In the year 212 before Christ, the Syracusans, excited by seditious
magistrates, declared war against Rome, breaking the treaties entered
into by Hiero II. and the great republic. The consul Marcellus, being
in Sicily, advanced towards Syracuse. When near the city, he sent
deputies to inform the inhabitants that he came to restore liberty to
Syracuse, and not to make war upon it; but he was refused admission to
the city. Hippocrates and Epicydes went out to meet him, and having
heard his proposals, replied haughtily, that if the Romans intended
to besiege their city, they should soon learn the difference between
Syracuse and Leontium. Marcellus then determined to besiege the
place,--by land on the side of Hexapylum, and by sea on that of the
Achradinæ, the walls of which were washed by the waves. He gave Appius
the command of the land forces, and reserved that of the fleet for
himself. The fleet consisted of sixty galleys of five benches of oars,
filled with soldiers, armed with bows, slings, and darts, to scour
the walls. There were a great number of other vessels, laden with all
sorts of machines usually employed in the sieges of fortified places.
The Romans, carrying on their attacks at two different places, the
Syracusans were at first in great consternation, apprehensive that
nothing could oppose so terrible a power and such mighty efforts. And
it had, indeed, been impossible to resist them, but for the assistance
of one single man, whose wonderful genius was everything to the
Syracusans: this was Archimedes. He had taken care to supply the walls
with all things necessary for a good defence. As soon as his machines
began to play on the land side, they discharged upon the infantry all
sorts of darts, with stones of enormous weight, which flew with so much
noise, force, and rapidity, that nothing could withstand their shock.
They beat down and dashed to pieces all before them, and occasioned
terrible disorder in the ranks of the besiegers. Marcellus succeeded
no better on the side of the sea: Archimedes had disposed his machines
in such a manner as to throw darts to any distance. Though the enemy
lay far from the city, he reached them by means of his larger and more
formidable balistæ and catapultæ. When these overshot their mark, he
had smaller, proportioned to the distance, which put the Romans into
such confusion as almost paralyzed their efforts. This was not the
greatest danger. Archimedes had placed lofty and strong machines behind
the walls, which suddenly letting fall vast beams with an immense
weight at the end of them upon a ship, sunk it to the bottom. Besides
this, he caused an iron grapple to be let out by a chain, and having
caught hold of the head of a ship with this hook, by means of a weight
let down within the walls, it was lifted up, set upon the stern, and
held so for some time; then, by letting go the chain, either by a wheel
or a pulley, it was let fall again with its whole weight either on its
head or its side, and thus sunk. At other times, the machines, dragging
the ship towards the shore, by cordage and hooks, after having made it
whirl about a great while, dashed it to pieces against the points of
the rocks which projected under the walls. Galleys, frequently seized
and suspended in the air, were whirled about with rapidity, exhibiting
a dreadful sight to the spectators, after which, they were let fall
into the sea, and sunk to the bottom with their crews.
Marcellus had prepared, at great expense, machines called _sambucæ_,
from their resemblance to a musical instrument of that name. He
appointed eight galleys of five benches for that purpose, from which
the oars were removed, half on the right side and half on the left;
these were joined together two-and-two on the sides without oars. This
machine consisted of a ladder of the breadth of four feet, which,
when erect, was of equal height with the walls. It was laid at length
upon the sides of the two galleys joined together, and extended
considerably beyond their beaks: upon the masts of these vessels were
affixed pulleys and cords. When set to work, the cords were made fast
to the extremity of the machine, and men upon the stern drew it up by
pulleys; others at the head assisting in raising it with levers. The
galleys afterwards being brought forward to the foot of the walls,
the machines were applied to them. The bridge of the _sambuca_ was
then let down, no doubt after the manner of a drawbridge, upon which
the besiegers passed to the walls of the place besieged. This machine
had not the expected effect. Whilst it was at a considerable distance
from the walls, Archimedes discharged a vast stone upon it, weighing
ten quintals,[5] then a second, and immediately after a third, all of
which, striking against it with dreadful force and noise, beat down and
broke its supports, and gave the galleys upon which it stood such a
shock, that they parted from each other. Marcellus, almost discouraged
and at a loss what to do, retired as fast as possible with his galleys,
and sent orders to the land forces to do the same. He called also a
council of war, in which it was resolved, the next day before dawn, to
endeavour to approach close to the walls. They were in hopes, by this
means, to shelter themselves from the machines, which, for want of a
distance proportioned to their force, would be rendered ineffectual.
