—some beingdistinctly helpful. The description of gnomes of kindly intent, which is contained in thelast paragraph in De Animantibus is of interest:—

“ Then there are the gentle kind which the Germans as well as the Greeks call cobalos,“ because they mimic men. They appear to laugh with glee and pretend to do much, but"really do nothing. They are called little miners, because of their dwarfish stature, which" is about two feet. They are venerable looking and are clothed like miners in a filleted“ garment with a leather apron about their loins. This kind does not often trouble the miners,“ but they idle about in the shafts and tunnels and really do nothing, although they pretend to“ be busy in all kinds of labour, sometimes digging ore, and sometimes putting into buckets“ that which has been dug. Sometimes they throw pebbles at the workmen, but they rarely“ injure them unless the workmen first ridicule or curse them. They are not very dissimilar“ to Goblins, which occasionally appear to men when they go to or from their day’s work, or“ when they attend their cattle. Because they generally appear benign to men, the Germans" call them guteli. Those called trulli, which take the form of women as well as men, actually“ enter the service of some people, especially the Suions. The mining gnomes are especially“ active in the workings where metal has already been found, or where there are hopes of“ discovering it, because of which they do not discourage the miners, but on the contrary“ stimulate them and cause them to labour more vigorously.’’

The German miners were not alone in such beliefs, for miners generally acceptedthem—even to-day the faith in “ knockers ” has not entirely disappeared from Cornwall.Neither the sea nor the forest so lends itself to the substantiation of the supernatural as doesthe mine. The dead darkness, in which the miners’ lamps serve only to distort every shape,the uncanny noises of restless rocks whose support has been undermined, the approach ofdanger and death without warning, the sudden vanishing or discovery of good fortune, allyield a thousand corroborations to minds long steeped in ignorance and prepared for themiraculous through religious teaching.

a7 The Plains of Laurentius extend from the mouth of the Tiber southward—saytwenty miles south of Rome. What Agricola’s authority was for silver mines in this region wecannot discover. This may, however, refer to the lead-silver district of the Attic Peninsula,Laurion being sometimes Latinized as Laurium or Laurius.