m from no visible means, began to think they were
fighting with the gods.

Yet Marcellus escaped unhurt, and, deriding his own artificers
and engineers, exclaimed "What! Must we give up fighting with this
geometrical Briareus, who plays pitch and toss with our ships, and,
with the multitude of darts which he showers at a single moment upon us,
really outdoes the hundred-handed giants of mythology?" The rest of the
Syracusans were but the body of Archimedes' designs, one soul moving
and governing all; for, laying aside all other arms, with his alone they
infested the Romans, and protected themselves. In fine, when such terror
had seized upon the Romans, that, if they did but see a little rope or
a piece of wood from the wall, they instantly cried out, "There it is
again! Archimedes is about to let fly another engine at us," and turned
their backs and fled, Marcellus desisted from conflicts and assaults,
putting all his hope in a long siege. Yet Archimedes possessed so high a
spirit, so profound a soul, and such treasures of scientific knowledge,
that though these inventions had now obtained him the renown of more
than human sagacity, he yet would not deign to leave behind him any
commentary or writing on such subjects; but, repudiating as sordid and
ignoble the whole trade of engineering, and every sort of art that
lends itself to mere use and profit, he placed his whole affection and
ambition in those purer speculations where there can be no reference
to the vulgar needs of life; studies, the superiority of which to all
others is unquestioned, and in which the only doubt can be, whether
the beauty and grandeur of the subjects examined, or the precision and
cogency of the methods and means of proof, most deserve our admiration.
It is not possible to find in all geometry more difficult and intricate
questions, or more simple and lucid explanations. Some ascribe this to
his natural genius; while others think that incredible effort and toil
produced these apparently easy and unlabored results. No amount of
investigation of yours would succeed in attaining the proof, and yet,
once seen, you immediately believe you would have discovered it; by so
smooth and so rapid a path he leads you to the conclusion required. And
thus it ceases to be incredible that (as is commonly told of him), the
charm of his familiar and domestic Siren made him forget his food and
neglect his person, to such a degree that when he was occasionally
carr