On Architecture

14. Archytas solved it by his figure of the semicylinders; Eratosthenes, by means of the instrument called the mesolabe.

Noting all these things with the great delight which learning gives, we cannot but be stirred by these discoveries when we reflect upon the influence of them one by one. I find also much for admiration in the books of Democritus on nature, and in his commentary entitled *xeiro/kmhta, in which he made use of his ring to seal with soft wax the principles which he had himself put to the test.

15. These, then, were men whose researches are an everlasting possession, not only for the improvement of character but also for general utility. The fame of athletes, however, soon declines with their bodily powers. Neither when they are in the flower of their strength, nor afterwards with posterity, can they do for human life what is done by the researches of the learned.