Archimedis Opera cum Apollonii Conicorum Libri IIII

PLUTARCH. in the Life of MARCELLUS.

Page 307.

Archimedes possessed such a disposition and depth of soul, and such a wealth of observations, that although he had acquired a name and fame for a wisdom not human but divine, he did not wish to leave behind any treatise on these matters. Rather, considering the practice of mechanics and any art whatsoever that relates to common utility to be ignoble and menial, he placed his own ambition only in those things in which the noble and the extraordinary are present, unmixed with the necessary. These are incomparable to others, and they provide a contest of the subject matter against the demonstration, with the former providing magnitude and beauty, and the latter providing incredible precision and power. For it is not possible to find in geometry problems more difficult or weightier, written in simpler and clearer elements. Some attribute this to the natural talent of the man, while others consider it due to a certain excess of labor, as though each thing had been done effortlessly and easily. For when one is seeking, one might not find the proof by oneself, but at the moment of learning, the impression arises that one could have found it oneself, so smooth and quick is the path that leads to the conclusion. Therefore, it is not possible to disbelieve the stories about him, as he was always charmed by a certain familiar, indwelling Siren, such that he forgot food and the care of his body. When he was often dragged by force to be anointed and to bathe, he would draw geometric figures in the hearth, and while his body was anointed, he would draw lines with his finger, being held by great pleasure and truly inspired by the Muses. Having been the discoverer of many beautiful things, he is said to have asked his friends and relatives that after his death they place on his tomb a cylinder enclosing a sphere, inscribing the ratio of the excess of the containing solid to the contained. Archimedes, being such a man, kept both himself and the city, as far as it depended on him, unconquered.