I remember a story (possibly anecdotal) about an inventor who shows a roman emperor a working steam engine and he basically pays him off and sends him into reti

I remember a story (possibly anecdotal) about an inventor who shows a roman emperor a working steam engine and he basically pays him off and sends him into retirement. That's a short story by William Golding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envoy_Extraordinary_(novella) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envoy_Extraordinary_(novella)