Plutarch's Lives, Volume 2 (of 4)

by Plutarch

XII. For this reason, as one of the consuls was dead, the people called for Marcellus, though he was absent, to become his successor; and in spite of the efforts of the government they put off the day of election until he came to Rome from the army. He was elected consul by the votes of all the tribes, but it thundered at the time, and as the priests declared this an unpropitious omen, but did not dare openly to oppose his election for fear of the people, he himself voluntarily resigned his office. But he did not avoid military service, but was created proconsul, and returning to Nola and his army he harassed those who had chosen the side of Hannibal. When the latter hastily marched to the assistance of his friends, and offered to fight a pitched battle with Marcellus, he declined; but subsequently, when the greater part of the Carthaginian army was scattered in search of plunder, and no longer expecting an attack, he fell upon it. He had distributed long lances, such as are used on ship-board, among his infantry, and instructed them to watch their opportunity and hurl these from a distance at the Carthaginians, who had no javelin-men, and whose heavy spears were only used to thrust with at close quarters. In consequence, it seems, of this, all who engaged with the Romans that day turned their backs and shamefully fled, losing five thousand killed, six hundred prisoners; while of their elephants, four were killed and two taken alive. And, what was of the greatest importance of all, on the third day after the above battle, three hundred Spanish and Numidian cavalry deserted to the Romans, a thing which never had happened to Hannibal before, as, although his army was composed of so many different nations, he had been able for a very long time to inspire it with the same spirit. These men faithfully served Marcellus and the generals who succeeded him.

XIII. Marcellus, when elected consul for the third time, sailed to Sicily; for Hannibal's successes in the war had encouraged the Carthaginians to recover that island, especially as Syracusan politics were in a disturbed state in consequence of the death of the despot Hieronymus; and on this account a Roman army under Appius had already been sent there. When Marcellus had taken the command of this army, he received a large accession of Roman soldiers, whose misfortune was as follows. Of the troops who fought with Hannibal at Cannæ, some fled, and some were taken alive, in such numbers that the Romans scarcely thought that they had left sufficient citizens to man the city walls, but this remnant was so full of pride and so great of soul, that, though Hannibal offered to release the captives for a small ransom, they would not take them, but refused by a decree of the Senate, and endured to see some of them put to death, and others sold out of Italy as slaves. The mass of those who had saved themselves by flight they sent to Sicily, with orders not to set foot on the soil of Italy until the war with Hannibal was over. So when Marcellus went to Sicily, these men came in a body into his presence, and falling on the ground before him besought him to permit them to serve as honourable soldiers, promising with cries and tears that they would prove by their actions that it was more by their bad fortune than their cowardice that the defeat at Cannæ took place. Marcellus was touched with compassion, and wrote to the Senate asking to be allowed to fill up from these men the vacancies which would occur in the ranks of his army. Much discussion followed; and at last the Senate decreed that Rome did not require the services of cowardly citizens, but, if Marcellus nevertheless wished to make use of them, they must not receive any of the crowns and other rewards which are commonly bestowed by generals as the prizes of valour. This decree vexed Marcellus, and after the war in Sicily he returned to Rome and blamed the Senate that, in spite of all that he had done for them, they would not allow him to relieve so many citizens from such a miserable position.

XIV. In Sicily, at this time, he had just cause of complaint against Hippokrates the Syracusan general, who, favouring the Carthaginian side, and wishing to establish himself as despot, put to death many Romans at Leontini. Marcellus took Leontini by storm, and did no harm to the inhabitants, but flogged and executed all the deserters whom he found. Hippokrates first sent to Syracuse a story that Marcellus was exterminating the people of Leontini, and when this report had thrown the city into confusion he fell upon it and made himself master of it. Marcellus hereupon proceeded to Syracuse with his whole army, and encamping near the city sent ambassadors to tell them what had really happened in Leontini. By this, however, he gained nothing, as the Syracusans would not listen to him (for the party of Hippokrates was in the ascendant). He now attacked the city both by sea and land, Appius commanding the land forces, while Marcellus directed a fleet of sixty quinqueremes[15] full of armed men and missile weapons. He raised a vast engine upon a raft made 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 number of machines, some for the attack and some for the defence of a city, of which he himself did not make use, as he spent most of his life in unwarlike and literary leisure, but now these engines were ready for use in Syracuse, and also, the inventor was present to direct their working.

XV. So when the Romans attacked by sea and land at once, the Syracusans were at first terrified and silent, dreading that nothing could resist such an armament. But Archimedes opened fire from his machines, throwing upon the land forces all manner of darts and great stones, with an incredible noise and violence, which no man could withstand; but those upon whom they fell were struck down in heaps, and their ranks thrown into confusion, while some of the ships were suddenly seized by iron hooks, and by a counter-balancing weight were drawn up and then plunged to the bottom. Others they caught by irons like hands or claws suspended from cranes, and first pulled them up by their bows till they stood upright upon their sterns, and then cast down into the water, or by means of windlasses and tackles worked inside the city, dashed them against the cliffs and rocks at the base of the walls, with terrible destruction to their crews. Often was seen the fearful sight of a ship lifted out of the sea into the air, swaying and balancing about, until the men were all thrown out or overwhelmed with stones from slings, when the empty vessel would either be dashed against the fortifications, or dropped into the sea by the claws being let go. The great engine which Marcellus was bringing up on the raft, called the Harp, from some resemblance to that instrument, was, while still at a distance, struck by a stone of ten talents weight, and then another and another, which fell with a terrible crash, breaking the platform on which the machine stood, loosening its bolts, and tearing asunder the hulks which supported it. Marcellus, despairing of success, drew off his ships as fast as possible, and sent orders to the land forces to retreat. In a council of war, it was determined to make another assault by night; for they argued that the straining cords which Archimedes used to propel his missiles required a long distance to work in, and would make the shot fly over them at close quarters, and be practically useless, as they required a long stroke. But he, it appears, had long before prepared engines suited for short as well as long distances, and short darts to use in them; and from many small loop-holes pierced through the wall small scorpions, as they are called, stood ready to shoot the enemy, though invisible to them.

