"This was harder than I thought," Gaius began. "It appears that these contraries are always cited, but I don't agree with them."
"You don't?" Timothy snorted. "May I enquire why not? Surely you agree there are the contraries of lightness and heaviness, of hot and cold, and. ."
"Cold could be the absence of heat," Gaius interrupted, "just as, according to the great Aristotle, darkness is the absence of light." It was only as he said that, he paused. This was more or less what Athene had told him in that dream, or whatever it was. Perhaps all he was doing was recalling what she had said without knowing it, but that did not make sense either. How could he dream about something about which he knew nothing, yet would turn out to be true?
"So what else have you thought about contraries?" Timothy asked, in part to gain time. The concept that cold could be the absence of heat had stunned him, but the pest was correct in that Aristotle had pointed out that darkness was the absence of light. But if cold was the absence of heat, then. ?
"If I go back to Anaximander's forces that you were discussing last time. ."
"Yes?"
"It appears ridiculous to assert that heat is being generated at the equator, and its contrary cold is generated at the pole."
"It may appear to be ridiculous," Timothy pointed out, "but it happens. If you go south you get hot, while if you go north you get cold."
"What I am saying," he replied, putting some of his newly acquired mathematics to good use, "is that cold is the absence of heat. The equator is hot because the sunlight strikes it square on, while at the poles geometry says it essentially slides past. The poles are colder because they get far less heat on a given amount of surface."
"I see," a bemused Timothy said.
"There are contraries," Gaius said with more conviction, "but Aristotle was wrong to think they are different things. There is just one, and the contrary is its opposite, or lack thereof."
"And what lead you to that conclusion?" Timothy asked.
"Divine inspiration," Gaius shrugged, but the more he thought of this, the more concerned he became. In the dream, or whatever, Athene had stated that this opinion of contraries was important for his future, but it was also important in that it would be an early means of validating the predictions. This analysis of contraries had come to pass, and Gaius was only just beginning to realize that Timothy had never heard any interpretation like that. That meant he had to start his journal with this, which presumably would take him towards his destiny, but how?
"It would be," Timothy shook his head. This was a new problem. Perhaps this boy really did have talent. "Have you any further examples?"
"You asked me to think about locomotion. If I drop something, it has a force driving it towards the centre of the Earth," Gaius said. "Now if it falls further, it falls faster. It's weight presumably stays the same, so force is proportional to acceleration."
"Are you sure?" Timothy asked with a smile. "You have a cart going along the road at a good walking pace. Let the horse go, and what happens?"
"The cart stops," Gaius nodded.
"So the horse is exerting a force," Timothy smiled. "If the horse exerts more force, the cart will go faster, or the same with your stream. Clearly force is proportional to speed, and it is change of force that is proportional to acceleration."
"I see," Gaius frowned. In fact he did not. Something seemed to be wrong, but he could not work out what it was.
"There're plenty of clues, if you stop and think," Timothy smiled. "Which is the heavier, a rock or a feather?"
"Obviously the rock," Gaius replied, in the tone of someone who could see where this was going, and should have an answer for it, but did not.
"So the rock has more force," Timothy smiled, "and, if you don't believe me, drop a rock and a feather on your toe! The more force, the more speed results. Everything has a force; therefore it accelerates you to the centre of the Earth, no matter where you are, which, I might add, is the critical fact the great Aristotle used to show why the Earth must be a sphere. No other shape arises from a universal acceleration towards a point. Now, think about the bow. The arrow from the stronger bow will receive more force and that arrow will go further. Go try out some bows, and see if I'm right."
As Gaius left, Timothy stared pensively at the retreating back. The young man seemed strangely interested in quite a variety of things and he was undoubtedly intelligent. A problem remained, however: what was he doing? Creating a more educated tyrant? The fact remained that Aristotle had helped create a monster, and if Aristotle could not restrain his charge, how could he? But was this young Roman a monster? And if not, was he doing the opposite: teaching and encouraging a Roman in physics, a skill he might find totally unsuited for later life, for who, after all, had heard of a Roman interested in Greek science. Romans found it too abstract, and in truth, too useless.
Meanwhile, Gaius was anything but happy. Something was wrong with Timothy's argument! In the normal course of events, he would not care, but there were those predictions! Athene, or whoever that had been, had stated that his life depended on understanding, and he was in trouble over something so simple!
* * *
Gaius remained in correspondence with Claudius, who kept him informed of the happenings in Rome, and Gaius became increasingly despondent as he heard of the machinations, and the growing number of executions. As time passed, it became apparent that nobody was safe; being a direct descendent of Augustus offered no protection, nor, it appeared from the fate of Sejanus, did being the right hand man of Tiberius. Then there was the method; the senate had bowed to Sejanus so many times that Tiberius must have ordered his fate. Tiberius seemed to be playing brutal games with those he disliked, and, as Gaius was only too painfully aware, Tiberius appeared to be playing a game with him. He must keep a low profile, which, with the continual delivery of messages with the Imperial seal, was easier said than done.
* * *
Then came a message with a different seaclass="underline" the personal seal of Tiberius, Princeps. His hands were shaking slightly as he opened it, and the relief was obvious when he read the cryptic message: "So far, so good. Congratulate Timothy for getting something into your head."
"So," Gaius shrugged to Timothy, "the Princeps thinks you are doing a good job."
"That old goat knows squat!" Timothy growled. "What sort of a job I'm doing'll be resolved later rather than sooner. In the meantime, think about why Pythagoras did what he did. He felt his discoveries brought him closer to an understanding of God. Comment."
'The question then was,' Gaius thought to himself, 'If Timothy is not reporting to Tiberius, who is?' Still, he had to answer the rapid change of subject, so he gave a challenging smile and said, "Assume he actually said that, then for him it would be true."
Timothy stared at him, then laughed a little. "Ha! Signs of a philosopher trying to get out! Good! Now Pythagoras also found the rules of harmony, the relations between the lengths of pipes and scales, and he made two further propositions that are quite fundamental. These are that the Universe is essentially constructed from numbers, and governed by symmetry."
"As put," Gaius muttered, "that is sheer nonsense."
"In what way?"
"I have a rock," Gaius said, "and if I threw it at you, it would hurt, so it is more than numbers. And the rock can be any shape."