"I see," said a stunned Timothy. "Of course, I believe that theory to be quite wrong, but let's suppose you're right. What do you learn from this? Apart from distrusting Greeks?"
"That a lot of wealth and prosperity can follow from not very obvious starting points," Gaius offered. "If you can really do something clever with what you seem to call physics, you may be able to change the way civilization behaves."
"So you think that?"
"It is a logical conclusion," Gaius said, as he remembered again the task that Athene had given him, then he gave a wistful smile as he added, recognizing the difficulty of the task, "but obviously it doesn't happen very often. On the other hand, I suppose it hardly hurts to keep the eyes open. And so, for that matter, should you, because it would take a great increase in possible wealth to do away with the slavery you find so obnoxious."
"I see you have a fine opinion of Roman justice," Timothy said in a sour tone.
"I have a practical appreciation for why things get done," Gaius responded. "Now, I believe you have another reason why dyeing should interest me?"
"That was not quite the way I remember putting it. I think I said, relevant to your interests."
"Whatever," Gaius shrugged.
"Before I do that," Timothy said, " I must give you another military exercise. You are a commander in the east, and since you don't seem to like Greeks, consider yourself facing a Greek army much smaller than yours. That should be easy for you, don't you think?"
"Not with a Greek setting the rules," Gaius shrugged.
"It was a real battle," Timothy explained. "The rules are set. You have infantry, archers, slingers, and cavalry, all outnumbering whatever the Greeks have."
"Terrain?"
"No significant features in any direction."
"Do I know the name of the Greek general?"
"Alexander."
"In that case, historically, I lost," Gaius mused.
"But a Roman like you can no doubt do better!" Timothy taunted.
"Then assume for the moment I face Alexander. I try to find a higher point and take possession for myself. It has to be high enough that I can see what is going on. Can I do this?"
"You are on a small rise. Alexander's men are marching towards you."
"I know I have numerical superiority, so I divide my forces into three divisions, together with reserves for each. I send out scouts on horseback to learn what I can."
"Alexander had defeated a medium-sized force of yours yesterday. Your scouts return and tell you the Greeks are marching confidently, however those on the Greek left flank have blood-stains over their clothing, they are limping, and are struggling to keep up. There is a small detached group of infantry at the rear, presumably as reserves. You must now deploy."
Gaius nodded, and sat back to think. After about five minutes, he looked up and said in an even tone, "I send one sixth of my force to my left, to give the impression I will attack there, but they are ordered to maintain a defensive position and hold their line. I order my main force to advance on the centre, but to stop about five hundred meters from Alexander, and give these men instructions to hold lines until they receive a horn signal. I deploy all my archers to the centre, behind the infantry, and if Alexander advances, I shall let fly with as many arrows as I have. With numerical superiority, I intend to wear him down through the centre. I send my best infantry troops and their reserves to the right, to attack around the back of his apparently weakened left flank. I deploy the reserves of the centre towards the right, but I keep it far enough back that I can send it wherever needed. I keep the cavalry close to me, to deploy as I see fit later."
"When your men stop at the centre, so does Alexander."
"The centre advances until the archers are within good arrow range."
"I see," Timothy said slowly.
"Well, what happens next?" Gaius asked.
"The Persians did not deploy that way, so I don't know. I think you may have given Alexander a problem, but he was much better than me so I cannot be sure."
"What did happen?" Gaius asked in a curious tone.
"The Persians sent only a moderate force to attack the wounded on Alexander's left flank," Timothy said, "and they deployed cavalry. The left flank were Alexander's best men, and they were not at all wounded, the blood being splotches of red dye, which is the point of all this. If Alexander had not known how to dye, and how to make colours look reasonably correct, this would not have worked."
"That was clever," Gaius admitted.
"Alexander's men smashed the deficient force sent against his left flank, then quickly advanced to strike and turn the Persian's right flank. Alexander also managed to terrify enough of the cavalry animals that that attack was dispersed. So the Persians found themselves with a phalanx tearing into the centre of their army and something approaching a stampede on their right. The commanders decided that they were in risk, so they fled, and after a lot of Persian blood was spilt, Alexander's men held the field."
"Yes, Alexander was very clever," Gaius responded.
"So what did you learn from this exercise?" Timothy asked.
"I have noted that the barbaric Roman chose to speculate on ways to advance commerce and perhaps even make slavery less necessary, while the highly civilised Greek used this as an example of extending tyranny and bloodshed."
"I thought you might notice that," Timothy was forced to concede. "It was Aristotle's major mistake."
"What was?"
"He was the greatest teacher ever, and he taught Alexander virtually everything except the value of life. Alexander was the greatest general ever, and he caused greater misery to more innocent people than anyone else. Perhaps because of one oversight by Aristotle."
"I doubt it," Gaius said, then added, "Greek teachers shouldn't overestimate their own importance!"
"You certainly don't," Timothy noted, then mentally bit his tongue. That was not the response that a slave should give.
"What I meant," Gaius said in a more conciliatory tone, realizing that perhaps he had overstepped, "was that Alexander was Alexander. You can teach the wolf anything you like but you still end up with a clever wolf."
There was a pause. Timothy was afraid of what would happen next if he made an irritating comment. He sat there, hoping the situation would defuse. However Gaius was clearly challenging him to say something, so he replied cautiously, "The question is, what do I end up with you?"
"Hopefully, a clever Claudian. Make of that what you will."
Chapter 14
Months passed, during which time Timothy took a considerable sum of money from Gaius, which he claimed to be for a teaching aid. Gaius shrugged his shoulders and paid. The lessons continued.
"Since you seem so keen on astronomy," Timothy smiled at Gaius' look of discomfort, "we shall continue on with that, if for no other reason than to make sure you have no grounds to complain when you lose the debate at the end. According to Anaxagoras the Earth is at the centre of a spherical universe. The Moon and planets are stony bodies that shine by the reflected light from the Sun. Comment?"
"The concept explains eclipses, but that is explained as well in terms of geometry if the moon goes around the Earth and both go around the Sun."
"Correct."
"However, your concept can't be right. The planets don't simply go around the earth, but they move differently to the stars."
"On different spheres," Timothy noted.
"Which don't go at a uniform speed," Gaius countered, "but sometimes slow down and seem to go into reverse with respect to the stars."