Greekgeometryfro00allmuoft PDF
Greekgeometryfro00allmuoft PDF
Greekgeometryfro00allmuoft PDF
FROM
THALES TO EUCLID.
BY
LL.D.,
c^
-J
DUBLIN:
PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS,
BY PONSONBY AND MURPHY.
1877.
AM
SEP 2
1972
(S)Pv
r>
%'
"
{^From
Hermathena,"
Vol. III..
No. F.]
BE.
i6o
The founders
Museum
the
for
period
commences
and henceforth,
end of the
until the
cultivation of science
own
for
sake.
and
It
is
die Geometer
zig,
*Hankel, H., Zr
Geschichte der Mathematik in Alter-
thum und
tory.
(a
Histoire
distinct
ways
The
e.
of
Arneth,
A.,
Die
reinen Mathematik,
*
Geschichte
Stuttgart,
Bretschneider, C. A.,
der
1852
Die Geometrie
*
;
Hoefer, F.,
des
Mathematiques, Paris,
1874.
(This forms the fifth volume by
M. Hoefer on the history of the sciences,
verselle,
g.
posthumous work)
all
is
too metaphysical,
also to
chief organs of
i6i
its
develop
ment.
mary
of which
clus,
am
Eudemus. I
quently have occasion
and
even errors, yet I have derived advantage from the part which concerns Py-
is
II.,
Boetii
Friedlein,
1867
Lipsiae,
Procli Diadochi in
(Teubner),;
primiim Euclidis
corum
bner)
Stereonietriconun Reliquiae
manuscriptis ediditF. Hultsch,
Berolini,
1864
Pappi Alexandrini
This
nately complete.
work,and
vance of
in
is
all
is
an excellent
that preceded
it
e libris
Collectiones
on the
vol.
it,
ancient writers
extremely scarce,
VOL. in.
e.
g.
1876
vol.
libris
Ii,
ib.,
De Morgan
in
Dr.
at
W.
An
Berolini,
supersunt
in
tical
I,
quae
1877.
origin of
He
et
Archimedes, published in the last century, has been long looked for.
BB.
62
vent
it
destroyed by
that
it
is
by
investigated its theorems from the immaterial and intellectual point of view (auAujc xal voejowc); he also discovered the
theory of incommensurable quantities {twv aXoytJv Trpa-jfxaTiiav), and the construction of the mundane figures [the
regular solids]. After him, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae
contributed much to geometry, as also did Oenopides of
Chios,
the lunule, and Theodorus of Cyrene became famous in geometry. Of those mentioned above, Hippocrates is the first
Plato, who was posterior to these, contributed to the progress of geometry, and of the other mathematical sciences, through his study of these subjects, and
writer of element s.
163
before.
that part of the solution of a problem called its determinaa test for determining when the problem
tion. [^lOQiafjLoq)
Eudoxus of Cnidus, a
possible and when impossible.
and
a
than
Leon
little younger
companion of Plato's
is
Theudius of Magnesia appears to have been distinguished in mathematics, as well as in other branches of
philosophy, for he made an excellent arrangement of the
elements, and generalized many particular propositions.
Athenaeus of Cyzicus [or Cyzicinus of Athens] about the
same time became famous in other mathematical studies,
perfect.
Does
this
mean
the cutting of a
straight line in
" sectio
In Euclid's
xiii.,
and synthesis are first used and deby him in connection with tlieo-
fined
p. i68.
DR.
64
who have
of his predecessors
He
was a
him.
is
said,
to the
shorter
who
it
we re contemporaries
He was
philosophy, whence
struction
[t he
regular
History of Geometry by
Eudemus
is
Proclus.
is
elsewhere mentioned by
ed. G. Friedlein,
Proclus,
Ex
FROM
astronomy.
To
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
i6s
was
essen-
geometry known
The importance,
for
research, of bearing in
stract character of
in this, that
sists
present
this ab-
furnishes
by means of which we
cases,
the
mind
a clue
can, in
recognise theorems
many
of purely
thematics, amongst
the
p. 297,
tals
between ab-
science,
and
and concrete
many
works of Auguste
passages in
Q.oxi\\.Q.,
Systeme
and
its
Ma-
i.,
iv.,
pp. 424-
Ap-
DR.
66
The following
He
work
of Thales
[c).
Eudemus
two straight
attributes to
that
when
^
;
1"
ras
[e).
He
when he went
^^
Thales Milesius,
pori solet
(This
nus
is
"
umbram
'-
is
told in a different
"
Amasis, King of Egypt.
Although he [Amasis] admired
for
other
you [Thales]
things, yet he particularly liked the
ed. C. G. Cobet, p. 6.
11
250.
(5
avThv ras
Joid, p. 299.
trvpa/jLiSas
e/c
'"Diogenes Laertius,
I.,
c.
i,
n.
3,
Tr]p-ficravra
(ire
Diog. Laert.,
7)fjuv
I., c. i,
la-ofieyeeeis
n, 6., ed.
p. 6.
i^
elai.
Cobet,
167
shadows").'^
(/}. Proclus tells us that Thales measured the distance
Eudemus,
Eucl.
i.
this
"
tigation
notices.
First inference.
that the
sum
as to the geometri-
is
equal to
of a circle that
all
16
angles right.
'3
iii.,
1*
16
This
is
rem
65.
covery referred
to.
it
^ Ibid, p.
which
The manner
in
and
further, that
of geometry.
"
When,
To
he was ignorant
this eiTect
therefore,
Proclus
anyone proposes to
DM.
i68
if
the right-angled
circle,
tri-
sum
the
angle
is
an equilateral triangle in a
he proposes a problem
possible to inscribe one that
circle,
equUateral.
for
it is
is
not
asserts
he must affirm
On
a right
vol. I., p.
is
necessa-
one."Taylor's
Proclus,
no.
to the
'
triangle
in
a circle." G.
Comewall
which account
if anyone,
Geometriaeapud Graecos,
bergae, 1831.
p. 20,
Heidel-
above, yet
169
by Euclid to be inadmissible, for we are informed by Proclus, on the authority of Eudemus, that the
theorem [Euclid i., 32) was first proved in a general way by
the Pythagoreans, and their proof, which does not differ
stration given
by
If I
may be
would lead
isosceles
9,
right-angled triangle.-^
ds
^9
Oxon.
20
so as to
,p.
7 10.
tiles
of
common in Egypt.
respect to the
Further,
fill
a space,"
if
is
a perpenattributed
by
is difficult
who
had
ians
hexagon
can
DR.
I70
geometry was
Dante
:
"
equal to the
Triangol
mezzo cerchio
si,
far si
imagination of
puote
xiii.
loi.
22
Though we
are informed
by Pro-
clus (ed. Friedlein, p. 283), that Oenopides of Chios iirst solved (ef^T'lo-e")
this
the Egyptians,
mechanical solution.
are expressly told
Observe that
by Proclus
we
that Thales
the base
is
given,
171
sum known
could be described an
to Thales
find
23
tiques.
Tome
Chasles,
i.,
p.
183,
Paris,
1758.
EucUd
Montucla,
calls
Plato
" ce chef du
Lycee.^'
2* But we have seen that the account
of the disgiven by Diogenes Laertius
Pamcovery of Thales mentioned by
phila
is
unintelligible
and
evinces
46.;
I)R.
172
of the
if
much
cult.-'^
is
Ibid, p.
'7
abaisser une
8.
28
this I
may
Elemens de
Paris,
"La
Geometric,
quote
Clairaut,
34-35.
pp.
74 1.
methode qu'on
ner pour
mesurer
-vient
les
de don-
terrains,
dans
dans
un espace uni
et libre, assez
grand pour
faire
meme quand
on en trouveroit,
la
grande
tres-difficiles
extremement penible,
practicable.
II
et peut-etre
im-
II vient,
&c."
long before
173
Museum.
British
It
^0
to
mark out in
Aegypiische Sprache
kunde
(year
1868,
und Alterthumsp.
108).
Bret-
was sent
yEgypfcry
title
Handbuch
"
.S/;?
der
^/aalien
174
DR'
whose
sides
made great progress in practical geometry. Of their proficiency and skill in geometrical constructions we have
for example,
also the direct testimony of the ancients
'*
No one has ever excelled me in the
Democritus says
;
not
We
/. e.,
first
has decisively
arisen.'*
have now pointed out the importance of the geometrical discoveries of Thales, and attempted to appreciate
His successors of the Ionic School followed
his work.
I
22
rww
Mullacli,
Fragmejita Philosopho-
I. p.
3*
Pol.
iii.,
p. 300).
''Ilumanite, vol.
^^
tor.
'~'
Pos. vol.
Ibid, p. 294.
ii.,
p. 292.
175
him
School of Pythagoras.
n.
About the middle of the sixth century before the Chrischange had taken place Ionia, no longer
free and prosperous, had fallen under the yoke, first of Lydia,
then of Persia, and the very name Ionian the name by
which the Greeks were known in the whole East had
become a reproach, and was shunned by their kinsmen on
the other side of the Aegean.^" On the other hand, Athens
and Sparta had not become pre-eminent the days of MaMeanwhile the
rathon and Salamis were yet to come.
maintained
was
name
chiefly by the
glory of the Hellenic
tian era, a great
who were then in the height of their prosand had recently obtained for their territory the
Italic Greeks,
perity,
well-earned appellation of
17
ni^cCKr]
'EXXac-"
It
should be
Herodotus,
Polybius,
i.
ii.,
143.
39
P-
M') ^H^-
other,
were
DR.
176
bound by
ties of the
character.^^
not
It is
removed
As the introduction of geometry into Greece is by common consent attributed to Thales, so alP^ are agreed that
Pythagoras of Samos, the second of the great philosophers of Greece, and founder of the Italic School, is due
the honour of having raised mathematics to the rank of a
to
science.
The statements
man
years
ever,
It
we
clus,
*"
Herod.,
vi. 21,
Aristotle,
amongst
and
iii.
138.
where
others.
the
various
dates
ii.,
c. ii.,
given
by
177
That he
on
B. c),
when Ionia
afterwards.
All
who have
treated of Pythagoras
this,
^'
c.
Diog. Laert.,
VOL.
Ill,
1.
\-iii.
Cicero, de Rep.
I., xvi.,
Aiistoxenus,
38.
11.,
15
Tiisc.
Disp.,
DR.
178
Neo-Pythagoreans had access to ancient and reliable auwhich have unfortunately been lost since."
Though the difficulties to which I refer have been felt
chiefly by those who have treated of the Pythagorean phi-
thorities
losophy, yet
we
escape from them for, in the first place, there was, in the
whole period of which we treat, an intimate connection
between the growth of philosophy and that of science, each
re-acting on the other; and, further, this was particularly
the case in the School of Pythagoras, owing to the fact,
that whilst on the one hand he united the study of geo;
metry with that of arithmetic, on the other he made numbers the base of his philosophical system, as well physical
as metaphysical.
It is to be observed, too, that the early Pythagoreans
published nothing, and that, moreover, with a noble selfdenial, they referred back to their master all their discoveries.
Hence, it is not possible to separate what was done
ynetiy,
the principal
pupils
of
Aristotle,
is
(|uoted
of
whom
and we
Geometry,
of Arithme-
and Astronomy.
179
owe
to
who
-goreans,
first
*'
things;
Eudemus informs
[b.)
us, in the
its principles in a
purely
abstract manner, and investigated his theorems from the
immaterial and intellectual point of view; and that he also
It
<<
ccssors
laus."
Smith's
lolaus.
tona, or Tarentum,
and Democritus.
See Diog. Laert. in Vita Pythag., viii.,
i., 15; in Vita Empedodis, viii., ii., 2
and
Vita Democriti, ix., vii., 6.
porary of Socrates
under
strict injunctions
amid
the
different
made
public.
and
See
that
But
<'
s.
88.
Aristot. Met.,
i.,
5,
985,
N. 23,
ed. Bekker.
inconsistent
^^
Procl.
An
Comm.,&A. Friedlein,
p. 65.
of Egypt, who
reigned 900 years before Herodotus.
^^
<;ation of the
18,
ancient
King
DB.
i8o
cian informs us
[/.)
scale
^'
;
of the musical
**
;
[g.)
goreans
[h.)
"*
;
of
four-fold division
parts to the
to ttooov, and the other to the how much, to
how many,
its
fold division.
it
is
immovable
but
astronomy
(rrjy a(paipiKijv)
"0
Diog. Lacrt.,
viii.
ii,
cd.
Cobet,
5'
Aiistoxenus, Fragm.
Eclog. Phys.,
vol.
5-
I.,
I.,
ii.,
Stob.
^i
55
Procli
p. 17-
Diog. Laert.,
35.
viii.,
13,
ed. Cobet,
p. 208.
^^
ir,
viii.,
ed.
p. 207.
Heeren,
ap.
6; ed.
Diog. Laert.,
evpe:^.
Cobet,
p. 207.
As
irrjKiKov,
Comtu.,
ed. Friedlein,
to the distinction
continuous,
p.
between rh
and
rh
iroffou,
fj.ias
x^P^V^
^'-
j).
148.
i8i
As
work done by this school in geometry, the following statements have been handed down
to us
:
to the particular
(.)
'
The Pythagoreans
having
monad,
and a body to
gons
[d.)
this is a
The
Pythagorean theorem
peripatetic
Eudemus
^^
;
method of proving
it,
^"
;
are old,
3^
Diog. Laert.,
viii.,
58
Ibid., p. 379.
Ibid., p, 419.
Modems
bor-
the parabola,
the hyperbola, the ellipse ; as the older
school in their nomenclature concerning
Ibid., p. 305.
*'
to the Pythagoreans.
Ihid.^ p. 97.
"'8
""
p. 215.
The words
:
of Pro-
"
According to Eudemus, the invendons respecting the application, excess,
An area is said
to
be applied
{ivapa
DB.
i82
'Hri'/ca Ii[v6ay6prj<;
Ketv
oro) Xap.TrprjV
rjyero (^ovOva-it^v,
<^
one relating
it is equal
on
square
either
tlie
or
to the
to the
sides
'-'
/3oX^c)
clus, says
regular solids
*'*
;
rendering
of the area
^dweiv)
line,
is
cess {{nrep^dWuv)
is less,
so that
is
said to
be in ex-
when
the base
but
some
is
the
described area,
said to
be in de/ecf
defect.
(ira/>aj8tAAev),
The term
application
sec.
Epicurum,
Didot,
c. xi.
Some
authors,
irepl
rovxi^piov rrjsirapa^oKris-
"
chimedes
himself
and
tells
this,
though Archimedes
him
theus
Dosi-
the
viii.,
Quaestio
2,
c. 4.
p. 877.
"
183
name f"
The
interwoven triangle or Pentagram starshaped regular pentagon was used as a symbol or sign of
(/.)
triple
Health
was
called
by them
[vyuia)
Plutarch,
genes Laertius,"^ Proclus,^' and Plutarch (/).
however, attributes to the Egyptians the knowledge of this
theorem in the particular case where the sides are 3, 4,
and
;^
One
(/.)
c.
i8,
s.
88.
/ut., s. 5.
have obtained
its
special
prominent
from Kepler
It is said to
name from
v,
7,
vertices.
t,
his
(= n),
racelsus
^ De Arch.,
""
Omnia,
even so
late as
Pa-
as the
the
et seqq.
and 7.
same couplet from
Praef. 5, 6,
is
found,
viii.,
lein.
70
(6!/!>^ra
Where
ix.,
vol.
We learn
ed. Frisch,
it
tri-
numbers that
De
iii.,
p. 457, Didot.
Plut. 0/>.,
DR.
i84
goras
numbers
is
attributed to Pytha-
;^^
to
from Proclus
(??.)
The
;'-
three proportions
arithmetical,
to
Pythagoras
geometrical,
;'^
Formerly, in the time of Pythagoras and the mathematicians under him, there were three means only the
arithmetical, the geometrical, and the third in order which
[o.)
virtvavTiay
(jufraK/\Tj0a(Ta
\6jovg
ip.)
7ripii-)(ov(Ta);'*
With
reference to the
"1
428
into Greece
Procli
;
by Pythagoras
Heronis Alex.,
Georn.
et Ster.
to
;'''
Instit.
'-
Animad., p. 329
Nico?n. Arithm.
'3
seq.)
R. Hoche,
71
'5
ed.
meticam a S. Tennulio,
'^
c. x.xii.,
p. 122.
p. 141.
Ibid.^ p. 168.
Ibid., p. 168.
this proportion,
i)i
172 et
proportion was
As an example
of
lonians,
judgment of the
der Mathematik,
XQ.a.6.Qr:'Geschtchfi-
In another
p. 105.
part of his book,, however, after refer-
[q.)
185
ted to Pythagoras
attribu-
is
;"
{r.)
AT. OlSa
TuvTfiOiaiv api0/xiiiv.
<ipi9niiQ
AT.
TtTTapa.
Dwc
11Y9.
IIYU. 'Opag
a av do-
Keeig TtTTapa, ravra ^iKa larl koI t^hjiovov ivTiXtg Kal rjptTapov
"
78
OpKlOV.
Also lamblichus,
in his
proof.^"
and
we
of Pythago-
observe that
is
it
much
of areas
in the
construction of the
{c)
and
doubt
We
tliat
themselves
with
[arithmetical
such
progressions
and a
and geometrical]
<jreek notice that they knew proportions, nay, even invented the so-called
perfect
or
musical proportion,
thereby in value."
Ihid., p. 67.
gains
'^
's
Lucian,
Kal rwv
a-cpa.'ipav
ehai
bImv
irpacris,
axvi^'i'^^''
tuv
"""^
vol.
i.,
KaWicxTov
ffrepeup
4,
153,
kvkKov,
viii.,
19.
p^ 108.
DB.
i86
his
lars of 3, the
base of
square of which
4,
parts, the
This passage
in
squares
is
Although
80 a
vol.
81
Plutarch,
iii.,
De
Is.
et Osir.
c.
56,
It
tians,
were introduced.
See Wilkinson's
Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii., pp. 265,
267.
187
problem numerically.
the
is
gnomon
(yvwjuwv),-- or
common
car-
It remained
them.*^
penter's square, which was known to
then for them only to examine whether some particular
gnomon might not be metamorphosed into a square, and,
The solution would then be easy,
therefore, vice versa.
of a floor
being furnished at once from the contemplation
or board composed of squares.
Each gnomon consists of an odd number of squares,
to the successive
by which
Hence, it
82
TvdfJLiav
which, indeed,
12
TovTO
iriSrjs
it
rh
e^7]Triffev
TrpofiKrifia irpSiTOV
OiVo-
"^Tb
-rrphs
XP''^'^^!^'"'
yvcii/xova,
Si6ti
square
Def.
still
more general
means the
figure wliich,
Again, in a
2.
signification,
it
When gnomons
in
sively
this
gnomon may be
re-
monad, the
Gnomon
second, of
Kol o
is
also
it
denotes,
the
garded
as
first
that
consisting
of three
hence
[five
we have
hours.
generating.
vol.
S3
Wilkinson's
ii.,
p. III.
the
gnomonic numbers,
looked on as male, or
Ancient
Egyptians,
DR.
i88
and so on.
is
my
first
It
may be
by the Greek
calculate.
we
indicated
^(\^[^e:i.v
The
is
counters
might
The odd
be
bers
or
this
manner
the
in
first
regarded
in
name gnomonic
numbers, which the Pythagoreans applied to them, and that term was used
were
regarded
as
we have
unit square or
i.
vol.
p.
203
i.,
p.
