Archimedes And The Student

To Archimedes came a youth desirous of knowledge, “Tutor me,” spoke he to him, “in the most godly of arts, Which such glorious fruit to the land of our father hath yielded And the walls of the town from the Sambuca preserved!” “Godly nam'st thou the art? She is't,” responded the wise one; “But she was that, my dear son, ere she the state served. Wouldst thou but the fruits from her, these too can the mortal engender; Who doth woo the Goddess, seek not the woman in her.”