7
That evening Delia was informed that her brother wished to speak to her in his library. She was somewhat taken aback at the choice of location. Hieron generally received the leaders of Syracuse's army and city council in his dining hall or study, and talked to members of his household wherever they happened to be. The library was his private retreat. She picked her way through the gardens and along the colonnade with a mixture of curiosity and foreboding.
The library was a small room- the book collection of a private individual, not of a city- and it faced onto the smallest of the house's three courtyards. Three of its walls were lined from floor to ceiling with book racks, a neat crisscross of lathes from which the parchment title tags of the scrolls hung down, making the whole room flutter; the fourth wall held the door and a window. The only furniture was a couch, a small side table, and a lampstand. When Delia entered she found her brother reclining on the couch, frowning over a book which lay scrolled open in the light of the three lamps burning on the stand.
'Hieron?' she said, and he looked up with a smile, then sat up, swinging his feet off the couch and gesturing for her to sit. As she did so, she glanced at the open book, then stared at it hard. It was full of geometrical diagrams.
Hieron grinned and offered the scroll to her. The title tag informed her that it was Euclid's Conics, Book 3. She waved her hand at it in refusal and mock terror.
'I don't understand it either,' said Hieron. 'I was just trying to see if something I saw today was in it. It isn't.'
At this Delia guessed the reason for the summons. 'You've seen Archimedes son of Phidias?' she asked eagerly. She had told her brother about her discovery as soon as he returned from Messana.
Hieron nodded. 'And you're right about him,' he said. He rolled the scroll up carefully. 'He is a very, very clever young man, and could undoubtedly be of value to the city.' The rollers clicked together; he tapped them straight and slid the book into its parchment case. 'The question is,' he went on in a low voice, 'how valuable is he, and how much am I willing to pay for him?' And he rested the scroll against his chin, eyes fixed thoughtfully on nothing.
'Did the catapult work?'
'Oh, the catapult!' said Hieron dismissively. 'Yes, it works. As far as your friend is concerned, it's a good medium-sized catapult, and he hopes it will earn him fifty drachmae and a job alongside Eudaimon.'
'Oh,' said Delia, disappointed. 'Alongside.'
Hieron lifted his eyebrows. 'I'm keeping Eudaimon. I can't afford to lose any engineers just now, and his work is acceptable when he has a machine he can copy. Now he can copy Archimedes'. Once he understands what it is he's copying, I expect he'll be downright enthusiastic about it. It will take him a while to work it out, though, and unfortunately he's going to have to be kept on a tight leash while he does. That's in hand.' The king tapped the scrolled book against his chin again. 'The question is, what am I to do with Archimedes?'
'Hire him, of course!' exclaimed Delia.
Hieron shook his head and sighed. 'As what?'
'As an engineer- what else? And if you expect Eudaimon to copy from him, you ought to make him Eudaimon's superior.'
'Yes, but do I gave him a rank and salary equal to Eudaimon- or to Kallippos? Or do I make up my mind that I'm going to keep him in Syracuse whatever he costs, and plan accordingly? I was hoping, sister, that you, who know the man better than I do, could give me a bit of advice.'
Delia stared. 'I-' she began; then changed it to, 'But you said it was just a good medium-sized catapult!'
Hieron shook his head. 'I said, as far as he's concerned. It's a one-talenter with a range of five hundred feet and an accuracy equal to the best arrow-shooter, and it can be pivoted with one hand. Archimedes is too young and inexperienced to realize how exceptional it is, but Kallippos didn't know whether to go wild with admiration or with jealousy.' There was a pause, and then the king added, with a smile, 'Being Kallippos, of course he did neither. He just scowled at it and hissed. But I'd bet anything he's in the workshop right now trying to replicate the pivot.'
'I don't think I can advise you at all,' said Delia, in a small voice. 'I didn't expect- I just thought it was a matter of him replacing Eudaimon. Is he really that good?'