Stob., Eclog.,
24,
and note
viii.,
are found
male,
seen, each of
vol.
as
sisting,
in the
Bekker,
also
<nnd
ab Heeren,
Odd num-
an
original
and
gnomon,
as
we have
seen,
was
period 4
unit
squares,
and
It is
o>
and
4,
then
.
in succession in like
unit
manner
6, 8,
squares,
The
fTepo-iJ.7}Kfs will be preserved.
elements, then, which generate a square
are odd, while those of which the obis
long
189
made up
The
are even.
limited,
Eclog. ab Heeren,
lib.
i.,
p.
24 and
note.
The passage
is
of Aristotle referred to
elvai
ffriixf7ov S'
ribv apiQ^wv.
eirl
roxnov rh crvn^a'ivov
Trepiri9efj.fvwv
rh %v Ka\ x'^P'^
yap rHy
'''''*
M*''
yv()ifj.6va>v
irep\
&K\o
yiyveffOai rh
side.
The
is
con-
Tuv
po//.-flKeLS
iii.,
ad
1.
iii.,
p.
131
Kal
Aristof. Phys.,
01
dpiO/xrjTi/fol
Se
Causam
ad eundem locum,
adjicit
rva>fj.ovas
Simplicius
5e eKaXouv
TiBefxevot
ffxriM-O'
rols
TSTpaywvots,
(pvKaTTOvffi,
rh
satis
clara
avrh
Kal ol eV 760!-
ei-unt.
Vult
efficiunt,
ros quadratos, v.
c.
positis
and oblong
16 + 9
5-,
c*-
^i*^
porro, cf.
Tiedon.
14.
Cat. 14,
nised
at
the
that
oppositions,
which present
themselves so naturally,
and
of Rational
Irrational
table.
Hankel
also says
gnomons, can
Ibid.
109, note.
May
as
of the
scarcely
gnomonibus
Phys.,
loco le-
Quae nostro
/xfTpia yv<if/.oves.
guntur jam
Sicrirep
203%
' '
4, p.
eiSos.
"
atl
not the
framing,
squares
as
gnomon be looked on
it
DR.
go
was furnished
to
them by
their
pavements, or chequered
plane surfaces.
sum
of those constructed on
units
and
5 units,
The two
Proclus
rules of
" But
they refer to Plato, but the other to Pythagoras, as originating from odd numbers. For Pythagoras places a given
odd number as the lesser of the sides about the right angle,
diminished
it
ample, taking
4,
and squaring
its half, 2,
and thus
'g"
gettinj
igr
for
example,
method of Plato a
units,
The
'''
[71
}u
square;
i)'''
gnomon
711-,
the
is
unit squares
///-
.-.
11
= -^li
successive
squares,
where
+
1)
^;2^
or
72
to Plato
by
orem of the
three squar es. Though he could have discoas a consequence of the theorem
concerning the
proportionality of the sides of equiangular triangles, attri-
vered
it
428.
Procli
Comm.,
ed.
Friedlein, p.
5^> 5787
This rule
is
ascribed to Architas
sum
^.
_-.:
the
vol.
be
112.
dc's Jl/aik., p.
pp. 163
observed
that
et
seq.
this
It
may
method
is
hence
we
the
three sides
DR.
192
way
in
Pythagoras,
For my own
part, I
first
strict
reasoning [Euclid,
vi.,
31]."""
The
er
^'
:
jinto four
is
"
Procli
91
Bretsch.,
Jdides, p. 82.
This proof
is
old
see
vol.
i.,
p.
^93
me
be well founded,
to
were famous, as we have already seen. Moreover, the theorem concerning the areas connected with two lines and their
sum (Euclid, ii., 4), which admits also of arithmetical interpretation,
was
The gnomon
it
in that abstract
placed with a
common
87
i.
43) Bret-
"
schneider says was called the theorem
of the gnomon." I do not know of
fined
more general
VOL.
III.
by Euclid
{Def. 58).
(ii.,
in
it
Def.
either as de2),
signification
or in the
in
Hero
194
I^R'
first
made
of the
and
10 also can
completely
filled
by
a fact to the Egyptians. Plato also makes the Pythagorean Timaeus explain " Each straight-lined figure consists
of triangles, but all triangles can be dissected into rectan-
But two or
triangle
which
theory, namely, whether the construetion of the regular pentagon and ordi-
Hankel,
known
p. 95, note,
89
to
them.
piato, Tim.,
c.
20,
s.
107.
195
is
distinctly
tecture.
and
it
was known
too that
if
known.
The four elements had been represented by the four other regular solids;
so
DR,
196
We
this
problem.
any vertex of a regular pentagon be connected with
the two remote ones, an isosceles triangle will be formed
If
side
is
equiangular with
sides of these
To
by Euclid
(vi.,
30,
ist
we
learn from
FROM
TilALE 8
TO EUCLID.
197
Eudemus
pasus
{i)
that
pentagons; and of Lucian and the scholiast on Aristophanes (/) that the pentagram was used as a symbol of
recognition amongst the Pythagoreans, become of greater
We
importance.
thagoreans made
learn too from lamblichus that the Pyuse of signs for that purpose.^^
analysis,
which was
in-
is
mean
proportionals,
and
afterwards
they inquire
straight
later.
may be
proceeding.
we
And,
to anticipate a
little,
and
that,
tematization, as
it
manner of reasoning
that
was sponta-
Chios
yuiyi])
But Hippocrates of
found.
is
who
geometer
tion."
his
Proclus,
Lastly,
we
in
statement that Plato invented this method, prove nothing more than that
Plato communicated
of Thasos.
vinced
that
For
the
of this famous
my
it
Leodamas
to
am
part, I
gradual
method
con-
elaboration
by which ma
is
who were
thing proposed
is
also plain.
For ex-
Cyrene
mathema-
tics.
9-
Iambi,
ed.
p. 77,
de
Didot.
Pyth.
Vita,
cxxxiii.,
DR.
98
mus
manner
and
this process
if
able quantities.
reference to Euclid, x., 2, will show that the method
above is the one used to prove that two magnitudes are in-
to
whom
is
attribu-
ted one of the rules for representing the sides of rightangled triangles in numbers, tried to find the sides of an
isosceles right-angled triangle numerically, and that, failing in the attempt, he suspected that the hypotenuse and a
side
the incommensurability of the side of a square and its diagonal. The nature of the old proof which consisted of a
reductio ad absurdum, showing that if the diagonal be com-
S3
41, a, 2b,
and
c.
i., c.
23,
Bek-
ker.
X.,
Euclid
117.
9; and
x.,
117, is
\)<t\\d\\.iiar].kQ\,
p. 102, note.
from
merely an ap-
GeschichfcdcrMat/i..
FROM
The
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
199
irrational,
&:c.^*
Eudemus
ascribes the problems concerning the application of figures to the Pythagoreans. The simplest cases
Euclid,
ii.,
we have
to a given rectangle,
must be
referred, I
have no doubt,
to
which
problem to construct a
one and similar
shall be equal to
by Plutarch
depends on
91
dochus zu
Euclid's
Elementen,
von
if
three
and
23.
LR.
200
known
We are justified,
if
successors.
The theorem
chus
[o
and/).
From
these passages it appears that the early Pythagoreans were acquainted not only with the arithmetical and
geometrical means between two magnitudes, but also with
their
the one
is
is
their quotient.
The former
b.
and
is
mean
ratio.
This section, as
and
we have
we
learn
201
'
'
'
'
'
The discovery
'
'
of these proportions
attributed
**
to Hipand
Eudoxus.
pasus, Archytas,
We have seen also [p] that a knowledge of the so-called
most perfect or musical proportion, which comprehends in
it all
thagoras
is
a + b
a
lab
:
also seen
[q)
that a
of arithmetical progressions
This
much
b.
a + b
We have
is
seems
is
he was acquainted
with the summation of the natural numbers, the odd numbers, and the even numbers, all of which are capable of
at least
certain, that
geometrical representation.
might be taken
as each of
ed. Frisch,
^s
163.
its
as the
sides
Iambi, in Nic.
See above,
yi;7^'/^.,
p. 163.
202
DR.
that of
all solids
is
the
greatest."
There
is
no evidence
repeated by
on an erroneous interpretation of the passage [s] in Diogenes Laertius, which says only that " of all solid figures the
sphere is the most beautiful and of all plane figures, the
circle."
Pythagoras attributes perfection and beauty to
the sphere and circle on account of their regularity and
uniformity. That this is the true signification of the pasis
We
tudes
together
book.
It
{a\o-^ov\
57
est
contains,
" Suivant
Diogene, dont
ici
ment
le
texte
mi
of the irrational
les solides, la
grande, et par-
sphere."
Monlucla,
solids
the
torn,
i.,
p. 113.
as
Timaetts,
33,
B.,
vol.
vii.,
ed.
Stallbaum, p. 129.
"^
the foundation, in
fact,
of the fourth
203
polygons
book of Euclid.
The
we have
as
Second, as to form
the needs
tween
discrete
and continuous
quantities,
ascribed to them.
Third, as to method :
One chief characteristic of the mathematical
work of
with
of
arithmetic
was
the
combination
geoPythagoras
101
This problem
is
considered in the
The
PapjTus Rhind, pp. 97, 98, 117.
point ofview from which it was regarded
by the Egyptians was different from that
of Archimedes.
Whilst he made
it
to
from the
circle.
follows
The diameter
being divided
1)R.
204
by Thales. These notions, especially the latter, were elaborated by Pythagoras and his school, so that they reached
the rank of a true scientific method in their Theory of Prois due the honour of having
portion. To Pythagoras, then,
is common to all branches of
which
method
a
supplied
mathematics, and in this respect he is fully comparable to
Descartes, to whom we owe the decisive combination of
algebra with geometry.
It is necessary to dwell on this at some length, as modern writers are in the habit of looking on proportion as a
branch of arithmetic"- no doubt on account of the arith-
geometrical origin."^
And
Kepler,
who
lived near
'02
enough
to the ancients to
i"*
E. F. August, pars
1829.
On
this see
Positive, vol.
iii.,
is
clearly a
A. Comte, Politique
ch.
iv.,
p. 300.
"""jTuclidis
ii.,
p. 328, Berolini,
p.
10,
Herford, 1865.
is
geometry
whence proportion
quantities,
He
istit").
205
mutual aid
to
and geometry
afford
ted."
And
On
We
Modern
all
these
He
Babylonians
Like Moses, he was learned
;
10s
<i
j^j
quidem geometriae
theoreti-
unam de magnitudinibus, quatenus fiunt figurae, alteram de coraparatione iigurarum et quantitatum, unde
partes,
proportio
"
existit.
Hae duae
scientiae, arithmetica et
in all the
wisdom of the
quamvis
et arithmetica sit
cognitionis."
Kepleri
Francofurti, 1870.
principium
Opera Omnia,
viii.,
p.
i6o,
DR.
2o6
it
and
in
These
services,
title
of this
and, as a husbandand
is
careful to prepare it for
good ground,
the reception of the seed, which he trusts will produce fruit
in due season, so Pythagoras devoted himself to the formation of a society of elite, which would be fit for the reception
and transmission of his science and philosophy, and thus
became one of the chief benefactors of humanity, and
earned the gratitude of countless generatiorts.
His disciples proved themselves worthy of their high mis"We have had already occasion to notice their noble
sion.
self-renunciation, which they inherited from their master.
The moral dignity of these men is, further, shown by
man
selects
their admirable
maxim
and
maxim
/3a/ia, a A A'
but not a
/JoAov).'"'
"" Procli
Comm.^td. Friedlein,p. 84.
Taylor, in a note on
Taylor's
vol.
i.,
Commentaries
p. 113.
this passage,
of Proclus,
207
made.
In the continuation of the present paper
we
shall
which led
chus.
See
Iambi.,
Fhilosophiain, ed.
xxxvi.,
Adhortatio
Kiessling,
cap. xxi., p.
ad
Symb.
p. 374.
rou
Tb SeTrpoTiVaTt)
crxniJ-a Ka\
(rxT),"afal/3r),ua
rpid^oKov.
GEORGE
J.
ALLMAN.
GREEK GEOMETRY,
FROM
THALES TO EUCLID.
PART
II.
BY
LL.D.,
DUBLIN
"
\^From
Hermathena,"
Vol.
i8o
DE.
Vol. III..,
No. F.]
III.
first twenty years of the fifth century before
the Christian era was a period of deep gloom and
despondency throughout the Hellenic world. The lonians
THE
had revolted and were conquered, for the third time this
time, however, the conquest was complete and final they
were overcome by sea as well as by land. Miletus, till
then the chief city of Hellas, and rival of Tyre and Carthage, was taken and destroyed; the Phoenician fleet ruled
the sea, and the islands of the ^gean became subject
The fall of Ionia, and the maritime supremacy
to Persia.
of the Phoenicians, involving the interruption of Greek
commerce, must have exercised a disastrous influence on
;
* In the former
part of this Paper
p. i6o, note)
referred
Theonis
(Hermathena,
vol.
iii.
Smymaei
Expositio
Berolini,
tatis,
editor has
a valuable addition
'
for as
he
Mathematicam Graecorum
remarks,
dictionem
nemo adhuc
n. Chr.
redegit.'
Praef.,
To
Archimedis Opera
rerum
vol.
in lexici
iii.,
fonnani
torn,
ii.)
the cities of
FROM
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
Magna
Graecia.'
We
i8i
obscurity.
there was an uprising of the democracy which had been
repressed under the influence of the Pythagoreans not
cities of
Magna
chief
men
The
lonians, ceased to
prosper.
world.
mentariis Eiitocii.
E codice Florentine
is
A7i Introduction
historical.
'
The names
Ionia7i Sea,
The
writer
of the article
Is
The matter
o[ the Prolegomena,
pp. xvii.-lxxxviii.,
Smith's
Cambridge, 188 1.
in
bridge.
and Ionian
Isles,
it
road?
as,
it was so
highway of the
now-a-days, in a
DR.
82
hospitable to strangers
subsequently the Eleatic philosothere
was
Parmenides
and Zeno. Eminent
taught
phy
by
;
life
every-
transl., vol.
ii.
P- 5^0^
Not
so Hankel,
whose views
as to
I have adopted.
See a fine chapter of
his Gesch. der Math., pp. 115 et seq.,
from which much of what follows is
taken,
183
its
method.*'
is
possible, because these notions lead to contradictory consequences. In order to prove a contradiction in the idea of
its
it
had previously
tortoise
flying arrow is
only in one place.'
to
show
that
the
If the
notion of multiplicity involves a contradiction.
manifold exists, it must be at the same time infinitely
small and infinitely great the former, because its last
'
the infinite
number
magnitude
Elemens de Geometrie,
'
741
Qu'
Zeno seems
of these divisions.'
if
il
xy =
est
pris.
renferme
Ce Geometre
gloire de se refuser
evidentes
celle
sommc
avoit a convaincre
a la
to
Geometrie
falloit
il
pour fermcr
les plus
done qu'alors
comme
la
bouche a
la
la
Logique, le
raisonnemens en forme,
eut,
secours des
aux verites
la
chicanne.'
DR.
84
number
of parts taken
may make up
for
becoming
being
short,
philosophy
elements
(aro^o<) in finite
who, a century
later,
composed
numbers and indeed Aristotle
:
aro^txiv ypanfiCjv), in
see, too,
that in
same
indivisible elements.^
still
exists.
straight
submultiples
side,
these submultiples
may be. It is possible
that Democritus
may have attempted to get over this difficulty, and reconcile
with his atomic
how minute
incommensurability
theory; for
*
Arist.
^^^-
De
we
a,
Vid. Bretsch.,
185
(Trcpi
0X07(01/
vacrraJi').'
dialectics,
Book
v.,
Def
4).
They
laid
down
as axioms that
any
is
Tiio TrevTriKO(jTo\oyti}v)).^
{c).
''
Diog. Laert.,
ix.,
Archim.,
d. Torelli.
'
10
239.
De
quadr. parab., p.
18,
In
Vit.
Soloms,
Arist., Eik.
ii.
ad End.,
Bek.
vii.,
c. 14,
BR.
i86
fallen in with a
Hippocrates of Chios, a merchant, having
lost everything, went to Athens
pirate vessel, and having
to prosecute the pirates, and staying there a long time on
account of the prosecution, frequented the schools of the
a degree of skill in
philosophers, and arrived at such
of
geometry, that he endeavoured to find the quadrature
the circle/^
We
[d).
was
learn from
Eudemus
Hippocrates
the lune,
elements.^"
He
[e).
and
Si(T<jol
TrpoajovTi, fxaXiaTa
Qiodwpog
re 6 Kvpi)vaTog, Kal
'Ittttoic/ootj/c o XXog).^^
geometry."
Proclus, in a passage quoted in the former part of
this Paper (Hermathena, vol. iii. p. 197, note), ascribes
(//).
to Hippocrates the
1^
method
Philoponus,
ausc,
f.
13.
p. 327, b, 44.
12
13
i.,
6,
p. 66.
p. 342,
b,
35, ed.
Bek.
"
89.
187
thing proposed
For example
also plain.
when
the
they inquire
Chios is reported to have been the first inventor of geowho also squared the lune,
metrical reduction {airayu>y{])
:
was
struction.^
[z).
to us by Eutocius,
of
the
celebrated
problem
legendary origin
of the duplication of the cube, tells us that after geometers
had
for a
But
another which
is
no
problem
is
reduced to
less difiicult."
on Archimedes [Circ.
{k). Eutocius, in his commentary
Dimens. Prop, i), tells us that Archimedes wished to show
that a circle
is
which had been of old investigated by illustrious philoFor it is evident that this is the problem consophers.^^
cerning which Hippocrates of Chios and Antiphon, who
carefully searched after
I think, are well
which,
18
"
Procl.
Comm.,
it,
Archim., ex recens.
known
Oxon. 1792.
^*
Torelli, p. 144,
DR.
88
the Keria
(KTjptwv) of Aristotle.^"
which follows.
1.
2.
3.
first
I think,
with Fabri-
20
21
;Montucla,
torn,
i.,
ment
edition,
Gesch.
det-
reiterated
Math.,
Taylor,
Geometry
gomcna,
p.
xxviii.
p.
by Cantor,
172; and by C.
of Conies,
Prole-
p.
152,
is
Histoite
p. 144,
i^"^
des
ed. 1758;
nouv. ed. an
vii.
repeated in p.
and Simplicius
is
i.,
the state-
155 of this
given as the
lambHchus
it.
by
Math.,
torn,
is,
how-
later writers as
189
34&35-'"
here
Ilept
Ae'yovcrii',
ck
efevcyKctv, koX ypdij/aa-OaL Trpwros (T^aipav, rrjv
^Orjo-av
TrpoayovTc,
'iTnroKpdTTjs o Xtos.
ouTws"
dTro(3aXLv
8o6rjvat
r)Tvxr](re,
cTTe'SoJKe
/xaXiCTTa
8e
ra
OeoSwpos
re
KupT^vatos,
Kai
was not
if so, it
for
teaching geometry
money, but for taking to himself the credit of Pythagorean discoveries a thing of which we have seen the
Pythagoreans were most jealous, and which they even
for
looked on as impious
(a(T|3i}(7ac)-^*
fifth
Jo.
Albert! Fabricii
Graeca, ed.
tertia,
i.,
p.
Bibliotheca
505,
Ham-
Villoison,^^^,:^^^
With
the
lib.
iii.
first
Vit.
Pyth.,
c. 18,
ss.
88 and
89.
6^ra^ca,'ii., p. 216.
^^
sentence
199.
exception of the
during the
Iambi, de
burgi, 1718.