But Archimedes had provided against all contingencies. He had prepared
machines long before, that carried to all distances a proportionate
number of darts and ends of beams, which being very short, required
less time for preparing them, and in consequence, were more frequently
discharged. He had besides made small chasms or loopholes in the walls,
at little distances, where he had placed scorpions,[6] which, not
carrying far, wounded those who approached, without being perceived
but by their effect. When the Romans had gained the foot of the walls,
and thought themselves very well covered, they found they were exposed
to an infinite number of darts, or overwhelmed with stones, which fell
directly upon their heads, there being no part of the wall which did
not continually pour that mortal hail upon them. This obliged them to
retire. But they were no sooner removed to some distance, than a new
discharge of darts overtook them in their retreat, so that they lost
great numbers of men, and almost all their galleys were disabled or
beaten to pieces, without being able to revenge their loss upon their
enemies, for Archimedes had placed most of his machines in security
behind the walls; so that the Romans, says Plutarch, repulsed by an
infinity of wounds, without seeing the place or hand from which they
came, seemed to fight in reality against the gods.
Marcellus, though at a loss what to do, and not knowing how to oppose
the machines of Archimedes, could not forbear, however, jesting upon
them. “Shall we persist,” said he, to his workmen and engineers, “in
making war with this Briareus of a geometrician, who treats my galleys
and sambucæ so rudely? He infinitely exceeds the fabled giants with
their hundred hands, in his perpetual and surprising discharge upon
us.” Marcellus had reason for complaining of Archimedes alone; for
the Syracusans were really no more than members of the engines and
machines of that great geometrician, who was himself the soul of all
their powers and operations. All other arms were unemployed; for the
city at that time made use of none, either offensive or defensive,
but those of Archimedes. Marcellus, at length observing the Romans to
be so much intimidated, that if they saw upon the walls a small cord
only or the least piece of wood, they would immediately fly, crying
out that Archimedes was going to discharge some dreadful machine upon
them, renounced his hopes of being able to make a breach in the walls,
gave over his attacks, and turned the siege into a blockade. The Romans
perceived that they had no other resource but to reduce the great
number of people in the city by famine, and that they must stop every
supply, both by sea and land. During the eight months in which they
besieged the city, there was no kind of stratagem they did not invent,
nor any act of valour they left untried, except, indeed, the assault,
which they never ventured to attempt again. So much power has sometimes
a single man, or a single science, when rightly applied. Deprive
Syracuse of only one old man,--the great strength of the Roman arms
must inevitably take the city: his sole presence checks and disconcerts
all their designs. We here see what cannot be repeated too often,--how
much interest princes have in protecting arts, favouring the learned,
or encouraging science by honourable distinctions and actual rewards,
which never ruin or impoverish a state. We say nothing in this place
of the birth or nobility of Archimedes; he was not indebted to them
for the happiness of his genius and profound knowledge; we consider
him only as a learned man, and an excellent geometrician. What a loss
would Syracuse have sustained, if, to have saved a small expense and
pension, such a man had been abandoned to inaction and obscurity!
