Other Inventions of Archimedes
Other machines which he invented were directed against
storming parties, who, advancing under the protection of penthouses, were secured by them from being hurt by missiles
shot through the walls. Against these he either shot stones
big enough to drive the marines from the prow; or let down
an iron hand swung on a chain, by which the man who
guided the crane, having fastened on some part of the prow
where he could get a hold, pressed down the lever of the
machine inside the wall; and when he had thus lifted the prow
and made the vessel rest upright on its stern, he fastened
the lever of his machine so that it could not be moved; and then
suddenly slackened the hand and chain by means of a rope
and pulley. The result was that many of the vessels heeled over
and fell on their sides: some completely capsized; while the
greater number, by their prows coming down suddenly from a
height, dipped low in the sea, shipped a great quantity of
water, and became a scene of the utmost confusion. Though
reduced almost to despair by these baffling inventions of
Archimedes, and though he saw that all his attempts were
repulsed by the garrison with mockery on their part and loss
to himself, Marcellus could not yet refrain from making a joke
at his own expense, saying that "Archimedes was using his
ships to ladle out the sea-water, but that his 'harps' not having
been invited to the party were buffeted and turned out with
disgrace." Such was the end of the attempt at storming
Syracuse by sea.