XVI. When then they attacked, expecting that they would not be seen, they again encountered a storm of blows from stones which fell perpendicularly upon their heads and darts which were poured from all parts of the wall. They were forced to retire, and when they came within range of the larger machines missiles were showered upon them as they retreated, destroying many men and throwing the ships into great disorder, without their being able to retaliate. For most of the engines on the walls had been devised by Archimedes, and the Romans thought that they were fighting against gods and not men, as destruction fell upon them from invisible hands.

XVII. However, Marcellus escaped unhurt, and sarcastically said to his own engineers: "Are we to give in to this Briareus of a geometrician, who sits at his ease by the seashore and plays at upsetting our ships, to our lasting disgrace, and surpasses the hundred-handed giant of fable by hurling so many weapons at us at once?" For indeed all the other Syracusans were merely the limbs of Archimedes, and his mind alone directed and guided everything. All other arms were laid aside and the city trusted to his weapons solely for defence and safety. At length Marcellus, seeing that the Romans had become so scared that if only a rope or small beam were seen over the wall they would turn and fly, crying out that Archimedes was bringing some engine to bear upon them, ceased assaulting the place, and trusted to time alone to reduce it. Yet Archimedes had so great a mind and such immense philosophic speculations that although by inventing these engines he had acquired the glory of a more than human intellect, he would not condescend to leave behind him any writings upon the subject, regarding the whole business of mechanics and the useful arts as base and vulgar, but placed his whole study and delight in those speculations in which absolute beauty and excellence appear unhampered by the necessities of life, and argument is made to soar above its subject matter, since by the latter only bulk and outward appearance, but by the other accuracy of reasoning and wondrous power, can be attained: for it is impossible in the whole science of geometry to find more difficult hypotheses explained on clearer or more simple principles than in his works. Some attribute this to his natural genius, others say that his indefatigable industry made his work seem as though it had been done without labour, though it cost much. For no man by himself could find out the solution of his problems, but as he reads, he begins to think that he could have discovered it himself, by so smooth and easy a road does he lead one up to the point to be proved. One cannot therefore disbelieve the stories which are told of him: how he seemed ever bewitched by the song of some indwelling syren of his own so as to forget to eat his food, and to neglect his person, and how, when dragged forcibly to the baths and perfumers, he would draw geometrical figures with the ashes on the hearth, and when his body was anointed would trace lines on it with his finger, absolutely possessed and inspired by the joy he felt in his art. He discovered many beautiful problems, and is said to have begged his relatives and friends to place upon his tomb when he died a cylinder enclosing a sphere, and to write on it the proof of the ratio of the containing solid to the contained.

XVIII. Such was Archimedes, who at this time rendered himself, and as far as lay in him, the city, invincible.

During the blockade Marcellus took Megara, one of the most ancient of the Greek cities in Sicily, and also captured Hippokrates' camp at Acrillæ, with a destruction of more than eight thousand of his men, attacking them just as they were planting the palisades of the rampart. He overran a great part of Sicily, induced cities to revolt from Carthage, and beat all forces that opposed him. As time went on, he took prisoner one Damippus, a Spartan, as he was sailing out of the harbour of Syracuse. The Syracusans desired to ransom this man, and Marcellus, in the course of many negotiations and conferences about him, noticed that a certain tower was carelessly guarded, and that men might be introduced into it secretly, as the wall near it was easy to climb. Having, from his frequent journeys to confer with the besieged near this tower, gained a good idea of its height, he prepared scaling-ladders, and waited till the Syracusans were engaged in celebrating the feast of Artemis, and given up to drinking and amusement. Not only did he gain the tower unobserved, but was able to occupy the whole circuit of wall with his troops, and to break into the Hexapylon.[16] When the Syracusans began to discover their position and muster for their defence, he ordered trumpets to sound on all sides, which produced great terror and tumult, as they imagined that no part of the walls remained untaken. Yet the strongest, and that too the largest and finest part of the city, was still left, called Achradina, because it is fortified on the side near the outer town, part of which is called Neapolis, and part Tyche.

XIX. These parts of the city were captured, and at daybreak Marcellus moved down through the Hexapylon, amidst the congratulations of his officers. It is said that when, from the high ground he surveyed that great and fair city, he burst into tears, thinking how sadly it would soon be changed in appearance when sacked by his soldiers. For none of his officers dared to oppose the soldiers when they demanded the privilege of plunder, and many encouraged them to burn and destroy. But Marcellus would not so much as entertain the idea of this, but, much against his will, was forced to permit them to carry off the movable property and slaves, though he forbade them to touch freemen, and gave strict orders that none of the citizens of Syracuse should be slain, dishonoured, or enslaved. Yet even after moderating their license to this extent he thought that the city was sadly ill-treated, and even in such a moment of triumph he showed great sorrow and sympathy for it, as he saw such great wealth and comfort swept away in a few hours; for the treasure was said to be not less than that which was afterwards taken in Carthage itself. The rest of the city was taken after a short time by treachery, and the soldiers insisted upon plundering it, with the exception of the royal treasury, which was confiscated to the state.