-3
^gean
See
HerMATHENA,
vol.
iii.,
p.
DR.
go
quarter of the fifth century, and, further, as the statements of Aristotle and Philoponus [b) and [c) fall in better
affairs
up geometry
until
We
crates,
who was
Demo-
critus.
The paralogisms
of Hippocrates, Antiphon,
and Bryson,
and of his commentators Themistius,-^ Johan. Philoponus,^^ and Simplicius. Simplicius has preserved in his
Comm. to Phys. Ausc. of Aristotle a pretty full and partly
totle "'*
on the history of mathematics, until Bretschneider^* republished the Greek text, having carefully revised and
^*Bretsch.,
p.
98.
"^^
and
De Sophist. Elench.^w.^^.xii^h,
172, ed.
Bek.
Themist.
Brand.,
p.
f.
327,
Phys. Ausc,
Bek.
;
16,
b,
SchoL
33.
i.,
2,
f,
5,
^.
zii,h,
iq.
in Arist.,
Ibid.,
Schol.
p. 212, a, 16.
^*
Bretsch.,
100-121.
and
This extract
is
Bretschneider is entitled to
191
who
lived a century
archaic
custom,
I shall
And in
only concise proofs.'
us that Eudemus passed over the
^
gives
tion himself.^^
cannot be
sustained.
pocrates which, in my judgment,
Bretschneider notices the great circumstantiality of the
construction, and the long-windedness and the over-ela-
3'
so peculiar
is
which
EuM.,
^2
p. 109.
^^
Ibid., p. 113.
/j^-^.,
p. 112.
DR.
192
vol.
The
thena, vol
One
so, as 07ie
I'arithmetique, et dont le
reans
serait
is
them.
^8
tory of Mathematics,'
d"" Histoire
1881,
et
Revue Critique
de Litterature,
remarks,
'II
est
difficile
nomme
16 Mai,
de
remain
du
nom, qui ne
Geometry of Boethius is
genuine: Friedlein, the editor of the
tains that the
edition quoted,
sents
as
still
cit.
sub judice.
See Rev.
Crit. loc.
193
successors.
Now
Plato in
many
seems
me
All this
amount almost to a
method for finding right-
to
to
being considered,
certainty that Plato learned his
angled triangles whose sides can be expressed numerically
from the Pythagoreans
he probably then introduced it
into Greece, and thereby got the credit of having invented
;
his rule.
red to by Boethius could be no other than the great Pythagorean philosopher of Tarentum.
existence of a
that he
i.
6,
p. 987, a,
2^
VOL.
refers,
is
agrimensor
Boefounded on a
Asclep. Schol.
to
1.
whom
c,
p.
548,
a,
ed.
de
35.
"^
p. 548,
23
ed.
Bek.
Roman
a, 8.
\-.
Gelder, p.
17.
DR.
194
square equal to a
On
circle.'
*
:
to
is
as
point only, and Antiphon sets this aside for the geometer
does not suppose this, but proves it. It would be better
;
to say that
36
Aristotle,
temporary of Democritus.
=*^*
/'Aji/j.^?^J(:. i., 2, p.
Bek.
is
follows
a|3
a segment of the
:
195
The demonstration
circle.
is
as
^7 to
aj3,
and join 07
this will
is
Having
thus
shown
therefore,
DR.
196
wrong conclusion
the
arises
is
the side of the square inscribed in the circle but the lunes
in question stand over the sides of the inscribed^hexagon.
;
[\pivdoypd(pt]fia)
rally, if
I shall
now
put
down
what Eudemus
proofs.
on the proof
to
Eudemus.
Simphcius seems to
I have, therefore, omitted the
.be his.
remainder of J 83, and ^84, 85, pp.
lows
in
/^z'^.^ p. jog.
^^
intention, or else
added
to the text.
iq7
the circle,
rightly viewed in
more
may, therefore,
He started
upon and discuss them.
fully touch
We
that connection.
down
as the
first
circles
Now,
metfers.
on
as circles are
their dia-
to
and
in
by circumscribing a semicircle about a right-angled isosceles triangle, and describing on the hypotenuse a seg*"
Here
sector
rix.r\ixa
that a lune
word
was
TOfjLfvi,
seems to be used
we have
indeed,
sector,
Greek
language in
metrical terms has
The
The poverty of
of later origin.
for
seen above
respect
been
2tj eVo\A.a|,
/col
airoSei^ei Seixdrj'"'-^'
rh
of geo-
eV,
apiO/xoi
dw' ^
periphrasis
parabola;
rj
e'/c
and as
to
the
imperfect
terminology of the geometers of this
period, we have the direct statement of
Aristotle,
who
says
Kal Th hvdXoyov
yap
vvv
p.
^
'o
X'^P^^
fi
a,
17,
Kal
i\a/j.-
it
inrrjpxei',
v-KorlQivrai
interesting
spect also, as
of Algebra.
apidfiol
Kad6\ov
Aristot.,
is
ravra
ffTeped,
Se KaQ6\ov SeUvvTai- ou
to5(,
74,
passage
XP'^'^^
aXX-fiXoov,
ypafj.fj.ai
-p
imapx^i-v.
5,
fx^Krj
Siapepav
for radius,
aWa Sia
firj
etSei
ypa/x/xal
^"Sexof^^vSf ye Kara
X'*'P'^'
fitS.
fidvero.
word
fj
Siinrep iSe'iK-
vvt6 irore
noticed.
xp^voi,
irdvTwv
the
frequently
apidfxol koX
<TTepea koI
fj
in
another re-
contains
the
germ
DR.
198
ment of a
by the
The
sides.
*'
Trapezia, like this, cut off from
an isosceles triangle by a line parallel
the base,
to
occur
in
the Papyrus
Rhjnd.
*-
Then
is
cius,
as
as
5ei|eis,
i.
9.
there
is
a gap
proof
served
Bretschneider
posed.
note.
Geom.
has
Eudemus,
erroneously
Tor Eukl.,
p. ill,
as
sup-
and
199
the greatest side of the trapezium is acute, and the segment which contains it is, therefore, greater than a semibut this is the exterior boundary of the lune.
circle
:
Simplicius
us that
tells
was
it
the squaring
evident,
and he
'Further, Hippocrates shows that a lune with an exthan a semicircle can be squared, and gives
*Let
aj3
be the diameter of a
circle
whose centre
is
k',
let
on the radius
join
j3(c;"
it
kZ,,
*3
it,
is
quite ob-
The main
point
and
nowhere given
this is
The determination
in the text.
of this line,
how-
ever,
ment
'
is
make
are denoted in
this investiga-
shall
tion
iip'
l^ehOs'ia]
7t
ov
and
(/)'
ri
infers
AB, rb \_ffT)fjLi'lov]
from it that Eu-
demus
work of Eudemus.
The
inference of
expression
is
to be found in Aristotle.
The length
31).
be excessive by a
square
Pytha-
DR.
2 00
on
t^
and
are
^ri
Hermathena,
(See
196, 197.)
by
this
triangles
Eudemus
gorean problem, as
vol.
is ekjSj}
iii.,
tells us.
pp. i8r,
made
If the calculation be
quadratic equation,
we
tion,
slip,
and
and thus
example).
6)3
Draw
and
lines
to A,
7}
p. 115, note.
$,
is
The
fi.
In
it
re-
{ej)^
and
Hermathena,
tjk/S,
for
vol.
iii.,
41J?-)
further,
incommensurability.
The similarity of the segments might
also be inferred from the equaHty of
the alternate angles
gives
*^
and that
find
^ke."
^/3jj, ^jS/c,
know
segment of
if
the latter
similarity of the
in the construction to
which
is
would have
to be retracted.
considered here
but observe,
l,
that
it
is
20I
than a
semicircle.
and a
circle to-
gether, thus
six
K, and let the square on the diameter of the exterior be
times that of the interior. Inscribe a hexagon ajSySt^ in
:
and,
2,
rectilineal
that
figure
it
is
draw the
described
composed
of
three triangles.
*8
It
angle
dently
is
^Ke
is.
obtuse,
here
that
which
it
the
evi-
ica, (c)3,
Ky,
and produce
is
assumed
is
radii
corrupt,
he corrects
it
DR.
202
character,
effect
ApoUonius
"
Two
of two
described
in
the
so that
plane,
the straight
lines
in-
'
p-ara
Se TpLTOV
^pi^crtyua
Trpos
ras
<})r]crl,
TToWa
d\X
CTTtra^et,
KaOeros
dx(^t(Ta
ctti ttjv
dXXa
tottcov.
TreTrepacrpLevrjs
e;)(Ct
rj
iv
tottos oA.os ov
'iTrnriSov<s
(rrjp.e'iov
7rept<^epta
tov
twv
iaTi,
rj
Tp.rjp.dTWV.
to ttolovv to
Sodclaav evOeMV kvkXoV idv yap ctti t'^s SoOeLo-qs evOetas tjpikvkXlov
avTov
ypa<jirj, oirep dv ctti t'^s TrepK^epet'as Xd/Srjs crrjpi^iov, koI dir
KadeTov dydyrj'5 IttI T-qv Sta/xcTpov, TrotT^O'ct to Trpo/3Xrj$^v .... op.oiov
Kai
totto), ctti
tov VTroKei-
p-evov.^"
Avo oouivTwv
owaTov
icTTLV iv
Tw
eTTtTTtSo)
ypd.ij/aL
e^^et'as
Aoyov CYCtv
be observed, in the
first
39
is
Halley has
diagram.
uiroKei/nevcj),
in place of rh
viroKeifievov,
correct.
203
[ol
be seen that
the
/oa, as,
e.
g:,
the middle of the fourth century B. c, there was a discussion between Speusippus and the philosophers of the Aca-
fail to
first
taeus,
who was
later than
may
Menaechmus, but
prior to Euclid,
five
*"
tion
TTopiCeffOai,
is
in
to procure.
The
ques-
oirep
eSei ^i7i,ai,
Amongst
had
word porism
Pappi,
p. 672.
Collect.,
ed. Hultsch,
vol.
I^R'
204
Find a
[c].
be
shall be equal
pezium such that one of the parallel sides
to the greater of the two given lines, and each of the three
constructed describe a
(/).
[g).
circle
inscribed
square, but also from the equilateral triangle,
of
and
train
method
the
in a circle, and pursued
reasoning
above described."
Aristotle and his commentators mention another So-
is
Diog. Laert.
ii.,
^^
i.,
6,
xhemist.,
f.
i6;
Brandis, Schol.
205
two.
seems, too, that some persons who had no knowledge of geometry took up the question, and fancied, as
Alexander Aphrodisius tells us, that they should find the
square of the circle in surface measure if they could find
It
we saw
that there
was a
55
problem
engaged the attention of the
"
c. 23.
30
Brandis,
Themist.,
f.
p.
Brandis, Schol.,
f.
118; Brandis,
Simplicius, in Bretsch.
Geom. vor
Eukl., p. 106.
Schol., p. 306, b.
56
1 1
58
j^i^_
59
6,
'^^
Birds, 1005.
p.
2o6
Vitruvius
perspective."
summary
In connection with
burn
for Plato,
who mentions
'AA.A'
fioiiTT}piiji
fypa<pf.
iii.,
Plut.,
De
Exil.,
* De
Arch.,
vii.,
Praef.
c.
17,
vol.
*'
De
Cicero,
malorutn,
i.,
finibus
bonorum
6; Diog. Laert.,
ix.,
et
7,
Diog.
p. 237.
Laert.,
ibid.,
ed.
Cobet,
207
We
are also told by Diogenes Laertius that Demowas a pupil of Leucippus and of Anaxagoras, who
was forty years his senior
and further, that he went
to Egypt to see the priests there, and to learn geometry
critus
^'^
from them/^
This report is confirmed by what Democritus himself
I have wandered over a larger portion of the
tells us
earth than any man of my time, inquiring about things
most remote I have observed very many climates and
lands, and have listened to very many learned men but
no one has ever yet surpassed me in the construction
of lines with demonstration no, not even the Egyptian
'
KaXeofMivoi
all,
ovoeig
inrodi^iOQ
fiSTo.
kui
{koI
ypafijuiov (TwOiaiog
ovS' 01 AlyvTrruov
I lived five years in
Tra/oZ/AAa^t,
jue
ApmdovaTTTai'), with
whom
in a foreign land.'"
We
critus
have derived
all his
rj
irep).
amongst
:
On
circle,
^*
that, the
its
gnomon, or carpenter's
vertex on the circumference of
Diog. Laert.,
ix.,
7,
ed. Cobet,
p. 235.
6
*'
Democrit., ap.
C\Gm.Me\, Strom.,
leg passes
Ibid., p. 236.
when one
Diog.
p. 236.
Laert.,
ix.,
7,
ed.
Cobet,
DR.
2o8
We
what
by a plane parallel to its base [obviously meaning,
what
we should now call one infinitely near to that plane],
must we think of the surfaces of the sections, that they are
For if they are unequal, they will show
equal or unequal
indentations
be
to
the cone
irregular, as having many
are
if
and
equal, the
like steps, and unevennesses
they
will
appear to have
sections will be equal, and the cone
the property of a cylinder, viz., to be composed of equal,
'"
and not unequal, circles, which is very absurd.'
If we examine the contents of the foregoing extracts,
and compare the state of geometry as presented to us
in them with its condition about half a century earlier,
?
we
circle
was
circle
seriatim, the
theorems and
in the
germ
69
Diog. Laert.,
ix.,
7,
ed.
Cobet,
""
Plut., de
Didot.
Comm.
FROM THALES TO
EUCLID.
209
the merit of having first got into the right track by introducing for the solution of this problem in accordance
nascent the
fundamental
number
of sides
Bryson
is
having
seen the necessity of taking into consideration the circumscribed as well as the inscribed polygon, and thereby
obtaining a superior as well as an inferior limit to the
area of the circle. Bryson's idea is just, and should be
and renders
limits
precise.
method
of
exhaustions had been invented, in order to supply demonstrations which were perfectly rigorous, the two limits,
inferior
as
we
and
superior,
We
tesimals;
and
it is
difficulties to
answered by Leibnitz
Caeterum aequalia esse puto, non
tantum quorum differentia est omnino nulla, sed et quo*
rum
cum
bilis
si
lineae
DR.
2IO
show
that Democritus, in
infinitesimal
method
gnomon either
making one leg
in
the
its
treatment,
made use
of the
have
he
might
employed the
manner indicated above, or, by
the
was
subject of tangency.
We
observe, further, that the conception of the irrational {uko-^ov\ which had been a secret of the Pythagorean
school,
We
On
we
We
'1
in the
Leibnitii
torn.
iii.
p. 328.
2n
cube.
ty
plane geometry, namely, the finding of two mean proportionals between two given straight lines, the greater of
which is double the less. Hippocrates, therefore, must
have known that if four straight lines are in continued
proportion, the first has the same ratio to the fourth that
the cube described on the
first
He must then
have pursued the following train of reasoning
Suppose
the problem solved, and that a cube is found which is
double the given cube find a third proportional to the
sides of the two cubes, and then find a fourth proportional
to these three lines the fourth proportional must be double
the side of the given cube
if, then, two mean proportionals can be found between the side of the given cube
and a line whose length is double of that side, the problem
will be solved.
As the Pythagoreans had already solved
the problem of finding a mean proportional between two
given lines or, which comes to the same, to construct a
square which shall be equal to a given rectangle it was
not unreasonable for Hippocrates to suppose that he had
put the problem of the duplication of the cube in a fair
way of solution. Thus arose the famous problem of finding
two mean proportionals between two given lines a problem which occupied the attention of geometers for many
described in like
Although, as Eratosthenes observed, the diffinot in this way got over and although the new
p 2
centuries.
culty
is
212
DR.
much
problem
in stereo-
is,
named
U.o\vdlo^
':
if
be
this
so,
it
follows that
this period.
'
it,
\eiKOv
(7>j(cov
Tci^ov,
^nrXaaiog
Ecrrw.
fxiKpov
tov
tXi^ag fiaaL-
-y
El
tov
kvJ3ov
fxi)
Academy,
altars,
in the
same
Hauniae,
1844.
"2
p. 144.
Vale-
See Reimer,
/. c.
fir)
cr^aAV)?.
213
seem suited
for presenting
mathematical
at the question
scientific
it
cosmology.
In the former part of this Paper (Hermathena, vol.
believed that
iii. p.
194) we saw that the Pythagoreans
the tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron, and cube corresponded to the four elements of the real w^orld. This
doctrine
is
Philolaus,
'^
Symp.,
viii.,
Quaestio
e'/c
c.
877.
(TTepewv,
|Uev
yriv,
2,
iv., p.
rod Kv^ov
(prjal
yeyovfvai t^v
t)}v
tov iravrhs
(Xtpcupav.
Plac,
Didot, vol.
'^
ii.,
iv.,
b,
&
6; Opera, ed.
p. 1081.
p. lO.
lib.
i.,
DR.
214
Hence would
problems
became
octahedral.
given cube
Construct an octahedron which shall be equal to a
given icosahedron.
;
Flwc nXarwi;
ii.
this theory of
attributes to
Pythagoras
(see
Hermathena,
It is evident that
figures
for,
you call to mind the division in the Timaeus, which divided into three the things first existing, from which the
Universe had its birth the first of which three we call
;
God
was minded,
it
the
God
could be
"
iv.
pp. 876,
7.
215
viz.,
is
the model.'
now
Let us
former and,
what
is
one
consider
applying to
required for
its
of
these
problems
the
the
to each other
To
3.
lines
4.
which
find
and
To
Now we
we
shall find
tion or
that
these
2i6
DR.
trisection of
equal parts
they
may
known how
to
We
have seen,
divide a right angle into three equal parts.
moreover, that the construction of the regular pentagon
was known to Pythagoras, and we infer that he could have
divided a right angle into five equal parts. In this way,
then, the problem of the trisection of any angle or the
who had
Since
we can
trisection of
it
we can
if
trisect
an
acute angle.
Let now a(5y be the given acute angle which it is
required to trisect.
From any point a on the line a/3, which forms one leg
of the given angle, let fall a perpendicular ay on the other
leg, and complete the rectangle ayjSS.
Suppose now that
the problem is solved, and that a line is drawn making
'*
Pappi Alex.
Collect., ed.
Hultsch, vol.
i.
p. 274.
/Sy
an angle which
angle 0/87
is
217
ay in
4,
and be produced
until
meet
it
and ^a are
rjf,
ariy
all
known.
The problem
reduced to another
is
thus
From any
to
way
The
conic
'^
Ibid., vol.
The
i.
sections,
we know, were
p. 270, et seq.
ancients
distinguished three
kinds of problems
plane,
solid,
and
lems of
this
is
inasmuch
solid,
tion
we must
figures
third kind,
which required
of a higher order,
such
quadratrices, conchoids,
Those problems
See
obtained by means of
vol.
whose solution
discovered by
Pappi
i.
Collect.,
as
and
ed.
spirals,
cissoids.
Hultsch,
DR.
2i8
in the
The Lemmata
are referred to
AB
AE
arc
will
This theorem
AB
Suppose now
scribed.
is
through
let it
EAC
let
in F.
the angle
equal to the
is
**!
Archim. ex
sum
recens.
of the angles
'
Torelli,
p.
pp.
and
See
xviii.
ibid.,
and
Praefatio
xix.
Quaest. Archim.,
J.
Torelli,
24,
who
says
GAF
the
mathematicorum
358.