Hiero was careful not to act in this manner. He knew all the value of
our geometrician; and it is no vulgar merit in a prince to understand
that of other men. He paid it due honour; he made it useful, and did
not stay till occasion or necessity obliged him to do so: it would
then have been too late. By a wise foresight, the true character of
a great prince and a great minister, in the very arms of peace he
provided all that was necessary for supporting a siege, and making war
with success, though at that time there was no appearance of anything
to be apprehended from the Romans, with whom Syracuse was allied in
the strictest friendship. Hence were seen to arise in an instant, as
out of the earth, an incredible number of machines of every kind and
size, the very sight of which was sufficient to strike armies with
terror and confusion. There are amongst those machines some of which
we can scarcely conceive the effects, and the reality of which we
might be tempted to call in question, if it were allowable to doubt
the evidence of writers, such, for instance, as Polybius, an almost
contemporary author, who treated of facts entirely recent, and such
as were well known to all the world. But how can we refuse to give
credit to the uniform consent of Greek and Roman historians, whether
friends or enemies, with regard to circumstances of which whole armies
were witnesses and experienced the effects, and which had so great
an influence on the events of the war? What passed in this siege of
Syracuse shows how far the ancients had carried their genius and art in
besieging and in supporting sieges. Our artillery, which so perfectly
imitates thunder, has not more effect than the machines of Archimedes
had, if indeed it has so much. A burning glass is spoken of, by the
means of which Archimedes is said to have burnt part of the Roman
fleet. That must have been an extraordinary invention; but, as no
ancient author mentions it, it is no doubt a modern tradition without
foundation. Burning-glasses were known to antiquity, but not of that
kind.[7]
After Marcellus had resolved to confine himself to the blockade of
Syracuse, he left Appius before the place with two-thirds of his
army, advanced with the other into the island, and brought over some
cities to the Roman interest. At the same time, Himilco, general of
the Carthaginians, arrived in Sicily with a great army, in hopes of
reconquering it, and expelling the Romans. Hippocrates left Syracuse
with ten thousand foot and five hundred horse to join him, and carry
on the war in concert against Marcellus; Epicydes remained in the
city, to command there during the blockade. The fleets of the two
states appeared at the same time on the coasts of Sicily; but that of
the Carthaginians, seeing: itself weaker than the other, was afraid
to venture a battle, and soon sailed back to Carthage. Marcellus had
continued eight months before Syracuse with Appius, according to
Polybius, when the year of his consulship expired.
Marcellus employed a part of the second year of the siege in several
expeditions in Sicily. On his return from Agrigentum, upon which he had
made an ineffectual attempt, he came up with the army of Hippocrates,
which he defeated, killing above eight thousand men. This advantage
kept those on their duty who had entertained thoughts of going over to
the Carthaginians. After this victory, he turned his attention again
towards Syracuse; and having sent off Appius to Rome, who went thither
to demand the consulship, he put Q. Crispinus in his place.
In the beginning of the third campaign, Marcellus, almost absolutely
despairing of being able to take Syracuse by force, because Archimedes
continually opposed him with invincible obstacles, or by famine,
because the Carthaginian fleet, which was returned more numerous
than before, easily threw in convoys, deliberated whether he should
remain before Syracuse, or direct his endeavours against Agrigentum.
But before he came to a final determination, he thought it proper
to try whether he could not make himself master of Syracuse by some
secret intelligence. There were many Syracusans in his camp, who had
taken refuge there in the beginning of the troubles. A slave of one
of these secretly carried on an intrigue in which four score of the
principal persons were concerned, who came in companies to consult
with him in the camp, concealed in barks, under the nets of fishermen.
The conspiracy was on the point of taking effect, when a person named
Attalus, through resentment for not having been admitted into it,
discovered the whole to Epicydes, who put all the conspirators to death.
This enterprise having thus miscarried, Marcellus found himself in
new difficulties. He was filled with grief and shame at the idea of
raising a siege which had consumed so much time, and cost the republic
so many men and ships. An accident, however, supplied him with a
resource, and gave a new life to his hopes. Some Roman vessels had
taken one Dæmippus, whom Epicydes had sent to negotiate with Philip,
king of Macedon. The Syracusans expressed a great desire to ransom
this man, and Marcellus was not averse to it. A place near the port
of Trozilus was fixed upon for the conference regarding the amount.
