t and successful antagonist, Scipio Africanus.

Thus perished, in exile, one of the greatest warriors of any age, who,
almost without aid from home, supported himself for fifteen years in
Italy against all the power of Rome and the greatest generals she could
supply. Had Carthage shown the military spirit of Rome, Hannibal might
have stopped effectually the conquering career of that warlike city.

_ARCHIMEDES AT THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE._

The city of Syracuse, the capital of Sicily, rose to prominence in
ancient history through its three famous sieges. The first of these was
that long siege which ruined Athens and left Syracuse uncaptured. The
second was the siege by Timoleon, who took the city almost without a
blow. The third was the siege by the Romans, in which the genius of one
man, the celebrated mathematician and engineer Archimedes, long set at
naught all the efforts of the besieging army and fleet.

This remarkable defence took place during the wars with Hannibal. Such
was the warlike energy of the Romans, that, while their city itself was
threatened by this great general, they sent armies abroad, one into
Spain and another into Sicily. The latter, under a consul named Appius,
besieged Syracuse by sea and land. Hoping to take the city by sudden
assault, before it could be properly got ready for defence, Appius
pushed forward his land force, fully provided with blinds and ladders,
against the walls. At the same time a fleet of sixty quinqueremes under
the consul Marcellus advanced to the assault from the side of the
harbor. Among these vessels were eight which had been joined together
two and two, and which carried machines called sackbuts. These consisted
of immensely long ladders, projecting far beyond the bows, and so
arranged that they could be raised by ropes and pulleys, and the end let
fall upon the top of the wall. Four men, well protected by wooden
blinds, occupied the top of each ladder, ready to attack the defenders
of the walls while their comrades hastened up the ladder to their aid.

There was only one thing on which the consuls had not counted, and that
was that Syracuse possessed the greatest artificer of ancient times.
They had to fight not Syracuse alone but Syracuse and Archimedes; and
they found the latter their most formidable foe. In short, the skill of
this one man did more to baffle the Romans than the strength and courage
of all the garrison.

The historian Polybius has so well