-
GFA
cerpta,
neque
quantum ex
sit.'
iis
operibus
definiri
esse
jam
ex-
potest,
Archimedi tribuendum
are, therefore,
2ig
GF and GA are
CAD
a contemporary of Socrates,
transcendental curve,
known
the
invention of a
Dinostratus, by
into
on the
Proclus
authority
of
the
two
following
passages
of
spirals of Archimedes,
''^
given ratio.'
In the same manner other mathematicians are accustomed to treat of curved lines, explaining the properties
of each form. Thus, ApoUonius shows the properties of
each of the conic sections; Nicomedes those of the con*
give
were
**
83
tica,
given
Procl.
Comm.,
DR.
220
choids
Hippias those of the quadratrix, and Perseus
those of the spirals' [airuQiKCjv).^^
Now the question arises whether the Hippias referred
;
to in these
two passages
is
is
Hippias of
some ground
Montucla
Elis.
any
qualification."
progress of geometry
is attributed in the
summary of the
of
history
geometry preserved by Proclus, although he is
mentioned in it as an authority for the statement concerning Ameristus [or Mamercus].'^^ The omission of his
name would be
strange
if
quadratrix.
first
*^
to
86
p. 181,
8'
nouvle ed.
Matematiche
e Fisiche, says
'
:
A pag.
Histoire de la Geom.,
Arneth, Gesch. der Math., p. 95
Bretsch., Geom. vor Eukl., p. 94
Suter, Gesch. der Math. Wissenschaft.,
quadratrice, e
P- 32.
p. 8
Chasles,
88
p. 151,
the
Bullettino
identificato
col Sofista
ma
senza
dame
la
minima prova.'
p.
65""
Diog. Laert.,
p. 224.
viii.
c. 4,
ed. Cobet,
221
name from
this property
it
called
is
dratrix.'^^
4. With respect to the observation of Montucla, I may
mention that there was a skilful mechanician and geometer named Hippias contemporary with Lucian, who
describes a bath constructed by him.^^
I agree, then,
is
quadratrix
my judgment
91
the
vol.
2.
i.
Proclus,
Since
Hippias, sell Balneum.
above was written I find that
such
Plato,
name
to
by Proclus
is
devoted
'
really
who had
earnest
in
p. 16^, et seq., agrees with Montucla
'
It has indeed been
this.
says
He
We
think
we may assume
that
Hip-
reasons
I.
the
following
fol-
which he had
as a
and mathematics.'
4.
'
:
If,
then,
Com-
pose
the circle.
it
got
its
From
name, Quadratrix
to reach further
(the Latin
22
DR.
If
Hankel, after quoting from Archimedes the axiom
two spaces are unequal, it is possible to add their difference to itself so often that every finite space can be
surpassed/ see p. 185 quotes further: 'Also, former geometers have made use of this lemma for the theorem that
'
has been proved by the help of it. But each of the theorems mentioned is by no means less entitled to be accepted
than those which have been proved without the help of
that lemma
and, therefore, that which I now publish
must likewise be accepted.' Hankel then reasons thus
'Since, then, Archimedes brings this lemma into such
connection with the theorem concerning the ratio of the
areas of circles, and, on the other hand, Eudemus states
;
was proved.
his assumption.
S3
Archimedes
on the quadrature of
in the letter of
">
the third part of a prism which has the same base and
the same altitude as the prism also, that any cone is the
is
third part of a cylinder which has the same base and the
same altitude as the cone all these they proved by assum:
We
letter to the
We
covered by Eudoxus.^^
know, too, that the doctrine of
proportion, as contained in the Fifth Book of Euclid, is
attributed to Eudoxus.'' Further, we shall find that the
invention of rigorous proofs for theorems such as Euclid,
vi. I, involves, in the case of incommensurable
quantities,
the same difficulty which is met with in
proving rigorously
the four theorems stated by Archimedes in connection with
this
9"
Archim. ex recens.
see
Torelli, p. i8,
Ibid., p. 64.
We are
told so in the
Eucl.
anonymous
vol.
iii.
p.
p.
ii.,
Sec,
suchu?igen,
Knoche,
Graece
Elem.,
August, pars
10.
p.
ed.
ab.
Cf.
Hermathena,
DR.
224
appears to
It
the
the
annexed
equal to the
circle
is,
sum
sum
The
larger
of the four semicircles
to the
sum
of areas
225
circle
t, viz.,
made
pp. 178, 207; as also from the fact that the Greeks
had a
a faulty construction.
principal figure, then, amongst the geometers of
xf^av^oypacpn/xa, for
name,
special
The
Hippocrates of Chios,
this period is
who seems
to
have
How
s''
Twv
Py
be explained
(ecrdai,
rh
^ ^
ixeffov,
oXiya
S' ecp'
kvkXos'
el
rh 5
el
elr)
5' i<p'
'^
VOL,
IV.
ii.
Concerning
the
importance
of
etr)
Anal. Prior,
e ev9vypafj.fjLov,
'
/j.6vov
ev9vypd/j./xcf)
To\) elSevai.
faulty reasoning
Terpayuvirh 5'
evdvypafj-ixov,
TOV e^ eu
The
ed. Bek.
ra,
icpi'
this to
fj
fieVa
is
p. 329.
25, p. 69, a,
vol.
ii.
DR.
226
which he
into
shown
Hippocrates,
after having been engaged in comAthens and frequented the schools of the
philosophers evidently Pythagorean as related above.
Now we must bear in mind that the early Pythagoreans
did not commit any of their doctrines to writing^"" their
and we must remember, further,
teaching being oral
that their pupils [ciKovaTiKoi] were taught mathematics for
several years, during which time a constant and intense
application to the investigation of difficult questions was
enjoined on them, as also silence the rule being so
stringent that they were not even permitted to ask questions concerning the difficulties which they met with "^
and that after they had satisfied these conditions they
passed into the class of mathematicians {fxaQmxaTiKo'i), being
freed from the obligation of silence
and it is probable
this
merce, went
to
we
him.
If
I
of Hippocrates
'3
sur
la
nouv.
i'">
179,
Quadrature du
Cerclc,
note,
Hermathena,
there.
101
p. 39,
et la
See
vol.
iii.
p.
i.
de Vit. Pyth.,
c.
16, s. 68.
227
which he
into
for the
^''-
up by Hippocrates as unconditional
3. The further attempt which Hippocrates made to
solve the problem by squaring a lune and circle together
;
(see p. 201)
The
rally, the
of Hippocrates.
this
paralogism
and he
took
lecture
than
that Aristotle
did
so
condi-
application
of
areas,
xxv., says,
Hy-
we have an instance
tions of the
vol.
iii.
BR.
28
Philolaus,
lication,
contrary.
have
demonstrations in geometry at this period differs altogether from that put forward by Bretschneider and
Hankel, and agrees better not only with what Simplicius
tells
us
of the
summary manner
of
Eudemus, who,
of the Sophists,
who
questioned
everything.
GEORGE
J.
ALLMAN.
/^-^/tr
{From
/t^
"
d^r^^:^
Hermathena," No.
X..,
Vol.
Xr^ dcj.
^i^c/
K]
DR.
186
DURING
before
tical
into
my
iiber
Gescliichte
Vorlesungen
der Mathematik. I
iii.
wlaich,
The number
is
cultivated are
cities,
nor were
and even that was denied them at Tarentum and Locri. At Rhegium, however, though the Athenians were not
received into the
city,
made
rous.
fitting to the
do.'
Thucyd.
vi.
44.
would
187
cities
Magna
'
The
political creed
form of government
existed
also
former times.
other
facts,
among
This
is
and peculiar
now mentioned
the Achaeans in
clear from
many
set
ment
ner.
common
blished a
parts of
Greece with a view to effect a cessation
bassies
and
their
well-known
removal of existing
Not only
'
Zeus,
of the Achaeans,
selves to their use,
ment
of their
with them.
but
to the
manage-
of
necessity.'
Polybius,
ii.
39.
noted.
some time
Graeco-Italian
they
and
as will
after,
at
evils.
temple dedicated to
to
DR.
188
be allowed
to return to their
a political association/
importance
the
first
citizens,
and Empedocles
vi-
most
was founded.
show
middle of the
portion of his
dation.
pontum.'
soon after
sited Thurii
The names
it
fifth centurj-
life
unmolested at Meta-
sophy, vol.
it is
Hermathena,
vol.
iv.,
p. 181).
p. 360,
i.,
E. T.).
'
'
and, lastly,
spent the last
may have
Pythagoras
also
In Crotona, as
it
about a century
later,
till
the
to
me
to
fit
first
friends
his lifetime,
and caused
to J^Ietapontum.
his migration
The party
struggles
thus begun,
of
partially
the
exception of
Magna
accounted for
The burning
with
perished,
goras.)
Lysis went to Thebes, and
was there (soon after 400 B. c.) a teacher
ments may be
all
dif-
'
'
in
quoted above,
vol.
i.,
gives
189
Chaignet, Pyth.
and note,
88,
p.
and,
nion,
Pyth. vol.
i.,
enough
to convince
his objections.
p. 94, n.
him
he then gives
referring to the
name
Italian,
me
fait croire
que
a leur ecole
devenuou
'
reste attache
.'
'
Lower Italy.
3. The revival
of trade consequent
on the formation of the Confederacy of
Delos, 476 B. c, for the protection of
the Aegean Sea, must have had a beneficial
443 B. c,
already
363, note).
the objections urged by Chaignet
would add
1
Nearly
all
Lower
Italy to
eff'ected.
tween the
to
Italiot cities.
Zeller's
5.
argument
chiefly rests
on
Lysis
(loc. cit. p.
an indication that
is
To
is in itself
4.
406'
Magna
show
know
but passed by
the Persians,
against
exiles
ritalie serait-il
sent
nians to SjTacuse and CorcjTa, to invite them to join the defensive league
who
the
only Pythagoreans who
escaped the slaughter. Bentley had
long ago suggested that they were not
being
the same.
Lysis and Archippus are
mentioned as having handed down Py-
tion of Sybaris.
2.
The
seem
to
fortunes of
have been
Magna
Graecia
at their lowest
War
of Salamis,
This fact
is in
Lysis,
lived,
the
ambassadors were
judgment
of Epaminondas,
this
teacher
my
when
Didot).
ebb
for
Hermathena,
vol.
iii.,
p. 179, n.
See
190
LPx.
this
We
pupil of Philolaus.^"
of his life
In 393
B. c.
by some of the
t^i;t
cities in
and against Dionysius. Tarentum appears not to have joined the league till
later,
and then
its
Magna
'
also J. Navarro,
viii.
c.
4.
given by him.
8
Cic. de Fm.
10,
16;
viii.
7.
See
Tentamen de Archytae
Iambi., de
'
Fit.
Verum
dici soli-
quae jucundissuma
ei
fore,
si
aliquem
Sic natura so-
fuisset,
Prior.
cities
Graecia.
Didot.
18 19,
Pars
and authorities
ali-
aut Philolaus
v.
29,
de Se/iec. 12,41.
87
Rep.
Val.
i.
Max.
Archytam Tarentiniini }
The common reading Philolaum Archytas Tarentinus, which is manifestly
wrong, was corrected by Orellius.
FROM
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
191
He was
a great statesman, and was seven times*' appointed general of his fellow-citizens, notwithstanding the
law which forbade the command to be held for more than
one year, and he was, moreover, chosen commander-inwith autocratic powers, by the confederation of the
chief,
Hellenic
cities of
Magna
it is
Graecia;'^
dotes are preserved of his just dealings with his slaves, and
them and to children.'^ Aristotle even
of his kindness to
'1
Diog. Laert.
Hist.
1-
(TT-q,
loc. cit.
^lian, Var.
'iTaXioiToof irpoi-
(TTpaTriyhs alpedfls
avTOKpdrwp vwh
Tuv
tSttov
Suidas, sub v.
'EA.Atji'coj'.
This
it
was
also conferred
by the
of Rome,
13
As
i.
vii.
p. 448, n. 18.
to the former,
which was
in
puer.
ter,
see Athenaeus,
Var. Hist.
**
Did.
xii.
xu.
as to the lat-
16; Aehan,
15.
Aristot. Pol.
V.
(8),
c.
vi.
See
also Suidas.
*^
Ko7s
edav/xd^eTO 5^ Ka\
iirl
irdcrri
apirrj,
wapit.
to7s itoX-
Diog. Laert.
loc.
cit.
^^ i.
"
28.
DR.
192
vol.
into a larger
The
One
Herma-
angles whose
sides
i'^"
so, as
reans
them.
^8
Berlin, 1840.
13
Procl.
Comm.,
Geometry of Boethius
edition quoted,
1 88 1,
'
remarks,
'
II
est
difficile
nomme
Arcliitas,
de
romain
genuine
sents
as
still
cit.
Friedlein,
is
sub j'udice.
See Rev,
Crit. loc.
193
is
Pythagoreans
in
on the Metaphysics, repeats this statement;*^ Asclepius goes further and says, not in many
things but in everything.'^ Even Theon of Smyrna, a
Platonist, in "his work
Concerning those things which in
mathematics are useful for the reading of Plato,' says that
in his Covimentary
Plato in
many
being considered,
it
seems to
me
All this
amount almost to a
method for finding rightto
existence of a
that he
Arist., Met.
i.
6,
p. 987, a,
2-
vol..
is
refers,
agrimensor
Boefounded on a
to
Asclep. Schol.
1.
whom
c,
p.
548,
a,
35-*
p. 548,
23
ed.
Bek.
Roman
a, 8.
V.
Theon.
Gelder, p.
Smym.
17.
Arithm., ed. de
DR.
194
non sordido hujus disciplinae auctore, Latio accommodatam venire, si prius praemisero,' &c., is translated by
But it is time to pass over to the communiCantor thus
cation of the geometrical table, which was prepared for
Latium by Architas, no mean author of this science, when
I shall first have mentioned,' &c. :-' this, in my opinion, is
'
by Architas
("
no mean authority"
ing), as adapted
by me
'
in this
to Latin readers
branch of learn-
Now
when,' &c.
remarkable and this, as far as I know, has been overlooked that the author of the A rs Geo7Jietriae, whoever he
may have been, applies to Architas the very expression
applied by Archytas to Pythagoras in Hor. Od. i. 28
it is
'
The mention
explained, since
iudice te,
naturae verique.'
we know
^8
Id., p. 412.
(viii.
12),
an
195
by means of the
proportionals,
of the
duplication
cube.'^^
having
III.,
related the origin of the Delian Problem (see Heri^iaTHENA, vol. iv. p. 212), tells US that 'the Delians sent a
was impossible
while
methods practically so
except, to some small
to apply their
that they should come into use;
it
29
fj.a-
passage
avb.
Tov
T]fj.iKv\lySpov
Kvfiov SnrAaffia(Tfj.6v.
cit.,
5vo fxiaai
els
rhv tov
Diog. Laert.
lever.
tical
loc.
That
Nodes
Atticae,
x. 12.
affinity
^o
Archimedis,
p.
144
ed.
J.
tics.
106.
first
TTjy TOfxris
was
tics,
ex
recens.
Torelli,
L. Heiberg, vol.
iii.
pp.
104,
DR.
196
There
The
refer,
is
solution
has come
follows
which
of Archytas,
down
to us
\i.-(\hi.
<ri
y 'ApxvT<o
Bv<TiJ.Tqxa.ua.
epya KvXCvipuv
let
the line
Si^ijai,
|Ui)S'
el Ti
SeouSe'os EvSofoio
^2
ed.
Ibid; ex.
Heib. vol.
rec.
iii.
Tor. p. 143
p. 98.
/bid.,
197
a/3,
meet
Now let
point S further let jSt^ be drawn parallel to ttS.
it be conceived that a semicylinder is erected on the semi:
angles to
it
angles to
also, at right
it,
Again,
if,
^^
of
at the place
Now,
line aX
lines
^piZ,
in the point
^t
'^
exerw
Si]
decriv
fXivov rifiiKiKXiop
uis
ypaiJ.fx.wu
rh
//.iv
Kivoi-
DR.
198
section
fxB
is
The
on
is
afxi
therefore
/aO.
triangle
similar to each of the triangles fxiO, fiad, and the angle
But the angle S'ko is also right. Therefore,
ijua is right.
the lines k8', jui are parallel. And there will be the propor-
tion
to
As the line
a/i,
3'a is to qk,
t. c.
ku to
at,
so
is
the line
The
triangles.
are, therefore, in continued
m^
S'a, ok,
afi
mean
by the omission of
certain
II.
further,
agrees perfectly with the report of Diogenes
and
also with the words in the letter of EratosLaertius,
thenes to Ptolemy III., which have been given above. If
now we examine its contents and compare them with
those of the more ancient fragment, we shall find a reit
markable progress.
The
it
If a perpendicular
jacent segment."
[b).
The perpendicular
31
The whole
investigation
is
is,
the
mean
in fact, based
on
proportional be-
this
theorem.
199
tical
angle
is
right.
[d).
The angles
in the
same segment of a
circle
are
Two
of their intersection.
ju
must
solution of
of
and the
same course
TOTTOQy
'5
The
this
problem attributed
theorem.
to Plato,
and by
]\Ie-
DB.
200
down by
occurs.
says
lite-
find
of Chios.
wording of Archytas
freely.
Though
the
word
by
'
first arise
201
The
first
that
a circle of which
ai is
the diameter.
Now
Eutocius, in his
It is
as follows
A finite
mean
Dehan Problem
by Menaechmus,
Avvertiamo esFavaro observes:
pressamente che Menecmo non fu egli
'
I'inventore
stesso
di
questa dottrina
Montucla
[dei luoghi geometrici].
{Histoire des Mathematiques, nouvelle
edition,
vii. p.
rique.
buiscono
tome premier.
171), e Chasles
Paris,
An.
{Apergu Histo-
Johnston
Allman
from Thales
di
scuola
alia
'
to
Platone
Greek
Euclid,
G.
Geometry
Dublin, 1877,
a Talete,
p. 171) la fa risalire
Equazioni.
^8
Modena,
1878, p. 21.
ApoUonius, Conic,
p. 10.
ed. Halleius,
DR.
202
straight lines
each other
'
drawn
be equal to
observations of a similar
on which he makes
[figure]
"
Two
of two
described
in
the
plane,
the straight
that
so
lines
in-
'
f^rjcrl,
d(f>
^pT^cri/Aa
irpos
ras
crw^ccrets
T^s evOeias
CTTtTafei,
KadeTos
d)^OiZ(Ta
So9eLa-7]<;
CTri rrjv
7rTrepa(Tfxivr]<;
TroL-qjia'
oXov
Iv
r]
Sodelaav ev6a,av kvkXoV idv ydp ctti Trj<; SoOeLo-yjs ev6eias rjfxiKVKXiov
avTov
ypacfifj, oirep av cttI Trj<; Trept^epetas XdfSr]^ arjjxeLOV, koI (Itt'
KdOeTov dydyr]<s cTrl Trjv hidjx^Tpov, iroirjo-^L to Trpo/SXrjOev .... o/AOtov
Kai ypaffiCL avTos AttoXXwvlos ev
t<Jj
dvaXvoynevo) totto),
ctti
tov vttokci-
fxevov.
Avo oouevTwv
arrjfjLetoiv
ovvaTOV iaTtv iv tw
o-rjfj.eio)v
Ittl
tov avTov
33
Trjv Trept^epetav
be observed, in the
Tt) viroKel/j.evov,
Hallcy has
6_)(iv
T<2 SoOevrt.
It is to
Itcke
iv CTriTreSo) Koi
cTrtTreSw ypd.ij/aL
and adds
unoKfi/xfUQi,
in a note that
in place of rh
first
inroKelfievov,
correct.
a statement which
I have
is
is
not
interpreted Halley's
reading as referring to the subjoined
diagram.