As the deputies went thither several times, it came into the mind of
a Roman soldier who accompanied them to consider the wall with great
attention. After having counted the stones, and examined the measure
of each of them, upon a calculation of the height of the wall, he
found it to be much lower than it was accounted, and concluded that
with ladders of a moderate length it might be easily scaled. Without
loss of time, he communicated this to Marcellus, who knew that the
general is not always the only shrewd man in an army, and, taking his
advice, assured himself, with his own eyes, of the fact. Having caused
ladders to be prepared, he took the opportunity of a festival that
the Syracusans celebrated for three days in honour of Diana, during
which the inhabitants gave themselves up entirely to rejoicings and
banquets. At the time of night when he conceived they would be heavy
and sleepy after their debauch, he ordered a thousand chosen troops to
advance with their ladders towards the wall. When the first had got
to the top without disturbing the watch, others followed, encouraged
by the boldness and success of their leaders. The Syracusans proved
to be either drunk or asleep, and the thousand soldiers soon scaled
the wall. Having thrown down the gate of the Hexapylum, they took
possession of the quarter of the city called Epipolæ. It then became
no longer time to deceive but to terrify the people. The Syracusans,
awakened by the noise, began to rouse themselves and prepare for
action. Marcellus ordered all his trumpets to be sounded at once, which
so alarmed them that the inhabitants took to flight, believing every
quarter of the city to be in the hands of the enemy. The strongest
and the best part, however, called Achradina, was not yet taken,
being separated by its walls from the rest of the city. Marcellus, at
daybreak, entered the new city by the quarter called Tyche. Epicydes,
having hastily drawn up some troops, which he had in the isle adjoining
Achradina, marched against Marcellus; but finding him stronger than
he expected, after a slight skirmish, he fell back, and shut himself
up in Achradina. All the Roman captains and officers crowded around
Marcellus, to congratulate him upon his success. As to himself, when
he had, from an eminence, considered the loftiness, beauty, and extent
of the city, he is said to have shed tears, and to have deplored the
unhappy condition it was about to experience. He called to mind the two
powerful Athenian fleets which had formerly been sunk before this city,
and the two numerous armies cut to pieces with the illustrious generals
who commanded them: the many wars sustained with so much valour
against the Carthaginians; the many tyrants and potent kings, Hiero
particularly, whose memory was still recent, who had signalized himself
by so many royal virtues, and, still more, by the important services he
had rendered the Roman people, whose interests had always been as dear
to him as his own. Moved by that reflection, he deemed it incumbent
upon him, before he attacked Achradina, to send to the besieged to
exhort them to surrender voluntarily, and prevent the ruin of their
city. His remonstrances and exhortations had no effect.
To prevent being harassed in his rear, he first attacked a fort called
Euryclus, which lay at the bottom of the new town, and commanded the
whole country on the land side. After having carried it, and placed
therein a strong garrison, he gave all his attention to Achradina.
During these proceedings, Hippocrates and Himilco arrived. The first,
with the Sicilians, having placed and fortified his camp near the
great harbour, and given the signal to those who were in Achradina,
attacked the old Roman camp, in which Crispinus commanded; Epicydes
at the same time made a sally upon the posts of Marcellus. Neither
of these enterprises was successful. Hippocrates was vigorously
repulsed by Crispinus, who pursued him to his intrenchments, and
Marcellus obliged Epicydes to shut himself up in Achradina. Being
autumn, a plague incidental to the season killed a great many of the
inhabitants of the city, and was even more destructive in the Roman
and Carthaginian camps. The distemper was not severe at first, but
the communication with the infected, and even the care taken of them,
served to spread the contagion. Death, and the spectacle of interment,
continually presented mournful objects to the eyes of the living:
nothing was heard, night or day, but groans and lamentations. At
length, the being accustomed to the evil had hardened their hearts to
such a degree, that they not only ceased to grieve for the dead, but
even neglected to bury them. Nothing was to be seen but dead bodies, by
the eyes of those who hourly expected to be the same. The Carthaginians
suffered more than either the Romans or Syracusans. Having no place
to retire to, their generals, Hippocrates and Himilco, both perished,
with almost all their troops. Marcellus, from the first breaking out
of the disease, brought his troops into the city, where the roofs and
shade were of great service to them; but, notwithstanding, he lost no
inconsiderable number of his men.