Hieron nodded seriously. 'He may be even better. I've asked him to give a demonstration of ideal mechanics. He offered to move a ship single-handed. I'll see how that turns out before I make up my mind what to do about him.'
'I don't understand,' said Delia after a moment. 'Why do you have to make up your mind about him now? Why not just- well, give him a job and keep promoting him?'
Hieron shook his head. He hitched himself up on the couch and turned himself to face her squarely. 'Imagine I'm him.'
'You don't look a bit like him,' she said, smiling.
'Now, what is that supposed to mean? You think I should lose some weight? No, imagine I'm the son of Phidias, a mathematical engineer raised by a mathematical astronomer, the sort of man who amuses himself during his idle moments by working out theorems too advanced for Euclid. I studied in Alexandria at the Museum. I liked it. I didn't want to come home. But there's a war starting, my father's ill, and my family depends on me. I am a dutiful and affectionate son. I come home, I look for work making war machines, I find it. Right so far?'
'I think so,' agreed Delia, beginning to be intrigued. 'You're certainly right that he liked Alexandria. He talked about it even to me.'
'Everyone Agathon spoke to about him mentioned it! He was apparently supposed to come home two years before he did. Don't look so surprised- you're the one who set Agathon onto him. All right, my first catapult has passed its trial and I've happily agreed to work for what Leptines offered me. I make some very large, very advanced catapults; I also produce countermeasures to seige towers and mines. I'm good at that, of course- the key to siege machinery is the accurate calculation of size and distance, and the key to that is geometry, at which I am adept. At first I don't notice that I'm exceptional, because I haven't made war machines before and I don't have any standard of comparison. But before long it dawns on me that none of the other engineers in the city can do the things I'm doing. And eventually the fame of my machines spreads, and other cities and kingdoms try to hire me. Now: am I a loyal citizen?'
'I think so,' said Delia. 'After all, you did come home when you heard about the war, and you hurried to place your abilities at the disposal of the city.'
'Ye-es- but on the other hand, making catapults is the easiest way for an engineer to earn money during a war, and with my father ill my family needs money. Still, we'll say I'm a loyal Syracusan as well as a dutiful son. I reject the offers of Carthaginian Akragas and Roman Tarentum; I scorn Cyrene and Epirus and Macedon- but I feel aggrieved. My family's not rich, my younger sister is of an age to marry and needs a dowry, and I know that I'm worth more than I'm getting. Besides, it's mathematics, not war machines, that is my soul's passion: the yoke frets me. When one of my old Alexandrian friends writes to tell me that King Ptolemy would give me a job in Egypt- five times the salary and half the work- I accept it, take my family, and go. Any comments?'
Delia frowned. 'You wouldn't abandon your city in time of war!'
'Maybe we'll be out of the war by then: gods, let us be! But if we aren't, won't it mean that I'm eager to take my family out of danger? Particularly when it means returning to a place I love and never wanted to leave. Besides, Egypt is an ally: serving her isn't betraying Syracuse.'
'Would Ptolemy really offer that much?'
'Oh, that's certain!' exclaimed Hieron in surprise. 'Ptolemy's spent a fortune on investigating catapult design, and his advisers perpetually scan the horizon for improvements. And Egypt is rich.'
'Well then,' said Delia, smiling with satisfaction, 'you should offer him more from the start, so that he's got no cause to feel aggrieved and discontented!'
Hieron took a deep breath. 'Perhaps. But start again. My catapult has passed its trial, and I'm made the equal of Kallippos and paid two or three times as much as I expected. On the strength of this, I can arrange for my sister to marry a man of good family, and perhaps marry a woman of good family myself. I become a citizen of some standing. I have wealth, I have respect. I'm grateful to the city. Even when I realize that my reward is merited, I'm still grateful, because the city recognized me before I recognized myself. When the offer from Egypt comes, I reject it…' Hieron paused, then went on softly, 'Or do I?' He stood up suddenly and crossed the room to the book rack. He