203
(ot
be seen that
loci,
the
as,
e.
g.,
the middle of the fourth century B. c, there was a discussion between Speusippus and the philosophers of the Aca-
demy on
thing was a theorem or everything a problem the mathematicians, as might be expected, took the latter view, and
:
fail to
first
be noticed that Aristaeus, who was later than Menaechmus, but prior to Euclid,
wrote five books on Solid Loci [p\ (rrepeol roTrot)." In conclu-
may
^^
tion
TTopiCeffdai,
is
in a
thing; in
a.
Amongst
had
corollary.
Eiikl., pp.
subject of porisms
markable clearness,
Sirep
eSei Sej|a,
is,
I.
*i
ii.
word porism
Pappi,
p. 672.
Collect.,
is
ed. Hultsch,
vol.
BR.
204
in
nothing in the text from which any alteration
two
in
the
be
phraseology can be inferred, as there can
solutions of the 'Delian Problem' by Menaechmus, in
there
is
vol.
iii.
p. 171), in
in
taking
cone"
is
of which
gives the point k, and then the point i, by means
the
determine
to
in
order
is
solved.
the problem
Now,
these
of
point (c, it will be sufficient to find the projections
vertical plane on aS, which contains the
axes of the three surfaces of revolution concerned, and
site
satisfaire I'esprit,
ne
calls the
S9auroil
tiier
et
dont
aucuii
la
pratique
secouis.'
torn.
*^
i.
p. 188.
de
la
Geo7ne-
Math.,
Chasles,
Histoire
trie, p. 6.
^* ^.
p. 133.
205
The
point
aS,
perpendicular
qkS',
^)j
also be found
Each
points
To
of
and
these
cylinder.*^
So
can
projections
far Flauti.
be
constructed
by
^,
we have
only to describe a
square,
line aS
a^,
Flauti,
edizione.
Geonietria di Stto,
which corresponds
terza
|-(}-=
o5
ai
i^.
Again, since
^^.^
o5
to
ot
any
a*
a|,
^ave also
k'T
= S
(Vo5
o|
o|).
ordi-
DR.
206
this
^jj
(=
t/c),
we have only
tional to
and the
it
less."
a,
0^ =
Now
we
aud
)/,
are
j/
|7)
ae
a|
the cyUnder,
the tore.
have, therefore,
iv-
)8^
6^-
x'i
x-
\- y"^
y^JrZ^
a\^
= ax;
a-\/x^+y';
the cone,
lience
^-+^^- + 22-^-^
ae-
since
But
j|2
hence
we
I'?
and,
j|
a|
as
{aS
o|.
- o|)
We
easily obtain
equations
get
= -^
a|-
a5
a|
afi
A'Jx'i+y-''
afi
ae,
we have
|rj2=
,.a|2-a5.
can,
par Archytas
first
mean
and a
= \/ab'i,
between
proportional
^/x^+y^ +
a|.
a;S-
finally, since
aS
^2^
z^
= \/^>
and
a.
cur\'es of in-
and
z- = aVx
(Va
\/x)
de
et
la
by analytic geometry.
Taking, as axes of coordinates, the line a5, the tangent to
the circle oy85 at the point a, and the
side of the cylinder
through the point
tore
z-=
These
results
X- ax.
agree
with those
ob-
207
So much ingenuity and ability are shown in the treatment of this problem by Archytas, that the investigation
of these projections, in itself so natural/^ seems to have
been quite within his reach, especially as we know that
Hermathena,
(see
vol. iv.,
(see
p.
and
names
ellipse
parabola^ hyper-
application, excess,
defect of areas,
were
first
given to
them by Apollonius."
Several authors give Archytas credit for a knowledge
geometry of space, which was quite exceptional
of the
and remarkable
ter
but no one,
I believe,
of the conceptions
*8
sur
mtersections
"
auxiliaires est,
and
plans
donnes
rique.'
des
les
in relation to
n. 61
see, also,
ApoUonii Conica,
Pappi
ii.
p.
674;
and Procli
Friedlein, p. 419.
Co7nm., ed.
DR.
208
tells
tion, though faithfully transmitted, may have been somewhat abbreviated. He thinks, too, that it must belong to
that Plato
method of inquiry.^^
Methods are also handed down, of which the best is
that through analysis, which
brings back what is required
to some admitted principle, and which
Plato, as they say,
transmitted to Leodamas, who is reported to have become
lytic
50
I5I>
"
til',
^-
TTis
Bretscli.
1
many
52.
geometrical theorems.^^
53
UidoZoi
KicTTt) jxkv
7}
U Sfius
ijjioXoyovixivnv
p. 198.
^y Ka\
irapiSwKev.
(T)rri(xecs
^dixavri
T^
rp6iTov
Qaai(f.
el(Tr)yri(rttTo
Diog. Laert.
Aew-
iii.
24,
TrapamovTaf
dvdyovaa Th
HAaTwv, Sis (paffi,
dip"
ris
Kal
/c\-
eV dpxv"
Cvrov/xevov,
AicuSd/j-avri
iKilvos
ttoWwv
p. 211.
Procl.
Comvi,,
ed.
Fried.,
209
has
goreans in
as
Is
Italy.
we know, never
have invented
this
it
who, as
far
method
of solving problems in
^1
geometry
Bruckerum
Arithm., Praemonenda,
'
principia ignora\isse,
scilicet
thodum
'
VOL. V.
simile
i.
Lugd.
Bat.
eos,
ilium audivisse
non vero
^=>'X.Qno^\\oi\,Memorab.,
Theodorum Cyrenaeum,
Laert.,
ii.
iv. 7
Cobet.
Diog.
DR.
210
problem
The former of the two reasons advanced by Bretschneider, and given above, has reference to and is based
upon the following well-known and remarkable passage of
the Republic of Plato. The question under consideration
is the order in which the sciences should be studied
having placed arithmetic first and geometry i. e. the
geometry of plane surfaces second, and having proposed
to make astronomy the third, he stops and proceeds
?
What was
lowed.'
'
That
is true,
Socrates
Why,
yes,'
I said,
'
and
for
two reasons
in the first
this science
then they would listen, and there would be
continuous and earnest search, and discoveries would be
made since even now, disregarded as these studies are
;
way by
may emerge
likely they
Yes,' he said,
211
fair proportions,
tell
their natural
and
into light.'
But
'
'
there
Yes,' I said.
And you
step backward
made a
?'
'
the
Yes,' I said,
ludicrous state of solid
*
branch and go on to
*
True,' he said.
less speed
the
geometry made me pass over this
astronomy, or motion of solids.'
;
if
supplied,
to astro-
nomy.'
That
is
'
the whole
backward
state,'"
rables.
We
Plato, Rep.
vii.
Dialogues of Plato,
528
vol.
Jowett, The
ii.
tik, p. 193.
^^
pp. 363,
364.
^'^
Plato,
Zt?-^j, vii.
The Dialogues of
Cantor, Geschichte der
Mathema-
333, 334.
819, 820
Plato, vol.
Jowett,
iv.
pp.
DR.
212
pp. 213, el
sq.),
to the
complained of by Plato. It is noteworthy that this diffithe cubature of the pyramid was solved,
cult problem
not through the encouragement of any State, as suggested
by Plato, but, and in Plato's own lifetime, by a solitary
thinker
the
man whose
great
to consider.
V.
It
should be
for
noticed,
however,
three dimensions, as
may be
seen from
yecofxerpia Siaipflrai
T^v
tTriireSov
Oewpiav
Kal
irdXiv
ets
^
re
t^u crrepeo-
nerpiav.
p.
39
Procli
see
Comfn.,
also
tbid.,
of
ed. Fried.,
pp.
73,
116.
'^^
Diog. Laert., viii. c. 8; A. Boeckh,
Ueher die vierjdhrigen Sonnenkreise
213
he
and who, as well as Eudoxus, learnt medicine from Philistion bearing with him letters of recommendation from
Agesilaus to Nectanabis, by whom he was commended to
the priests. When he was in Egypt with Chonuphis of
He
remained
in
an
composed
then
his
Octa'cteris^"
and
Eudoxus
four months,
octennial period.
the
now
over
took
up
went
to
Boeckh
and
thinks,
advances
when he was
about 378
B. c.
still
young that
and not
in 362 B.
is,
c,
in
much
earlier date
Sonnenkreise,
pp.
See Boeckh,
140-148;
Grote,
moon
number
of days in
This
each.
of
days
365^
eight years
a knowperiod, therefore, presupposes
ledge of the true length of the solar
this is precisely the
year
its
invention, however,
buted by Censorinus
is
attri-
to Cleostratus.
DR.
214
many
some
say, of
annoying Plato,
Eudoxus
language as being a
this
and gave laws to his felhe also wrote treatises on astronomy and
He was
geometry, and some other important works.
accounted most illustrious by the Greeks, and instead of
Eudoxus they used to call him Endoxus, on account of the
low-citizens
He
of the
life
rests
on good
'
ed.
65
became
p. 124
i.,
friends
'
Bek.
by Ptolemy
it
authorities.''^
are
II.
he was
in-
Philadelphus,
to
and
Un-
left
M'as chief
this office
Callimachus of Cyrene
vited
handed down by
undetermined
I have endeavoured to
what seems to me to be their natural
ment
is
close of the
Apollodorus of
Athens flourished about the year 143
b. c.
Smith's Dictio/iarv.
third
century
B. c.
215
Boeckh thinks
geometry, and
among them to
Plato
phists,
Now
think
it
viii.
is
86)."
much more
above, Eudoxus went in his youth from Cnidus to Tarentum between which cities, as we have seen, an old commercial intercourse existed*^ and there studied geometry
under Archytas, and that he then studied medicine under
1.
The
which
this statement,
authority
2.
rests
In support of
commences with
on Callimachus, who
is
good
The
life
of
Eudoxus
which
is
is
so, if
^^
Boeckh, Sonne?ikreise,
6'
i.
^s
p. ij^g.
p. 123, n.
Hermathena,
Herod.,
iii.
138.
vol.
iii.
p.
175:
DR.
216
3.
The statement
that he
to
to
is in itself
credible
Chr3'-sippus, the physician in whose company Eudoxus travelled to Egypt, was also a pupil of Philistion in
medicine, and Theomedon, with whom Eudoxus went to
4.
the probability
is
that he
to us
and
method
[b).
'^^
;
The discovery of
by Eudemus in
ferred to
by lamblichus
tributed
Eudoxus
[c).
69
Procl.
Hippasus,
Archytas,
and
Proclus
tells
Hermathena,
'0
to
"*
vol.
iii.
p. 163.
discovered.''
see
Herjiathena,
vol.
iii.
p. 164.
FROM
We
[d).
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
217
anonymous scholium on
the Elements of Euclid, which Knoche attributes to Proclus, that the fifth book, which treats of proportion, is com-
KaXov) ;"
"
TTvXag ypafinag)
(/).
III.,
Eratosthenes associates
;"
'
Cyzicus, for
its
solution
'^
;
10:
Hermathena,
vol.
viii. c. 8,
ed. Cobet,
"^
iii.
Archim.,
p. 144;
ed.
"^
Tor.,
"
""
p. 106.
ed.
p.
146
Some writers
trans-
'
epigram by divine,'
but the true sense seems to be Godtliis
ed.
Heiberg.,
p. 112.
fearing, pious'
Diog. Laert.,
p. 226.
'1
iii.
'
iii.
p. 204.
'3
Heib.,
late Qiovtios in
iii.
i,
Optra,
p. 699.
Brandis,
500, a.
p.
DR.
218
[t). Archimedes tells us expressly that Eudoxus discovered the following theorems:
Any pyramid
pyramid
Any
cone
the
is
cone.'^
(/).
following
add
finite
diameters, and that spheres have to each other the triplicate ratio of their diameters further, that any pyramid is
;
the third part of a prism which has the same base and the
same altitude as the pyramid and that any cone is the
;
lines
we have
what
'9
Heib., vol.
80
vol.
seen,
similar.*-
1.
p.
64
ed.
p. i8;ed. Heib.,
Tuv aviauv
peuu rb
/J-e'iCof
ToiovT(ji, o
p. 296.
^^''ETt Se
irpoff-
p. 4.
^3
i.
p. 65
p. 10.
Xhis definition
A6yov
Aeyerai,
ex^"'
is
'"'p^s
ed. Heib.,
&\Ar)\a
fieyedr)
a.\\r)\o3v vivepixm'.
219
does not say that the lemma used by former geometers was
bixolov
exactly the same as his, but like it his words are
:
T(jj
iypaf^ov.
iii.,
this subject,
and with
The passage
was
for a
now be regarded
A proportion
as generally accepted.
contains in general four terms
the second
s*
p. 70.
i.
*5
Ibid. p. 208.
p. 206.
DR.
220
may
and
first five
propositions
book are treated there in connexion with the anamethod, which is nowhere else mentioned by Euclid
;
to,
scholiast:** the
is,
reason-
clusive.
f'"
^^
^^
380.
p.
208.
Rev.
parait accepter
les
syntheses et
les
pour authentiques
analyses inserees dans
elles
se
tiouvcnt
tantot
juxtaposees aux theses uiie a une, tantot reunies apres le chap. xiii. 5.'
FROM
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
221
The demonstrations
1.
of the
show
first
their antiquity.
The
2.
and
first
fifth
1
and of these two
ii.
an immediate consequence the solutherefore, of this problem given in Book ii. must be
is
of later date.
Eudoxus
be more probable
it
Eudoxus.
As most of the editions of the Elements do not contain
"''
Prop.
ratio, the
propositions:
I.
If a straight line
whole line,
the whole line.
of the
Prop.
five
^"^
same view
he thinks
he should have
doxus
is
probable.
Heft.
p.
due to Eu-
Zeitschrift fiir
20
30 Dec. 1883.
29.
Jahrgang,
DR.
222
is
is
ratio,
Prop.
Prop. IV.
mean
ratio,
From
follows that,
it
if
be cut in extreme and mean ratio, the greater segment will be cut in a similar manner by taking on it a
part equal to the less and so on continually and it reresults from Prop. III. that twice the lesser segment exceeds the greater. If now reference be made to the Tenth
Book, which treats of incommensurable magnitudes, we
line
Two unequal
from
the
a
magnitudes being given,
part be taken
greater
away which is greater than its half, and if from the remainder a part greater than its half, and so on, there will
remain a certain magnitude which will be less than the
lesser given magnitude
and that the second proposition
find that the first proposition
is
as follows
'
if
'
Two
will
be incommensurable';
we have
223
MATHENA,
vol.
iii.,
the
p.
98).
This, I think, affords an explanation of the place occupied by Eucl. X. I in the Elements, which would otherwise
be difficult to account for we might rather expect to find
:
it
at the
the
Method
of Exhaustions, as given
based, and by
rems in it are proved
book,
it is
is
means
by Euclid
diameters,
A pyramid
is
xii.
cone
is
on their
in that
height, xii. 7
the third part of a cylinder having the
height, xii. 10
in the triplicate ratio
other
each
are
to
Spheres
of their diameters, xii. 18.
;
due to Eudoxus.
DR.
224
Method
We
of Exhaustions.
know,
loc. ctt.)
'
connexion with
in
difficulty
same way
the
this
In
axiom."-*"
all
was got
ad
absurduvi'^^
that
Now
Hence
it
follows
method
of
9"
I'absurde que
aux
this indirect
quantites
les
anciens
etendaient
incommensurables
les
numbers and
magnitudes.
for
commensurable
commensurables' (Carnot,
Reflexions sur la Mitaphysiqiie du
Calcul Infiiiiteshnal, p. 137, second
les quantites
adition
Paris, 1813).
com-
Book and
the
general
manner
so
as to include the
rable
in Euclid x.
i,
attri-
and 223.
"'
Carnot,
ibid., p. 135.
225
thod
indeed
this
is
is
medes On
the Sphere
and
down
handed
and in
merely says
We have met with the writings of many illustrious
men, in which the solution of this problem is professed;
we have declined, however, to report that of Eudoxus,
since he says in the introduction that he has found it by
means of curved lines, KOfxTrvXiov ypaixf.iMv in the proof, however, he not only does not make any use of these curved
:
lines,
not
We
lines
p. 41).
berg, vol.
92
'
Vol.. V.
93
si
p. 66.
Bretsch. C^owz.
zw '2^^'/.
p. 166.
is
DR.
226
ticular signification,
KanirvXa To^a of
symmetrical to
and
Homer,
it
axis,
We
on one of the
that solution.
by the aid of
he attaches
to
it,
is
was a
'
practical observer, and that he may be considered
as the father of scientific astronomical observation in
who
"5
Tannery,
Eudoxe.
Sur
les
Solutions
du
rrohlciiie de
et
far
227
motions of the planets ';='" that he did so by means of geometrical hypotheses, which later were submitted to the test
of observations, and corrected thereby; and that hence
arose the system of concentric spheres which made the
name of Eudoxus so illustrious amongst the ancients.
on account of
its
I have also
the important theorems discovered by him
dwelt on the importance of the methods of inquiry and
;
96
Sir
London,
1862.
tariis definitionis
*'
Aristotele
(Ulrico
Hoepli
Milano,
93
See
tion V.
1875).
Schiaparelli,
loc.
cit.,
sec-
commen-
quartae expositionem
1856.
^^
^- y-
^^C'^^^^^'"-^^
Herfordiae,
DR.
228
was
at the time of
losophical
B. C.
century
In the
movement during
:
first
part
(Hermathena,
vol.
iii.,
fifth
p. 171) I attri-
beginnings of the doctrine of proportion and of the similarity of figures. It is agreed on all hands that these two
theories were treated at length by Pythagoras and his
School. It is almost certain, however, that the theorems
arrived at were proved for commensurable magnitudes
only, and were assumed to hold good for all. We have
moreover, that the discovery of incommensurable
magnitudes is attributed to Pythagoras himself by Eudeseen,
mus
this discovery,
secrets,
too,
to
taken by P. Tannery,
turelles de
La decouverte de
says
I'incommensurabilite de certaines Ionp. 406.
Bourdeaux,
He
'
t.
229
granted as self-evident many theorems, especially the converses of those already established. The first publication
of Grote
We thus
negative side of Grecian speculation stands quite as prominently marked, and occupies as large a measure of the
intellectual force of their philosophers, as the positive side.
It is not simply to arrive at a conclusion, sustained
by
claim
it
as an authoritative
that
and then to
pro-
all
objectors
attending its solution to take account of deducfrom the affirmative evidence, even in the case of
culties
tions
elles, et
avant tout de la
des
lors,
etrs
un
all
veritable
this
scandale
pement.'
DR.
230
will
As
a condition of
all
We
many
whole theory of the similarity of figures and on all geomiCtrical truths resting on the doctrine of proportion
indeed
it might even have been asked what was the meaning of
ratio as applied to incommensurables, inasmuch as their
mere existence renders the arithmetical theory of propor:
tion inexact in
Now
its
very definition.^"'
tion ascribes to
in
Book
Further,
if
we compare
'
and
fifth
definitions of
I.
""
The
third definition,
vi.
p. 48.
'"*
which
is
generally considered
and Ratio
'03
390.
Hankel,
Gesch.
der
Math., p.
231
The
fourth definition
is
for its object the exclusion of the ratios of finite magnitudes to magnitudes which are infinitely great on the one
and
side,
on the other
infinitely small
however, that
seems
it
to
me,
may have
object
the doctrine of proportion by means of the apagogic method of proof can be founded on the axiom which is con-
have been
3.
first
it
is
is
may
was
meThis must
fifth
thod
the
viiv
la-rX
A(^7os
Zvo
fxijiOCov
6/noye-
rj
iroia
et sq.,
,ii.