In the mean time, Bomilcar, who commanded the Carthaginian fleet, and
had made a second voyage to Carthage, to bring a new supply, returned
with a hundred and thirty ships and seven hundred transports. He
was prevented by contrary winds from doubling the Cape of Pachynus.
Epicydes, who was afraid that if these winds continued, this fleet
might be discouraged, and return to Africa, left Achradina to the
care of the generals of the mercenary troops, and went to Bomilcar,
whom he persuaded to try the event of a naval battle, as soon as
the weather would permit. Marcellus, seeing that the troops of the
Sicilians increased every day, and that if he stayed and suffered
himself to be shut up in Syracuse, he should be pressed by sea and
land, resolved, though not so strong in ships, to oppose the passage
of the Carthaginian fleet. As soon as the high winds abated, Bomilcar
stood out to sea, in order to double the cape; but when he saw the
Roman ships advancing in good order, on a sudden, on what account is
not known, he took to flight, sent orders to the transports to return
to Africa, and sought refuge himself in Tarentum. Epicydes, completely
disappointed in his great hopes, and apprehensive of returning into
a city already half-taken, made all sail for Agrigentum, rather with
the design of awaiting the event of the siege than of making any new
attempt from that point. When it became known in the camp of the
Sicilians that Epicydes had quitted Syracuse, and the Carthaginians
Sicily, they sent deputies to Marcellus, after having sounded the
disposition of the besieged, to treat upon the conditions on which
Syracuse should surrender. It was agreed with unanimity enough on
both sides, that what had appertained to the kings should belong to
the Romans, and that the Sicilians should retain all the rest, with
their laws and liberty. After these preliminaries, they demanded a
conference with those to whom Epicydes had intrusted the government in
his absence. They told them they had been sent by the army to Marcellus
and the inhabitants of Syracuse, in order that all the Sicilians, as
well within as without the city, might have the same fate, and that no
separate convention might be made. Having been permitted to enter the
city and confer with their friends and relations, after having informed
them of what they had already agreed with Marcellus, and giving them
assurances that their lives would be safe, they persuaded them to begin
by removing the three governors Epicydes had left in his place, which
was immediately put in execution. After this, having assembled the
people, they represented that if the Romans had undertaken the siege
of Syracuse, it was out of affection, not enmity, to the Syracusans;
that it was not till after they had been apprised of the oppression
they suffered from Hippocrates and Epicydes, those ambitious agents
of Hannibal, and afterwards of Hieronymus, that they had taken arms,
and begun the siege of the city, not to ruin it, but to destroy its
tyrants; that, as Hippocrates was dead, Epicydes no longer in Syracuse,
his lieutenants were slain, and the Carthaginians dispossessed of
Sicily, both by sea and land, what reason could the Romans now have
for not inclining as much to preserve Syracuse, as if Hiero, the sole
example of fidelity towards them, were still alive? That neither the
city nor the inhabitants had anything to fear but from themselves, if
they let slip the occasion for renewing their amity with the Romans;
that they never had so favourable an opportunity as the present, when
they were just delivered from the violent government of their tyrants;
and that the first use they ought to make of their liberty was to
return to their duty.
