Page:History of the Royal Society.djvu/423

 It was said of Civil Government by Plato, that then the World will be best rul'd, when either Philosophers shall be chosen Kings, or Kings shall have Philosophical Minds. And I will affirm the like of Philosophy; it will then attain to Perfection, when either the Mechanic Labourers shall have Philosophical Heads, or the Philosophers shall have Mechanical Hands; for the proof of this I need only propose one Instance, with which I am furnish'd by Antiquity; and it is of Archimedes; by this Example alone, we may at once chastise the sloth of all Ages since his time, and confute the present Contemners of Mechanic Knowledge. This Great Man was one of the first who apply'd his Skill, in the Mathematics and Physics, to the Practices and Motions of Manual Trades. And in these his Success was so prodigious, that the true Contrivances of his Hands did exceed all the fabulous Strength, which either the ancient Stories, or modern Romances have bestow'd on their Heroes. The Weights he mov'd were so vast, and the Engines he fram'd had such dreadful Effects, that his Force could neither be resisted by Seas, or Mountains, or Fleets, or Armies, which are the greatest Powers of Nature and Men. He alone sustain'd the Burden of his falling Country; he alone kept the Romans at a Bay, to whom the whole World was to yield. And perhaps he had come off victorious at last, if he had not contended with the fatal Valour of Marcellus: Amongst all whose Exploits, these are recorded as the two greatest, that he first shew'd that Hannibal might be subdu'd; and that he vanquish'd Syracuse, though it was defended by Archimedes.

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