e by lashing eight ships together,
and sailed with it to attack the wall, trusting to the numbers and
excellence of his siege engines, and to his own personal prestige.
But Archimedes and his machines cared nothing for this, though he did
not speak of any of these engines as being constructed by serious
labour, but as the mere holiday sports of a geometrician. He would not
indeed have constructed them but at the earnest request of King Hiero,
who entreated him to leave the abstract for the concrete, and to bring
his ideas within the comprehension of the people by embodying them in
tangible forms.

Eudoxus and Archytas were the first who began to treat of this
renowned science of mechanics, cleverly illustrating it, and proving
such problems as were hard to understand, by means of solid and actual
instruments, as, for instance, both of them resorted to mechanical
means to find a mean proportional, which is necessary for the solution
of many other geometrical questions. This they did by the
construction, from various curves and sections, of certain instruments
called mesographs. Plato was much vexed at this, and inveighed against
them for destroying the real excellence of geometry by making it leave
the region of pure intellect and come within that of the senses, and
become mixed up with bodies which require much base servile labour. So
mechanics became separated from geometry, and, long regarded with
contempt by philosophy, was reckoned among the military arts. However
Archimedes, who was a relative and friend of Hiero, wrote that with a
given power he could move any given weight whatever, and, as it were
rejoicing in the strength of his demonstration, he is said to have
declared that if he were given another world to stand upon, he could
move this upon which we live. Hiero wondered at this, and begged him
to put this theory into practice, and show him something great moved
by a small force. Archimedes took a three-masted ship, a transport in
the king's navy, which had just been dragged up on land with great
labour and many men; in this he placed her usual complement of men and
cargo, and then sitting at some distance, without any trouble, by
gently pulling with his hand the end of a system of pullies, he
dragged it towards him with as smooth and even a motion as if it were
passing over the sea. The king wondered greatly at this, and
perceiving the value of his arts, prevailed upon Archimedes to
construct for him a numb