This discourse was perfectly well received by everybody. It was,
however, judged proper to create new magistrates before the nomination
of deputies; the latter of whom were chosen from the former. The deputy
who spoke in their name, and was instructed solely to use the utmost
endeavours that Syracuse might not be destroyed, addressed himself to
Marcellus, in a long but sensible speech, laying the whole blame of
the war upon Hippocrates and Epicydes. “For the rest,” said he, still
continuing to address Marcellus, “your interest is as much concerned as
ours. The gods have granted you the glory of having taken the finest
and most illustrious city possessed by the Greeks. All we have ever
achieved worthy of being recorded, either by sea or land, augments and
adorns your triumph. Fame is not a sufficiently faithful chronicler
to make known the greatness and strength of the city you have taken;
posterity can only judge of these by its own eyes. It is necessary that
we should be able to show to all travellers, from whatever part of the
universe they come, sometimes the trophies we have obtained from the
Athenians and Carthaginians, and sometimes those you have acquired
from us; and that Syracuse, thus placed for ever under the protection
of Marcellus, may be a lasting and an eternal monument of the valour
and clemency of him who took and preserved it. It is unjust that the
remembrance of Hieronymus should have more weight with you than that
of Hiero. The latter was much longer your friend than the former your
enemy. Permit me to say, you have experienced the good effects of
the amity of Hiero, but the senseless enterprises of Hieronymus have
fallen solely upon his own head.” The difficulty was not to obtain
what they demanded from Marcellus, but to preserve tranquillity and
union amongst those in the city. The deserters, convinced that they
should be delivered up to the Romans, inspired the foreign soldiers
with the same fear. Both the one and the other having, therefore,
taken arms whilst the deputies were still in the camp of Marcellus,
they began by cutting the throats of the newly-elected magistrates,
and, dispersing themselves on all sides, they put to the sword all
they met, and plundered whatever fell in their way. That they might
not be without leaders, they appointed six officers; three to command
in Achradina and three in the Isle. The tumult being at length
appeased, the foreign troops were informed, from all hands, that it
was concluded with the Romans that their cause should be entirely
distinct from that of the deserters. At the same instant, the deputies
who had been sent to Marcellus arrived, and fully undeceived them.
Amongst those who commanded in the Isle, there was a Spaniard, named
Mericus. Means were found to corrupt him: he gave up the gate near the
fountain Arethusa, to soldiers sent by Marcellus in the night to take
possession of it. At daybreak the next morning, Marcellus made a false
attack on the Achradina, to draw all the forces of the citadel, and
the Isle adjoining to it, to that side, and to enable some vessels he
had prepared to throw troops into the Isle, which would be unguarded.
Everything succeeded according to his plan. The soldiers whom those
vessels had landed in the Isle, finding almost all the posts abandoned,
and the gates by which the garrison of the citadel had marched out
against Marcellus still open, they took possession of them after a
slight encounter. Marcellus having received advice that he was master
of the Isle, and of part of Achradina, and that Mericus, with the body
under his command, had joined his troops, ordered a retreat to be
sounded, that the treasures of the kings might not be plundered. These
did not prove so valuable as was expected.