Berolini, 1824.
'"5
we
Aristotle
by starting from a
Where
aritli-
and
arith-
can
are
only happen in
Anal. post.
i.
7,
p.
numbers, which
certain
75,
a,
ed.
cases.'
Bek.
232
DB.
was
attracted to
Now
a service, similar to that rendered by Socrates to philosophy, but of higher importance, was rendered by. Eudoxus to geometry, who not only completed it by the
new
tion restored to
its
original lustre.'"^
Something, however, remained to be cleared up, especially with regard to his relations, and supposed obligations,
I am convinced that the obligations were quite
to Plato.^"^
1^ E.
g. Cicero, de Div. ii. 42,
Chaldaeorum monstra veniamus
'
Ad
enorme
de
strous
num
facile
princeps,
quod scriptum
sic
reliquit
opinatur,
id
Chaldaeis in
the following
dum': Plutarch,
Dictionar}-.
c. xi.
/j.7jSei
Se kuI 'Apxi-
''
'
it
is
only
and
not geometer] that his fame has descended to our day, and he has more
of it than can be justified by any acin existence.'
Epic.
sec.
Equally mon-
proposizione.'
is
1P8
De Morgan,
Ideler, ueher
Akad.
tronne, sur
Berl.
v. J.
les
in
now
Smith's
eci-its
et
les
travaux
V Astroncmie ancieiine
L' Astronomien'a ete cultivee veritablement qu'en
Schiaparelli,
'
i.
Well may
'
(torn.
Schiaparclli saj-
i.
p. 131).
'
Questa
le
Sfere
Omocentriche,
&c., 1875.
acquiesce in
this.
FROM
TilALE 8
TO EUCLID.
233
above
all,
tions,
and
astronomy from metaphysical mystificarender the treatment of that science as real and
To accomplish this, howpositive as that of geometry.
to free
to
it was incumbent on him to know the celestial phenomena, and for this purpose inasmuch as one human life
was too short he saw the necesssity of going to Egypt, to
learn from the priests the facts which an observation continued during many centuries had brought to light, and
which were there preserved.
I would call particular attention to the place which
ever,
Eudoxus
filled in
with him, in
fact,
He was
was
11''
also counted
Augusta Comte
out by
pointed
'Celle-cipaseconde
fut
II
servit
pareillement la
geometrie et I'astronomie, tandis que,
bientot apres lui, la specialisation de-
matique.
VOL. V.
tique Positive,
iii.,
Poli-
DR.
234
to
1. His work in all branches of the geometry of the
day founding new, placing old on a rational basis, and
throwing light on all as presented above.
2. The fact that he was the first who made observation
the foundation of the study of the heavens, and thus be-
came
according to the
strict
His
'
practical
school founded by
him
at
the
world of the
man
change was
effected
^11
Ideler,
and
after
him Schiapa-
appears from tlie fact testified by Cicero {vid. supra, n. io6), that
Eudoxus had no faith in the Chaldean
relli
this
from
this
that he did
not,
hke many
instance of this
is
found in Plutarch
of
sec.
Epic,
cxi.,
who
re-
Phaeton
if,
by so doing, he could
ascertain
its
nature,
tions
time.
An
magnitude, and
form.'
"2 Eudoxus
may even
be regarded as
235
not without significance, too, that Eudoxus seand pleasant shores of the Propontis as
the situation of the school which he founded for the transmission of his method. Among the first who arose in this
It
is
have next
to con-
sider.*
in a peculiar
manner uniting
in.
him-
Do-
rian cities
*
be given in the
[The Bibliographical Note, refeiTed to in page i86, will
next No. of Hermathena.]
GEORGE
J.
ALLMAN.
>
y.\
l^From
i886.
of
Menaechmus, and
is
men-
tioned by Eudemus, together with Amyclas and Menaechmus, as having made the whole of geometry more perfect.'
The only
is
notice of his
to us
lows
'
let
the quadrant'
* The
previous portions of this Paper
have appeared in Hermathena, Vol.
and
Vol. iv., No. ,vii.
s/iii., No. V.
;
Vol.
v.,
Nos.
X.
and
last part
on the
title
(Hermathena,
have appeared
xi.
p. 403)
The
Vol.
v.,
Autolyci de
Sphaera quae 7novetur Liber, De ortibus et occasibus Libri duo : una cum
iv.
tinens, Lipsiae,
1885
Die Lehre
vo7t
Kopenhagen, 1886.
See Hermathena, vol. v. p. 406 (a).
*
7po^^^. The Greeks had no spe'
name
for
'
a curve.'
libris manuscriptis
interpretatione et com-
cial
usu
Nizze,
scholiis antiquis e
edidit Latina
Treptc^e'peta,
arc.
'
Ex
recentiorum
irfpicpfpeiav id est
totius circuli
partem aliquam
circumferentiae, Ernestum
Theodosii interpretem,
secuti
106
DR.
moved
be
j3
78,
jSy
accompany
and let the
the point
some
point,
given
circle.
line, as ynt,
quadrant
rjX
jStS
for this is
is
to the arc
tS,
so
is
Pappi Alexandrini
Liber,
movetur
(Autolyci de Sphaera quae
de ortibus et occasibus Libri
252.
Lipsiae, 1885.)
if any
But its characteristic property is this
whole
the
as
to
the
drawn
be
circumference,
Collectionis
i.
quae
pp. 250,
107
Pappus
It is as
follows
gtj3 is
yO.
/Sy],
to a
greater line jk
let
produced
to the point
t.
Since then
quadrant
Z,^k (for
that
quadrant
j3eS to
the
line ^\.
And
it
is
equal to the straight line /jy therefore the arc rjic will be
equal to the straight line rjA, which is absurd. Therefore it
is not true that
as the quadrant jStS is to the straight line
;
so
is j3y
point
5
'
};,
and
let
Hoc theorema
et VIII propos. 22
extat V propos. 1 1
simul autem scrip-
yj;
be produced to the
DR.
108
point
f.
above,
we show
to the arc
Z,jjik.
juk
so
is
the
fore
it is
to the line yd
Pappus continues
itself.'*'
'
This also
is
evident, that
if
a third
jSfS;
line,
which
is
and
its
for
radius
proved.''
Pappus
two reasons
'' Paulo
renia
cjrculi
"Laos
verbis
dimens. propos.
nas kvkAos
(k rod Keurpov
opdriv,
f)
iari
fita
twv
p. 259, n. 2.)
t]
irepl
fiev
rijv
{/du/.
109
1,
It
point
move from
j3
same time
/itS,
first
same
is
ratio.'
employed
for
the quadrature of the circle that is, the point in which the
quadratrix cuts the straight line yS is not found for when
the straight lines yjS, /3a, being moved, are brought simul-
ceases before the coincidence with the line aS, which intersection on the other hand is taken as the extremity of the
curve, in
which
it
meets the straight line aS unless, perthat the curve should be con:
from the principles laid down but in order that this point
6/
may be assumed, the ratio of the quadrant to the straight
line must be presupposed.'
He then adds, that unless this ratio is given, one
;
'
trusting
should not
ypajjifxriv fir]\aviKUJTiQav
ttwq ovaav).
Archiniedis, <7/6va
iii.
DR.
110
his Collectio7ts}^
that Sporus
was
he
further,
identifies
'A/otrrrortXtica
of Nicaea,
Krjpjo (see
Hermathena,
88), which contained, according
to M. Tannery, extracts from mathematical works relating to
the quadrature of the circle and the duplication of the cube, as
vol. iv. p.
On examining
The circumferences
{a).
their diameters.
(3).
the
vol.
'1
Pappi, Op.
iii.
Sur
Rhodes
cit.,
vol.
i.
p. 64, sq.,
les
fragments d'Eudeme de
tnatiques
Annales de
also,
la
1882.
Pour
p. 1070, sq.
nom.,
z*"
serie
Matliem.
t. vii.
et
Astro-
33
is
:
In equal circles, angles at the centre have the same
[c).
We
made
Ill
in the proof:
An
1.
And
is
less
We notice,
is,
with which
we
meet.^^
indirect
is
first
and
it
of the kind
We
and we
know that Autolycus of Pitane, in Aeolis, who was a contemporary of Dinostratus, makes use of the argument
reasoning (see
Hermathena,
vol.
v.,
p.
224)
book
or acvvarov, in
many
propositions of his
We
too,
is,
1-
213.
i-''
and that
it
8,
17; 22,
I.
DR.
112
prop. 22
proves that
^^
'
Nous
combes],
du principe
d' Aixhinicde,
geometres anciens
et modernes, suivant lequel deux lignes
courbes, ou composees de droites,
adopte par tons
les
concavites
ayant
leurs
meme
cote et les
toumees
memes
extremites,
D'oii
il
suit
du
la plus
qu'un arc de
meme
cote, est
Pappi, Op.
336; vol.
iii.,
Paris, 1813.
cit.,
vol.
pp. 1104,
i.,
106.
pp. 334,
FROM
Til ALES
TO EUCLID.
113
circles,
'
these criticisms are just; and that Sporus and Pappus are
right in maintaining that the description of the curve
for
em-
is
ployed/'
Bretschneider shows that the theorem from which the
the ratio
He
adds
to
'
rjA
geometers as means
used as proofs. The
1"
is
i''
'Various other modes might be
found of making either of these curves
the
[the quadratrix of Dinostratus and
Quadratrix.
is
VOL. VI.
assumes
g6.
54.
DR.
114
two parts
i"".
The invention
2.
Its proof.
And
at,
the proof
arrived
is
often furnished
by
has been
method ex
the
ahsiirdo}'^
is
not Hippias of
in giving
however,
defence of the
them,
common
As
Elis."
mentioned,
opinion but, on reading it subsequently, I was much struck with the force of his arguments, and introduced them in a note the only course
;
M. Paul Tannery,
which was published in the
Matheniatiques et Astronomiques^ Octobre, 1883, and entitled, Pour I'histoire des lignes et surfaces courbes dans
*
'5
Grands Types de
p. Laffitte, Les
VHutnatiite, vol.
ii.,
p. 328, et seq.
20
For convenience
Hippias of Elis
of
reference
is
mentioned
in
it
as
an
3.
tells
Pappus
quadrature of a
to
although he
organic motion to a geometrical diagram and the description of tlie quadratrix requires such a motion.
name would be
strange
if
he
tells
to
us
that
apply an
us that
'
:
For the
was
it is
its
called
name from
this
dratrix.'
4. With respect to the observation
of Montucla, I may mention that there
was
a skilful
named
Hippias
Lucian,
who
structed
by him-
describes
bath con-
FROM
^^
I'antiquite,'
TilALES
115
sion
TO EUCLID.
he replies
i^,
'
me
This omis-
With
reference to
An
not accurate.
2,
he says
indefinite
<
This observation is
number of points of the
:
ruler
'
tius
to
is,
but in a very
practical
whilst the inventor of the conic sections
As
'^^
to these observations of
Bulletin
2^ serie, vii.
lies
i
Sc.
Math,
et
M. Tannery,
22
Astron.,
gee
p. 195.
I
admit that
Hermathena, volume
v.,
no
DR.
Diogenes Laertius
I
THEEA,
vol.
did not
is
noticed in the
indeed
iii.,
mean
first
part of
p. 167, n. 16).
to
convey
my
Paper (Herma-
In quoting him,
in
that,
my
I certainly
opinion, Archytas
itself,
although,
as
M. Tannery
In
and very
reply to
my
observation
3,
]M.
Tannery says
from which they drew. All that the former says of curves
is undoubtedly borrowed from Geminus, an author of the
first
proves that
'
above.
FROM
With
Til ALES
117
reference to
ence of the
ECULID.
TO
4,
seems
to
but
any case
in
it is
medes.'
me
consideration in
Montucla.
reply
without
observation of
the
Later, I
of that writing,
Lucian.^^
The
to
the
result of the
to
be
that
used the curve for the quadrature of the circle, and that its
name was thence derived. This seems to be Cantor's view
us that he, too, had at
first interpreted the passage of Pappus in the same way as
Cantor; but that, on further consideration, he thinks that
of the matter.'-^
M. Tannery
tells
In the first
He says
to grave objections.
in
Proclus
text
of
Geminus
the
clearly supposes that
place,
been
the name of the curve had
given to it by its inventor,
is
it
open
'
Hippias. On the other hand, it is evident that the pracuse of the curve implies the construction of a model
cut in a square, having the quadratrix in place of the
like omx protractor^
hypotenuse, and which could be applied,
consideration.
under
to the figures
Consequently, the
determination of the intersection of the curve with the axis
tical
at
-3
See
Zeller,
lotoplty from
time of
Socrates, vol.
ii.,
p. 422,
to
the
" 2,
is
not,
in
E.T.
-^
tik,
Mathema-
DR.
118
we should think
that Hippias
was
name
the
we know
p. 22
means
et seq.
as the natural
is significant,
was effected by
Nor does the
infinitesimal method, I
that this
inventor,
it
follows, in
my
Elis,
to accept Cantor's
serie, vii., i.
p.
'
Jahresherichte,
Haiil^el
p.
121
p.
ff.
liess,
und Cantor
281.
474
die
Wahrend
exhaustions-
metry &c.
II.
p.
221
ff.
mit recht
methode
halten.'
fiir
alter als
Eudoxus zu
FROM
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
119
life.
The passages
lows
in
Pappus
'
[a)
That which
is
relating to
him are as
fol-
is,
power of solving problems proposed to them in the construction of lines and it is useful for this purpose only. It
;
and
thesis.
'''
Pappus, having defined analysis and synthesis, prolist of the books, arranged in
tSttos, 'locus,
e.
\u6/jLevosr6iTos,vii.b~2,4.'
Pappi, Op.
citatis,
tomus
"
cit.,
6 ava-
Index Grae-
voluminis
iii.,
ii.,
p. 114.
avaXiinv, p. 5.
'
What
about Data
'
Tlie
is
'
divided in
ledge of this
di'aA.. tcStt.
is
that analysis
and that
it
things similar, and that it is more important to possess the analytical faculty
than to have many proofs of particular
things.'
p. 13.
Op.
cit.,
Appendix,
p. 1275.
28
Pappi, ibid,
vii., vol.
ii.
p. 634.
120
BR.
order,
He enume-
the remaining books, with the exception of two byEratosthenes concerning means [Trspl fnaoT^rojv Suo), were
written by Euclid and Apollonius.^^
[d]
[These plane problems then, are found in the tott.
irivTi)
and are set out first, with the exception of the means of
Eratosthenes for these come last. Next to plane problems
avaX.,
[c)
conies,
a difficulty as to
29
^^
why
Ibid., p. 636.
'
Ibid., p. 672.
fxiva,
interpolatori
Ttt
^eV
tribuit
767po^Hultsch.'
121
by name the
by a square
/3aXXf<)
(Tra^oa/BaAAo/itvov)
is
[But this happened to Aristaeus, since he did not perceive that, according to a peculiar position of the plane
the cones,
cutting the cone, the three curves exist in each of
of
the cone.
from
the
named
he
curves
which
peculiarity
'
For
if
for
completed by Euclid
himself
it
31
'1.
Ibtd., p. 672,
12.
Taloy)
1.,
19.
Toij.7]v
interpolatori
tri-
buit Hultsch.'
Friedlein,
pp.
Hermathena,
Cf. Procli,
419,
420.
Comm.,
ed.
See
albo
vol. v. p. 417.
DR.
122
KioviKo'ig,
Koi
/ij)
(pda(Tag
to all those
extent, as
is
who were
right,
jj
fiij
for
subjects
l(p'
oig
EvkXu-
(6 St
i]St]
vapaEeSivKfL
to cavil, but
Aristaeus concerning
that locus
not
left
many
attributing any
would be neces;
since
Apollo-
is not
brought to task for it. But he Apollonius has been able to add to that locus (rw tottw) what
was wanting, having been furnished with the ideas by
the books already written by Euclid on the same locus
(tteoi tov tottov), and having been for a long time a fellow-
unfinished,
owed thanks
to
him who
first
wrote about
We
it.]'^-
'
32
'
1.
Ibid., p. 676,
1.
19-p. 678,
25. o 5e Ei/cAetSris
p.
678,
1.
15.
tribuit
1.
15,
Hultsch says,
Hultsch,'
'
Ibid. p.
677.
As
iffTtv, scholiastae cuidam hisquidem veterum mathematicorum non imperito, sed qui dicendi ge-
ToiovTos
toriae
sit,
awkward
is difficult
meaning of
it.
The
123
icosahedron,
solids
further, that
'
The foregoing
We
1.
solid loci
Aristaeus
and then,
Tolg
wrote
KMviKo. GTotx^tla
3.
first
KiDviKo'ig
might possibly
Euclid.
23
**
book
Euclid,
Book
xiv.,
Prop.
2.
This
sides.
is
in reality the
work of Hyp-
DR.
124
We
{c)
He
it,
says
Pappus
The
vii.,
1" /ii^v
'
rejected
occurs in a perfectly
vivatwv is referred to,
'It
Trspl
wrong place
tottoi aTepeoi,
here incorrectly
aToix^'ia
And
KwviKu.
by
the
^^
GTOixtia kwviko. had meant the tottoi'.
With this conclusion of Heiberg I cannot agree.
first
place,
it
In
417-
Cf.
Hermathena,
v.,
pp. 416,
36
X'/af,
J. L.
p. 85.
Eu-
FROM
TilALES
TO EUCLID.
125
self (as
on the whole as
correct, so
proved."
In the next place, Heiberg
'
that
it is
is
not
is
for
it.'
Se,
oc yijpcKpe
to.
jU\|0(
1.
20).
ctui-e
y'I
meaning
'
words
Kio}'tK(1)v.
given
My
in five books.
3''
It is
certain that
school.
It
that one
or
Pappus had a
be assumed
may,
perhaps several
therefore,
of
his
then written on the margin, and subsequently received into the text, of the
work which has come down to us as
Ua-Kirov (TwayiDyfj.
These Commenta-
lectures
pupils had taken notes of his
and that these notes, arising thus from
rity
recognized by their
style,
DR.
126
The
list
We
solids
we examine
Hypsicles, we see
If
rems
1.
If a regular
pentagon be inscribed
in a circle, the
square on a side, together with the square on the line subtending two sides of the pentagon, is five times the square
.
circle
If the line
is
is
mean
ratio
scribed in a circle
same
circle.
is
Euclid,
xiii.
10
Euclid,
6.
xiii.
12
is
three times
same sphere
(2)
is
xiii.
17
cube be cut
is
in
127
ratio,
;
hedron.
From
common
is
subject.
saying that
'
it is
Geom.
V.
Eukl., p. tyi.
des Grecs dans
U Arithmetique
Pappus, Memoires de
la
Societe des
Serie.
*o
Tome
iii.,
Pappus, Op.
p. 351, 1880.
cit.,
vol.
i.,
p. 162.
DR.
128
moreover,
expressed,
Hypsicles
in
same words
as
in
synthesis
in
is
and
it is
to
solids,'
made by
Pappus, moreover, in Book v., treats of 'the comparison of the five figures having equal surface, viz. the
pyramid, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron,'
and says that he will do so, not by the so-called analytic
method, by which some of the ancients (rwi/ iraXaiMv) found
3.
