[2] Why have I said all this? It was not out of an ill-timed desire to air my knowledge of history that I brought it up, but because the same. thing is true of engineers—we ought to admire those who, though famous for knowledge, have yet left to later generations reminders and proofs of their practical skill, for men trained in words alone would better be called wiseacres than wise. Such an engineer we are told, was Archimedes, and also Sostratus of Cnidus, The latter took Memphis for Ptolemy without a siege by turning the river aside and dividing it; the former burned the ships of the enemy by means of his science. And before their time Thales of Miletus, who had promised Croesus to set his army across the Halys dryshod, thanks to his ingenuity brought the river round behind the camp in a single night. Yet he was not an engineer: he was wise, however, and very able at devising plans and grasping problems. . As for the case of Epeius, it is prehistoric: he is said not only to have made the wooden horse for the Achaeans but to have gone into it along with them.
Hippias. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.
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