ARCHIMEDES, one of the most eminent of the ancient mathematicians, was born at Syracuse in Sicily, about the year 280 before the Christian era. Hiero, king of Syracuse, deemed it an honour to have this philosopher for his relative and friend. History does not inform us, to whom he was indebted for the rudiments of literature, but he flourished about 50 years after Euclid. It is reported, that he was indebted to Egypt for much of his knowledge; but other accounts indicate, that he conferred more knowledge than he received from that celebrated nation; and, in particular, Diodorus mentions, that Egypt was indebted to him for the invention of the screw-pump, for drawing off water. And the same author narrates, that he was the inventor of several other useful machines, which conveyed his fame to every quarter of the globe. The following passage from Livy, proves, that he was dexterous both for the inventing warlike machines, and also for his accurate observation of the heavenly bodies, "Unicus spectator cæli siderumque, mirabilior tamen inventor ac machinator bellicorum tormentorum", &c. lib. xxiv. It appears also, that in Cicero's time, he had become proverbial for his skill in solving problem. In a letter to Atticus, he informs him, that he is now freed from a difficulty, which he termed an Archimedean problem, lib. xiii. ep. 28.
It may perhaps be impossible distinctly to ascertain the different inventions of this great man; but from the following passage, it appears that he formed a glass sphere, or some kind of planetarium, which, with no small degree of accuracy, represented the phenomena of the heavenly bodies. Hence says Claudian
Jupiter, in parvo cum cerneret aethera vitro,
Risit, et ad superos talia dicta dedit:
Hæcine
Hæcine mortalis progressa potentia curæ?
Jam mens in fragile ludetur orbis labor.
Jura poli, rerumque fidem, legesque deorum,
Ecce Syracosius transulat arti senex.
Inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astris,
Et verum certis motibus arget opus.
Percurrit proprium mentitus signifer annum,
Et simulata novo Cynthia mense redit.
Jamque suum volvens auctor industria mundum
Gaudet, et humana sidera mente regit.
Quid falso infontem tonitru Salmonca miror?
Emula nature parva reperta manus.
"When in a glass's narrow sphere confin'd,
Jove saw the fabric of th' Almighty mind;
He smil'd, and said, 'Can mortals art alone
Our heav'nly labours mimic with their own?'
The Syracusan's brittle work contains
Th' eternal law that through all nature reigns.
Fram'd by his art, see stars unnumber'd burn,
And in their courses rolling orbs return;
His sun, through various signs describe the year,
And every month his mimic moons appear.
Our rival's laws his little planets bind,
And rule their motions by a human mind:
Salmoncus could our thunder imitate;
But Archimedes can a world create."
In the following lines the same machine is mentioned by Ovid.
Arte Syracosia suspensus in ære clauso,
Stat globus, immensi parva figura poli.