'
wc
jpaipojuav,
l)(6vT(vv
TTivre
^wdeKueSpov
Si
v-m^a^ofxtQa.,
(Txriij.aru)v,
7ri;/ja^a'Soc t ko.)
re koI HKOcraiBfjov,
rjc '^vioi
ov dia
twv TraXuuov
rfjc
'lar^v
eirKpaveiav
avaXvriKTig Xeyoiuivrjc
aXXa
Otwpiag,
Em Trig Kara avvOeaiv aywyTiig Inl to aaipiartpov kol avvTOfiu)Tipov
vn' epov SiiCTKevaapivag.
The
simple manner
R
ABODE
of the dodecahedron,
cumscribing the pentagon
and let S and The the poles of the circles circumscribing
the two other pentagons of the dodecahedron which have
the vertex
in
common
then
"
will
7?^^ of the
icosahedron.
129
A
OA
ABODE,
and
be joined to O, the centre of the
the points
so drawn will be at right angles
sphere, the lines OR,
let them
and
to the planes
respectively
Now,
if
RST
P and Q respectively.
Then the two right-angled triangles ORQ, OAP having
AP
=
be equal in every respect; therefore OP = OQ and
and BQ are the radii of the circles circumBQ. But
scribing the pentagon of the dodecahedron and the triangle
of the icosahedron, and OP, OQ are the perpendiculars
drawn from the centre to these two planes.
AP
In the
pp. 194
first
S(/.),
we saw
and
in the
^3 These
Pythagorean ideas which
were adopted by Plato TlKdTwv Se koI
iv
rovrois Trv9ayopl(ei
THENA,
played
rise to
self the
'
S(/.),
Memoir
in a
Illustrate
entitled
An attempt to
Mathematical Connexion
:
:**
HERMA-
(see
proposed to him-
before the
in
the year 1811), put forward the hypothesis that the minute cells in the young
(See Hermathena,
This has been novol. iii., p. 164).
Nihil in
ticed by P. Ramus, who says
of this
the Elements'.
'
cotyledonous plants
gratia
dictum
crediderunt
dementis
'
;
but he adds
'
:
At
est
in totis
tius et inutilius'.*
It
may be
readers
latter.
interesting to
of this Paper to
VOL. VI.
some
know
(Petri
rum,
of the
Libri
15QQ, p. 306.)
that
unus
et
triginta.
Francofurti,
130
DR. ALLJilAN
I pointed out a
OW GREEK GEOMETRY,
ETC.
my
famous problem
to find
two
mean
and
in the
two follow-
he
Hermathena,
vol. iv.,
Archytas,
GEORGE
Queen's College, Galway.
J.
ALLMAN.
[From
'
HermatHENA', No.
XIII., 188;.
AT
founded on
the
history of Greek
true
in
This course of proceeding led to the temporary omission of at least one geometer, who had greatly
his successors.
of thisP^per
appeared in Hermathena)' Vol.
No. V. rVol. iv., No. vii. * Vol. v.,
liave
iii.,
Nos.
X.
and
xi.
Within the
'and Vol.
vi.,
No.
xii.
Notice sur
trait
1886.
Elementa,
edidit et
Altertum,
zweiter halbband,
Kopenhagen, 18SC;
M. Paul Tannery
scrits
traduction), par
last
les
tiques de Nicolas
&c.,
de
tome
la
(Ex-
manu-
Bibliotheque Nationale,
xxxii.,
v^ Partie), Paris,
io the History
DR.
270
vol.
iii.
p. 162),
We
much
covered
of the
of the 'Loci'r
of the collection of the 'Ele[c). Proclus, speaking
ments' made by Euclid, says that he arranged many
works of Eudoxus, and completed many of those of
Theaetetus ^
The squares on right
[d]. The theorem Euclid X. 9
commensurable
in
have
to each other the
lines,
length,
ratio which a square number has to a square number
and conversely. But the squares on right lines incommensurable in length have not to each other the ratio
which a square number has to a square number; and
is attributed to Theaetetus
conversely
by an anonymous
tovto to
Scholiast, probably Proclus. The scholium is
;
'
'
aXX
QeaiTijTt^,
Ka96Xov
Iku
/xtv
fjLifxvr]Tai
avTOv UXaTUJV tv
;^
Procl.
Comm.
I'bid. p.
Ihid. p, 68.
nfii
had
67.
Knoche, Untersuchiingen
dus Diadochtis
zii
i'lber
die
xv.,
Euclidis
tina
cum
him
Euclids Elementen,
cf. F. CoramanElementorum Libri
dinus,
for
Scholiis
antiquis,
fol.
FROM
TilALES
TO
271
EtlCLIt).
Kal irevrt-
ov
^vfj./j.erpoi
/x'fiKei
mathematical language
Ii^
T7) TToSiai'a-
'6ti
Tre'pi
'
and
in 148
it
certainly
means
divafiis
is
the pre-
throughout by hwafxivt]
fessor
'root.'
Pro-
(root).
it is
not clear
minology was
fixed.'
But, on the other
hand, J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire be-
was
commeiitaria, ed.
H.
1882)
vol.
Hermathena,
must
44,
Now
be
since
throughout
proper
the
oldest
signification
fragment
of
revised
Greek
Hermathena,
;
and,
for
text, Simplicii in
the
Aris-
qiiatuorpriores
work
of Hippo-
lunes
me
fully
to be found the
explanation of the
its
genuine.
l)arts at least,
as
crates, and,
to liim
note
199,
p.
in this fragment,
Eudemus,
that in this
used
iv.,
regarded
is
and
is
so used, for
the most part, in paragraphs which,
according to the criterion laid down in
Berlin,
is
obscurity of
true
the
passage.
^
fXTjKei
ov ^ii/xfifrpoi
KOtphu
fxsTpov
Svvd/xeL
air
avTwif
Se,
ttj iroSiaia.
ixirpcf /xirpovfxfpa,
Siv
ffvixfxer poi
TeTpdjicva
eVSe'xfTa:
fi-qSki/
jiveo'dai.
2.
elcriv,
TtjD
Evde7ai
tJraf
to,
avTqi X'^/"V
/ueTpTjToi,
arr
See
'2,v/xfj.eTpa /xeyedri
X'l'pioi'
272
in
these squares.'
Did you discover anything of the kind
In my opinion we did.
Tlicad.
Attend,
nate
to desig-
all
'
Socr.
'
?
and see
Go
'
Socr.
'
TJicact.
on.'
We
divided
all
number
two classes
into
Socr.
Very good.'
The numbers which lie between these, such as
three and five, and every number which cannot be produced by the multiplication of equal numbers, but becomes
either a larger number taken a lesser number of times, or
a lesser taken a greater number of times (for a greater
factor and a less always compose its sides); this we likened
to an oblong figure, and called it an oblong number [ttpoiluiki]
'
Theact.
apiOfiov).
'
&vnpoi Th vXrieos
Cf. Eucl. X.,
((paifovTO.
tVtlSr)
rovToiv
npoTeQeicrri
al
/xiV
WMMfl 2
Kal rh
otl
ti)
inrdpxo^ff'-v
(vdelai
Ti Ka\
aavfj./xe-
al
5e Ka\
Tpoi
rb fvdv yTrapx*'
3:
SwdndS
Dt'f.
Se'iKvvTai,
uTTOKei/ifVoif
evdeia
al
iJ.7}KeL
fxivov,
'
Tuv aptOixhv
vavTa
Si'xa Si(\dfio/j.(v.
Tuv
fxiv ^wdf-iiuov
TOO
rtTpa-yufCfj
-rh
<rx7)Ma aTTfiKacrauTss
ywvos
[6]
{/TTo
iTp6fj.i!}Kis
12,
apid/xos iariv b
Svo
izpocrtliTo-
'[aaiv apid)xSiv
Iffdnis Xcros
inpuxoiJ-ivos
i.
^
:
oiov
14).
(see Euclid,
rhnfpKptpti,
vii.,
Dff.
Plato's expression
7, 0,
tauto-
is
logous.
'
Zwdun.
ntpmuv
'''^v
la-dKis
iAarToudKis
Tai, /xfl^iov
avrou
yiviaBai,
iKa\i(Taniv.
d\\'
7)
T:\ilwv
dwdKaaaVTis
"OTav 5e Zvo
ra
7)
TTipiKa/x^dvn,
(TXT^/uaTi
/col
tijS
Cf. Euclid,
apid/xol
Trpo/XT]Kfi
Kpoj.ii]K-t)
vii.,
aZ
aptdfxhw
Drf. \~
no\Aair\acnd(ravT(s
Socr.
Capital
'
Theaet.
The
'
next
which form as
lines
273
squares an
their
Troioiai Tiva, 6
aWyjAovs
From
time
the
whom
oAAt/Aous
ol
apiBfioi.
of
to
Pythagoras
the combination of arithmetic
Thus
(orvvdeToi)
were figured
whose
numbers
composite
as rectangles,
Similarly,
prime numbers
(irpuTot)
were
{ypap.ixtKol)
Smyrna
and
34),
ed. de Gelder,
Nicomachus
Introd. Arithm.
Theon of
by
only
[Aritlim.
called linear
ii.
c.
p.
G.
(Nicom.
7),
but also by
Speusippus,
may
work
his
name
for
an oblong.
cases where
this
188,
p.
structed equal to
61).
also figured
as
In the particular
served
Ast., p.
kind
Avhen a
that
{kTfp6fxi)K(s),
commensurable
on)
rectangle,
nrpdycovov
T(TpaTr\ivpa)v
(Txiy/UaTccv
HfV
tcr6n\evp6v re
{e.
g.
whose sides
is
con-
is
square
an oblong of this
its side must be in-
was
mena
ed.
it
When
in a particular sense.
employed
which
are 8, 2
is
3,
equal to an
(irpoVrjKcj)
27
and so
and are
not, as
M. Paul
kuI
/xeV,
iariv,
ovK
'o
5f.
IcrSTrKevpov
(CTti
Cf.
Hero,
Hultsch, vol.
use the term
i.,
p. 140.
eTep6/j.r]Kfs in his
Elements,
materials
of his Elements
Mathematiques,
t. viii.,
1884, p. 297).
Professor Campbell remarks
these
terms \Trpoix-r]K7\s, irepo/xriHTjs'} were dis'
'
tinguished by the later Pythagoreans
This is miscit., p. 23, note).
{loc.
leading,
for
they were
it
not
seems
to
imply that
distinguished by
early Pythagoreans.
the
DR.
274
and the
lines
ber (tov
iTipojuLVKti)
which form as
we
numbers.'
*
Socf.
The
other man.'
We learn
(/).
and that he
my
[Theaetetus,
147
D-148
boys, or any
B.J
first
called."
ers to
whom after
excess^
and
rhv la6ir\evpov
oVat fx\v
ypaijiij.a\
eiri'TreSoc
apiO/xhu
TeTpayoiyiCovai,
Se jhv krepoixriKyi,
defect of areas'^
nesian
the subject
W ar.
Ka\
5ui/a/A6is,
(Kelvais,
ws
fjLTjKei
To'ts
ixiv
oh ^vfifierpovs
S'iirnrfSoLs
KalireplTo. (XTepea
aWo
Swavra^-
toiovtov.
Cf.
TTKevpal Se avTov
i8
'orau
Euclid,
vii.,
apiSfMol
woWaTTKaa-iaffaures
Dt-f.
5e rpe7s
oAA.7JAous
ol
TToWairXacndaai'-
Solid numbers
(o-Tspeol)
\\
in the little
{'J'heol.
'1
'
He
lived
after
the Pelopon-
Aca-
the Pythagoreans
solved
method
see
p. 196
Hermathena,
vol.
note 45.
iii.,
275
ever,
and
ix. treat
and
Having
ner of expression
'
work of Aristaeus'
De Morgan
'3
liche
'
VOL. VJ.
Book some
DR.
276
definite object was sought, and suggested that the classification of incommensurable quantities contained in it was
ratios
and
that
is
referred to at the
'
We
Theaetetus
'
Irmtionalitat
einiges von
und
beschaftigte,
darf wohl
dem
sehr umfangreichen
Buclie dem Eukvollstandigen
Platojiicienne,
des Elements,
lid selbst
wie
'
viel,
Mars, 1881,
jMathematiques,
iqo.
vol.
suit
the
of the
Elements
of Euclid
Book
to
his
by me above.
same
as that given
p.
U Education
Revue Philosophique,
225;
La
Bulletin
Aout,
Constitution
des
1
Sciences
886,
p.
The
English Cyclopaedia, Geometry,
375; Smith's Dictionary of
and Roman Biography and
iv.,
Greek
Mythology,
Eucleides,
vol.
ii.,
p.
67.
i3
v.
Euhl.,
p. 148.
Js
189.
cit.,
pp. 188,
a teacher of mathematics,
passage merely as
bility ofy^3,
/5,
showing
represented in the
and there
v^i7,
is
277
is
work was
is
mean
ratio,
to
indeed it is probable that the existence of incommensurable lines was discovered by Pythagoras himself
(see
Hermathena,
There
'vol.
iii.,
iq8,
p.
and
'
pressly
mensurable quantities
the lines ^^
with which
1.
3,
/ 5,
[tCjv
Further,
uXo-y^v TrpajfxaTuav).
would occur
in
many
investigations
we know
i, e.
right-angled triangles in rational numbers;
In the determination of a square, which shall be
triangles,
2.
'
Theorem of Pythagoras'
the
the right angle the hypotenuse of the first (y/ 2) and the
linear unit
the third having for sides about the right
;
third triangle in 2
is in fact
the so-called
'
most beautiful
Hermathena,
vol.
iii.,
p. 194).
4.
In finding a
mean
U2
DE.
278
'
'
Tl\a.Tu:v
S'
7rl
tovtols yevS/xevos,
fiadrjfxaTa
5(a
tV
iffTi
Koi
Kol
""epl
ri^v
avrh
yew/j.erpiav
<rirovSr)v,
Ttt (rvyypd/xiJ.aTa
t &\\a
Xa^eTu
os irov StjAcJs
avrexo/J-evwu
cit.,
iTreyeipaii'.
Proclus,
p. 66.
to7s fxadrifiaTL-
GEORGE
Queen's College. Galway.
J.
ALLMAN.
oJ>.
GREEK GEOMETRY,
FROM
THALES TO EUCLID.
Part
VI.
BY
DUBLIN
D.Sc. Q.
UNIV.
F.R.S.
U^ ^1
DUBLIN:
PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY PONSONBY AND WELDRICK.
1885.
[From
"
Vol.
V.]
DR.
ALLMAN.
403
of
of
associate
Eudoxus,
MENAECHMUS
Plato, and the discoverer of the
conic sections
is
* It
the
is
last
'
that
The number
of students of the
history of mathematics
and the centres
ing
;
more numerous
'
and
ever increas-
which the
in
are
cultivated
is
subject
is
it
becoming
is
particuthat the
gratifying to observe
subject has at last attracted attention
Since the second part
in England.
larly
of
this
Paper
Heiberg,
pleted
of
his
was
pubhshed
Dr.
e codice Floren-
tino
vols.
ii.
et
iii.
Dr. Hei-
Lipsiae, 1881.
berg has been since engaged in bringing out, in conjunction with Professor
H. Menge,
Libros
1883,
1884.
v-ix continens,
As
Lipsiae,
HeJberg's edition of
Archimedes
was
Quaesiiones
Archimedeae,
preceded
by
his
Hauniae,
Studien
geschichtliche
iiber
Euklid,
Autolycus
hopes
it
month
and
finished,
he
that
will
The
(June, 1885).
of this work
in
itself so
publication
important,
of the
propositions
been
hitherto
an
moreover,
of
has
Autolycus
published
especial
will
have,
with
interest
pus
and
'
Porisms
Articles
'
on
'
Pap-
in the Encyclo-
published
Marie,
Maximilien,
Histoire
des
volume alone
De
Thales a Dio-
DR.
404
pher of Alopeconnesus but, according to some, of Proconnesus, who wrote philosophic works and three books
;
phante
treats
It
Papers.
in
my
in-
judgment,
Mathema-
to
ferior
is,
the
errors
called attention in
vol.
historical part of
this
]\Iontucla without
use, or
making
even
seeming
the
which have of
on
Hermathena,
For the
p. i6i.
iii.
this
Heiberg
accumulated
late years
Referring
subject.
p. 324)
this,
JahresThe author
'
berichte,
to
XLIII.
{Philologus
says
M. Marie commences
years ago.'
his
of
filiation
methods
of
'
;
if
recent
all
and
ideas
as
that
of
scientific
enlightened
inquiries.
loro laTori,
ma
lo
e i
nano
in Ptiilologus,
1.
by Heiberg
c).
does
concerned,
is
is
not,
nor indeed
UnHke M. Marie,
pendent research.
however, Mr. Gow has to some extent studied the recent works on the
subject,
see
that
first
and
many important
of
essays
publications.
numerous
the
ticular,
and
In parvaluable
mathematics
which throw
altogether
and
untouched,
on
light
unknown
all,
seem
to him.
to be
Essays
no
are
fonner work
exceptions
the
for
latter,
death
of
is
the
author,
contains
only
of
essays.
Should
the
rous
and
publications
how
on
Greek
which have appeared since the opening of a new period of mathematicothe works of
and Nesselmann more than
Chasles
glance at the
subjoined
list
of
M. Paul
Tannery
relating
to the period
from
405
Memoires de
physiques
(zf Serie).
de Bordeaux
et naturelles
Tome
r.,
1876,
Note
sur le
Sur
les solutions
Milano, 1875, p.
and
the Older
E.
(28),
as
7),
T.),
Martin
Euklid.,
p.
however,
162),
with
la solution
Alopeconnesius with
astronomique d'Eudoxe
Le fragment
lunules.
Astro7iomiqnes.
Notes pour
Tome
I'histoire
vil.,
1883,
Tome
toire des
Mathematiques anciennes.
Annates de la faculte des lettres de
Bordeaux. Tome IV., 1882, Sur les
et ses
Decembre,
1881.
refer-
p. 77,
it
is
certainly
by Theon
was the discoverer of the conic sections, than that he was the Alopeconnesian, inasmuch as Theon connects him with Callippus, and calls
the
Menaechmus
them
both
however,
in
/uaOrj^aTjKoi.
does
support
referred to
not
of his
give
Schmidt,
any reason
that
opinion
the
Alopeconnesian was a
distinct person.
that
Alopecon-
Mars, Aout et
L'education Pla-
tonicienne.
'
one
the
fragmente
tis,
1880,
Bret-
Menaechmus
empnints a
et
I'Egypte.
Novembre,
Theon
red to by
and
Martin
certainty.
though
p. 554, note
Academy,
was
still
nearer to Cyzicus,
Menaechmus
and
referred
system
work
comes probable.
DR.
406
to
We
told of Euclid
is
and Ptolemy
I.
(Hermathena,
vol.
iii.
p. 164).
What we know
further of
Menaechmus
Eudemus informs
{a).
Proclus in the
:^
is
contained in
is
used.^
[c).
many
of Menaechmus
who were
their pupils.^
In
a third passage of Proclus,
[d]
"^
V. Eiiklid., p. 162)
ticity of this
it
may be
similar
it
mus
This
is
is
an
insufficient reason
for
re-
where he discusses
had
Max
*Procl.,
^
^
Comm.
Ibid., p. 72.
Ibid., pp. 253-4.
407
what
relation
{e).
it
has to something
else.''