The deserters having escaped,--a passage being purposely left free for
them,--the Syracusans opened all the gates of Achradina to Marcellus,
and sent deputies to him with instructions to demand nothing further
from him than the preservation of the lives of themselves and their
children. Marcellus having assembled his council and some Syracusans
who were in his camp, gave his answer to the deputies in their
presence: “That Hiero, for fifty years, had not done the Roman people
more good than those who had been masters of Syracuse some years past
had intended to do them harm; but that their ill-will had fallen upon
their own heads, and they had punished themselves for their violation
of treaties in a more severe manner than the Romans could have desired;
that he had besieged Syracuse during three years, not that the Roman
people might reduce it into slavery, but to prevent the chiefs of the
revolters from continuing to hold it under oppression; that he had
undergone many fatigues and dangers in so long a siege, but that he
thought he had made himself ample amends by the glory of having taken
that city, and the satisfaction of having saved it from the entire ruin
it seemed to deserve.” After having placed a body of troops to secure
the treasury, and safeguards in the houses of the Syracusans who had
withdrawn to the camp, he abandoned the city to be plundered. It is
reported that the riches that were pillaged in Syracuse at this time
exceeded all that could have been expected at the taking of Carthage
itself. An unhappy accident interrupted the joy of Marcellus, and gave
him a very sensible affliction. Archimedes, at a time when all things
were in this confusion in Syracuse, shut up in his closet like a man
of another world, who has no interest in what is passing in this, was
intent upon the study of some geometrical figure, and not only his
eyes, but the whole faculties of his soul, were so engaged in this
contemplation, that he had neither heard the tumult of the Romans,
universally busy in plundering, nor the report of the city’s being
taken. A soldier suddenly came in upon him, and bade him follow him to
Marcellus. Archimedes desired him to stay a minute till he had solved
his problem, and finished the demonstration of it. The soldier, who
cared for neither the problem nor the demonstration, and was vexed
at the delay, which, perhaps, kept him from plunder, drew his sword
and killed him. Marcellus was exceedingly afflicted when he heard the
news of his death. Not being able to restore him to life, he paid all
the honours in his power to his memory. He made a diligent research
after all his relations, treated them with great distinction, and
granted them peculiar privileges. He caused the funeral of Archimedes
to be performed in the most solemn manner, and ordered a monument
to be erected to him among those of the great persons who had most
distinguished themselves in Syracuse. There are other accounts of the
manner of his death, but all agree that it was accidental, contrary to
the wish of Marcellus, and took place immediately after the capture of
the city.
Archimedes by his will had desired his relations and friends to
put no other epitaph on his tomb, after his death, than a cylinder
circumscribed by a sphere; that is to say, a globe, or spherical
figure, and to set down at the bottom the proportions which these two
solids, the containing and the contained, have to each other. He might
have filled up the bases of the columns of his tomb with relievos,
whereon the whole history of the siege of Syracuse might have been
carved, and himself appeared like another Jupiter, thundering upon
the Romans. But he set an infinitely higher value upon the discovery
of a geometrical demonstration, than upon all the so much celebrated
machines he had invented. Hence he chose rather to do himself honour in
the eyes of posterity, by the discovery he had made of the relation of
a sphere to a cylinder of the same base and height; which is as two to
three.
The Syracusans, who had been in former times so fond of the sciences,
did not long retain the esteem and gratitude they owed a man who had
done so much honour to their city. Less than a hundred and forty
years after, Archimedes was so perfectly forgotten by the citizens,
notwithstanding the great services he had done them, that they denied
his having been buried at Syracuse. It is Cicero who informs us of
this circumstance. At the time he was quæstor in Sicily, his curiosity
induced him to make a search after the tomb of Archimedes, a curiosity
worthy of a man of Cicero’s genius. The Syracusans assured him that
his search would be to no purpose, and that there was no such monument
amongst them. Cicero pitied their ignorance, which only served to
increase his desire of making the discovery. At length, after several
fruitless attempts, he perceived, without the gate of the city, facing
Agrigentum, amongst a great number of tombs, a pillar, almost entirety
concealed by thorns and brambles, through which he could discern
the figure of a sphere and a cylinder. Those who have any taste for
antiquities may easily imagine the joy of Cicero upon this occasion.
Adopting the words of Archimedes, he exclaimed--“I have found what I
looked for.” The place was immediately ordered to be cleared, and a
passage opened to the column, on which was found the inscription, still
legible, though some of the lines were obliterated by time. So that,
says Cicero, on finishing this account, the greatest city of Greece,
and the most flourishing of old in the study of the sciences, would not
have known the treasure it possessed, if a man, born in a country which
it considered almost as barbarous, a man of Aspinum, had not discovered
for it the tomb of its citizen, so highly distinguished by the force
and penetration of his mind. We trust our readers will excuse our
having gone into more details in our account of this siege than of most
others, but we consider it one of the most interesting of antiquity. We
do not often meet with the genius of an Archimedes, or the virtues of a
Marcellus, to mitigate the horrors of a siege.