The passage
deserves to
calling
is
in
many
be quoted in
full.
compound and
that which is
broken and forms an angle then he divides a compound
line into that which makes a figure, and that which may be
produced ad infinitum, saying that some form a figure, e. g.
the circle, the ellipse (0U|Ooc),* the cissoid, whilst others do
not form a figure, e.g. the section of the right-angled cone
cone [the
[the parabola], the section of the obtuse-angled
and
all such.
the
the
line,
conchoid,
straight
hyperbola],
the
uncompounded
compound
And
one kind
''Ibid.,
8
of.
95,p. 27
is
original
b dvpeSs (the
door-shape, oblong
Heron Alexandr.,
z7.
It
'
called
TrotoCo-ao'xwafli'Poe'Ses)-
by Eutocius, Comm.
to
in
uncompounded line
and of the simple,
;
name
for
the ellipse
(Nogle
Sam
1879,
p.
7).
With
relation
to
the
in his Litterar-
Studien
uber Euklid,
been
kwvos ^
Kv\ivSpos
overlooked
eTriTreSy
eoi/
T/iTjfl^
yap
ixr}
DR.
408
one forms a
and
is in planes,
in
that
one
kind meets
of
planes,
the cissoid, another may be produced to infibut of that in solids, one may be considered in the
itself as
nity
sections of solids,
;
Nor
Menaechmian
triads'
who
and
in
five sections,
But the three sections of the cone are the parabola, the
hyperbola, and the ellipse but of the spirical sections one
kind is inwoven, like the hippopede ; and another kind is
*
7]
The hippopede
naechmus.
It
may be
that
an
ellipse
ed.
ever,
observed, howis
which
is
not
is
of the
a shield,
a secondary signification of
the primary signification of
6vpe6s ;
the word
is
not
'door', but
'large
Homer
[Odyssey,
ix.)
Se (nreipiKwy to^uwc
t)
fiiv
ianv
i)
lirwoireSTi, /j.ia
Fried, p.
127),
is
also referred
ruv cmeipiKuv
and Kairotye
oZcra (ed.
128).
In
plains
why
the
kkto-o-
?;
tj
Ittwo-
Hermathena,
Xenophon, De
to in
passage in
7, ex-
re equestri, cap.
often
given to the curve conceived by Eudoxus for the explanation of the motions
names
may be
is
tuu
ifjLirewKeyfjifvri, eotKvTarriTov'lTnrovTreSri.
409
The
line
text.
/xrySe
cru
St^r/ai,
..."
In the letter
[g).
itself
each
seus,
The passage
Xenophon
as follows
is
'iTriraa-iav
Ka\ovfiei/riV
iir'
tV
liTiraaiav
Kar
ayadhv,
eKarepov
'iva afji<p6Ttpai al
ttjs liriratTias
'Eiraivov/jLev 5e Kal
fxaWou
TTJs
Tovs yt
mV
7]
tV
erepo/ji-nKri nedrju
KVKAoTepovs.
erepoyvddovi
Ibid. cap. 3.
ixr}vvfi fiey
KaKovfjifVr} ttrnaffia,
Tre'Sij
curve was
named
7r5rj
yvdOoi
iffd^wvTat.
from
its
Kal
This
resem-
wire in a
snare,
which was
that of a figure of 8.
Some
in
fact
writers
different, and, to me it
a
not
correct,
interpretation of
seems,
the origin of this term. Mr. Gow, for
have given a
Greek
example (A Short Histoiy of
Mathematics, Cambridge, 1884, p. 184),
'
says
Lastly,
Eudoxus
is
reported to
riding school.'
Gow
rect
form
that
of
to each
the
lemniscate
and,
therefore, the
metrically,
and
were
Maerlcer,
distinct
quite
Prodi
successoris
in
est
linea
et
commentati sunt
F. J.
p.
\i^
Sfere
sectionibus spiricis
J.
H. Knochius
Maerkerus, Herefordiae,
et seq.
and SchiapareUi,
Omocentriche
di
et
1856,
Eudosso,
Le
di
^"Procl.
Coww.
" Archimedes,
146
vol.
Archim.,
iii.,
p. 112.
rec.
Torelli,
p.
DR.
410
to solve the
for
mus
is
also noticed
Timaeus of Plato:
by Proclus
'How
Comfnentary on the
in his
given, it is possible to
as a conclusion to this discussion, I, having found the solution of Archytas, will transcribe it, choosing it rather than
that of
lines,
scale.'
^^
two
The
have
length below.^*
^'^
ibid.
Ibid.
ed.
ex.
rec.
Torelli,
Heiberg, vol.
iii.
p.
144;
pp.
104,
106.
i^Procl.
iii.
in
149 in libro
Platonis
iii.
Timaeum,
p.
Joann. Valder,
I have taken this quo(ed.
Basel, 1534).
tation and reference from
Max
p. 75.
also
vol.
to p. 353, ed.
Schneider.
1*
C. P.
seq.
vol.
Archim.,
iii.
et
pp. 92 et seq.
We
411
Plato blamed Eudoxus, Archytas, and Menaechmus, and their School, for
endeavouring to reduce the duplication of the cube to
instrumental and mechanical contrivances for in this way
(/).
'
God'.>^
'
1*
viii. ^- 2,
iv. p.
876.
DR.
412
Theon of Smyrna
[k).
blames
spheres
raq
(oJ
TUQ
(papovaa^,
/xlv
avtXiTTOvaag
Se
it<Tr}yi](TavTOj.
The
follows
solutions of
Menaechmus
referred to in
As Menaechmus.
'
16
Let
it
be done, and
c. 14, sec.
let
them be
ro^iuv
to
refer
the
curves of
Hermathena,
225)
Tyu.
Eudoxus
(see
and
required
let
the
and
the
word,
moreover,
nitions of
Hultsch),
j3,
is
to
we
matician,
vol. V.
refers
are as
(t)
tion.
" Theonis
Smyrnaei
de Astronomia,
ed.
Platonici Liber
Th. H.
Martin,
413
straight line
down
the three straight lines a, ft, y are proportional, the rectangle under the lines a, 7, is equal to the square on j3
:
therefore the rectangle under the given line a and the line
7, that is the line S^, is equal to the square on the line /3,
that
to the square
on the
line
^0
is
given (for
y
the rectangle k ^
ft,
it
is
The point
asymptotes.
the point ^.
lines k
9 is therefore given;
The
8,
8 ^ as
so also
is
Sri he
and terminated at S; through S let a parabola be described whose axis is S and parameter a. And
let the squares of the ordinates drawn at right angles to Sfj
be equal to the rectangles applied to a, and having for
Let
breadths the lines cut off by them to the point S.
and
let it be S 0, and let the
be
it
described,
[the parabola]
line Sk [be drawn and let it] be a perpendicular; and with
given in position
rj
were,
The
crcjyaTpai
Astron.
according to this
Dissertatio, p. 59).
cius,
Brandis, p. 498,
Aristotle
the
p.
1074).
This modification of
system of concentric
thinks
liis
Sirapli-
Commentary on
Eudoxus
himself.
Martin
spheres of
De
lication to
spheres
ker,
however, in
c.)
it
reference to the description of the distaff of the Fates in the tenth book.
2
DR.
414
under
K^,^t
a, t
it
shall form
an area equal
to the rectangle
let
them
is
is
Z,
B,
so
is
the lines
a, j3, y, are,
be found.
Otherwise.
Let
/3, /3
j3
S to
diculars 8
is
to
3 , and
^,
|3 S,
the line
^ be drawn.
so
is
to
(3
j3 a,
and
let
the line
/3
is
415
the perpenas the line
angle yjSf, that is, the rectangle under the given straight
line [7 j3] and the line j3 will be equal to the square on
since then the rectangle
j3 8, that is [the square] on e ^
under a given line and the line jS is equal to the square
on f ^, therefore the point Z, lies on a parabola described
about the axis /3 f. Again, since there is as the line a /3 is
:
so
is
[the square] on cZ', the point Z, therefore, lies on a parabola described about the axis /3 S but it [the point ^] lies
:
also
as are also
the point Z, is therefore given
axis] /3
the perpendiculars ^S, ^e: the points , c are, therefore,
:
given.
'
The
angles to each other, and let them be produced indefifrom the point j3 and let there be described about
the axis /3 e a parabola, so that the square on any ordinate
nitely
[^e]
These parabolas cut each other let them cut at the point
Z, and from Z, let the perpendiculars ^S, Z, be drawn.
:
Since then, in the parabola, the line ^e, that is, the line g/B
has been drawn, there will be: the rectangle under 7/B, fii
equals the square on /3S: there is, therefore: as the line
7)3 is to /BS, so is the line 8/3 to ^^.
parabola the line Z^S, that is, the line
/B
equals the
square on
so
DR.
416
the line
is
fore
line
there
jSc
to
/3
is,
the line yjS to /38: and thus there will be, thereas the line y(5 is /3S, so is the line /3S to /3e, and the
so
[5t,
f/3
(3 e
is
to (5a;
to
be found.'
described by means of
a compass {dia(5vTov) invented by Isidore of Miletus, the
engineer, our master, and described by him in his Com-
Eutocius adds
'
The parabola
is
We learn, however,
solutions of the Delian Problem.
from a passage of Geminus, quoted by Eutocius in his
Commentary on the Conies of Apollonius, which has
already been referred to in another connexion (HerMATHENA,
and
vol.
hyperbola^
p.
of later origin,
169),
TraXcuoi),
triangle,
iii.,
are
is
parabola
to
fixed, naturally
all
in each
in the right-
angled one, the section now called a parabola, in the obtuse-angled, the hyperbola, and in the acute-angled the
ellipse ; and you will find the sections so named by them.
As
theorem as follows:
"The
FROM
TilALE 8
TO EUCLID.
417
names
ginal
who
to those
in use ever
Geminus
i^Apollonii
is
od.
Co7iica,
Pappi Alexand.
Halleius,
cit.),
p.
Collect,
et
672
pp.
seq.
vii.
ed.
Gow
Mr.
'That
the
name "section
of right-angled cone,"
etc., is attested
Menacchmus used
by Pappus,
This
and thus
is
vii.
not conect
are
this statement
^ojjgjijgj-g
[JSlogh
Puncicr
graeske Matheniatikeres
Hultsch,
(Op.
In the writ-
indirectly confirmed.-''
p. 9.
^8
since.^**
the
name
in
of
Mc-
Pappus.
Kjobenhavn,
that
1879,
p.
af de
Teriiiinologi,
2)
points out
'
passages are
Torelli,
p.
1.
270,
These
irep\ KtavoftSewy,
ed.
licibcrg,
ed.
vol.
i.
418
JDR.
solutions of
It is
in their ori-
That they have been altered, either by Eutosome author whom he followed, appears not
ginal form.
cius or by
guage used
Menaechmus was
This
it
is
We
of the cone.
have seen,
is
at right
Heib.
id.
Tor. p. 272,
ibid. Tor.
ibid.
2.
p. 332,
1.
22
3.
berg,
moreover,
passage
where
calls
1.
5.
attention
Eutocius
Heito
{Conim.
^^
tione,
^"
a
to
First, as far as I
know, byReimer,
e.
vwep^oK-fi,
name for
met with
aavixir-
The
origi-
nal
is
which
ir0eja,
II.
conic
requires
sections,
because in
used.
it
the
among
appUcation
other
their original
of
reasons
names
are
dibus, &c.
(at
k.t.A., id.
Heiberg,
^^
A'(7_'/^
Bretsch. Geom.
et seq.
p. 278,
1.
i).
See
pp.
156
419
p X was known
to Menaechmus.
This being preBretschneider
to
show
this property
how
mised,
proceeds
of the parabola may be obtained in the manner indicated.
y*
DEF
HKG
drawn
BFC
the cone
DKF
JK
HG
be drawn parallel
to
LD.
DL
DE
to
In the semicircle
to the rectangle
HJG,
line
LM
at right angles
HKG the
that
is,
square on JK is equal
to the rectangle under LD
and
or, on account of the similar triangles JDG
section of
The
DM.
and
under
to
the
DJ
DLM,
rectangle
the right-angled cone, therefore, is such that the square on
the ordinate KJ is equal to the rectangle under a given
and JG,
line
DR.
420
AC
of
DKE
BAC
lines
HG
DE
and
that
in
plane,
draw
LD
DE
and
EF
perpen-
We
have
then
HJ JE
JG JD
:
LD DE
;
EF DE
:
therefore,
HJ JG JE JD
.
LD EF
.
DE^.
DEF
and
DLM,
EF DE
:
Hence we
HJ JG JE JD
.
But
MD
LD.
get
:
MD
DE.
FIKG
in the semicircle
JK2 = HJ.JG;
therefore,
JK2
that
is,
JE
JD
MD
DE,
under EJ and
is
to the rectangle
421
MD
DKE
to the
side
AC
that
it
observation of Menaechmus.
properties he
Menaechmus occupied
in its development.
A comparison of these
use
of,
[id. p.
in each
that
in
the
first
case the
solution of Archytas
the
ordinate in the second intersecting plane is a mean proportional between the segments of its base, whence it is
inferred that the extremity of the ordinate in this plane
also lies on a semicircle ; in the second case the section
of the
tional
ordinate
is
mean
propor-
DR.
422
account of the
fact,
which
is
(^^
Menaechmus
but, in
my
judg-
this assertion,
on
that
if
it
could never have been in general use, since not the slightest
further mention of it has come down to us. It appears to
Ihid. p. 162.
Eudemus
(see
2
Hermathena,
vol.
iii.,.
i8i), that
p.
of areas
'
423
on
of the curves
afiyala,
remarked Diophantus
Comm.
'^^Procl.
De
^''
la
Problemes
and compass
du
Eratosthenes
Geometrique des
Second Degre avant
Euclide (Memoires de
la
Societe des
2^
iv.,
Serie,
Tom.
we must
mus made use
Cahier, p. 409.
des Sc. Math, et
3'=
Tannery (Bulletin
Astron.
iv., 1880, p.
that
believe
that
309) says
Menaech-
curves by points.
28 In a
Paper pubHshed in the Philo-
logus [Griechische
und romische
nia-
Heiberg
views
forward
puts
5),
which
differ
He
Menaechmus
for the
tions
contrived
delineation
that
the
an apparatus
is,
Solution
of the
cube,
curves
which
curves of
structed,
that
says
moreover,
says,
the
cannot
it
tions
thence
is
no ground
for in-
these
that
equations
were employed for the description of
and says
the conic sections by points
ferring
geometry.
to
me
that
On
the other
Tannery
is
hand
it
seems
right in believ-
lignes
Courbesdans V Antiquite,
and Surfaces
t.
Vll. p. 279).
DR.
424
The extracts from Proclus [b], [c] and [d) are interesting
as showing that Menaechmus was not only a discoverer in
geometry, but that questions on the philosophy of mathematics also engaged his attention.
In the passages [c] and [d], moreover, the expression
ol Trepi Mivai\fxov fxaOrjfiaTiKoi occurs
precisely the same
as
used
that
expression
by lamblichus with reference
Eudoxus
to
we
(see
Hermathena,
observe that in
trast with 01
irepl
vol.
v.
219) and
p.
same sentence.
From this it follows that Menaechmus had a school, and that it was looked on as a matJiematical rather than as a philosophical school. Further,
seen that Theon of Smyrna makes a similar
we have
distinction between Aristotle on the one side and Menaechmus and Callippus on the other {k). Lastly, we
learn from Simplicius that Callippus of Cyzicus, who was
the pupil of Polemarchus, who was known to, or rather
the friend of (yi^wpf/itf)* Eudoxus, went with Polemarchus
to Athens, in order to hold a conference with Aristotle on
the inventions of Eudoxus, in order to rectify and perfect
them.'*
When
bola
and rectangular
by
hyperbola
Xei
av^Kan^'ioi,
to.
v-irh
tov
Y.v^6t,ov
vTTfp^oXT} or eWfiirais.
and Polemarchus, as Bocldi has remarked, could not have been fellow-
''
The passage is in the Co7nmentary
of Simplicius on the second book of
Aristotle,
itrefiaXe
rats
Sia
EvSo^os
tuv
6 Kvibios
aviXiTTovaHv
pupils
of
Eudoxus
Callippus,
that Polemarchus
\daas
Tcfi
EvSo^ov
iKilvov es ^\Oi\vas
yvwpi/xcji,
iXdtii',
T(fi
Kol
/uer'
'ApiffroTi-
who
Callippus
nertJcreisc, p. 155.
FROM TUALE8
TO EUCLID.
425
by Ptolemy, that
Callippus made astronomical and meteorological observations at the Hellespont/" we are, I think, justified in
lippus.
From
we
see
On
the other
attributed to Plato,
its
solution."
yuiyii eiri(Ti]fjLaaiwv,
Ptolemy, ed.Halma,
ed.
dc
John Philoponus,
Gelder,
Lugdun.
Bat.
in his
1827,
page
5.
32
Lastly,
iii.
p. 699.
BR.
426
sums up the
the assumpevidence, and says the choice lies between 1
tion that Plato, when blaming Archytas, Eudoxus.^ and
Cantor,
who has
it
was not
difficult to
execute the
be effected
doubling of the cube mechanically; that it could
or
by a simple machine, but that this was not geometry
;
Plato
is
seems
to
me
in itself to
mechanical a
See
Hermathena,
vol. v. p. 225.
i.
7.
is
427
as follows
*As Plato.
*Two
mean
pro-
M
A
'H
Let the two given straight lines a (3, jSy, between which
required to find two mean proportionals, be at right
angles to each other. Let them be produced to S, ?. Now
*
it is
KA
KA
that the point H may fall on the line (5 8, whilst the leg
H 9 is in contact with the point y, and the ruler KA be in
jSe at
:
BR.
428
The instrument
is
/3S,
in fact
jS c,
and
a gnomon, or carpenter's
of
Menaechmus
it
will
Archytas
will
show
this solution
is
was
was subsequent
to that of
Menaechmus, as
his
solution
to that ot Archytas.
= px.
by the equation
y""
in this solution
edition of Archi-
FROM THALES TO
EUCLID.
429
could be solved, as given in the second of his two solutions, which, I think, was the one first arrived at by him.
The question was then raised Of what practical use is
your solution
described
other words,
or, in
curve be
Now we
be in use
in
and
it,
that,
in
particular, they
y'^
greatest facility
by
this
method
and
in this
manner,
to its result.
same
as the one he
V.
DR.
430
Let us examine
derived
the time of
Athens accompanied by a
subsequently he returned
great many pupils [iravv iroWovq irepX kavrov t^ovra /za^ijrac),
for the sake, as some say, of annoying Plato, because
formerly he had not held him worthy of attention (Herleam, further, from
MATHENA, vol. V. pp. 2 1 3, 2 1 4).
to
We
at Cyzicus.
referred the
Now
of
Delians to
solution of their
Eudoxus and
that
points
difficulty
Plato
for
the
as
we know
to
Bockh
of Eudoxus and
Plato.
157.
431
and
in
Syracuse.^"
Athens
at that time
even
find at
38
See
Hermathena,
vol.
iii.,
p.
far as these
were
163.
39
Epist. Plat.
^^^
Plutarch, Dion.
*'
Zeller says
'
:
and most
xiii.
bably hindered
Among
the disciples
of Plato
chiefly
Athens.
under
flourishing period,
the influence of
the
its first
most pro-
spread
of Pla-
close relation
despite the
'
between the two systems {Plato and
the Older Academy, E. T. pp. 553
tonism,
seq.).
Plato's pupils,
tinguished
men
in
which
of
Academy.
the
to
all
the dis-
School
of
the credit of
DR.
432
GEORGE
J.
ALLMAN.
*2
was
Aristotle
bom
in
the year
there he
left
may
re-
men
of
It is quite possible
that
of Cyzicus,
who was
a pupU of Pole-
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