of silver covered with gold? They say that Archimedes was sitting in a tub at the baths, noticing how the level of the water rose and fell as the bathers got in and out, when the solution suddenly came to him. He was so excited that he jumped from the tub and ran naked through the streets, shouting, 'Eureka! Eureka!'-'I have found it! I have found it!''
Dorotheus laughed. 'All the world knows that part of the tale, Cicero. And for better or worse, that's how the world pictures Archimedes-as an absentminded old genius.'
'A naked absentminded old genius,' Agathinus amended tartly.
'Not a pretty picture,' said Margero. 'A man of a certain age should know better than to subject others to his bony nakedness, even in private.' It seemed to me that he shot a caustic look at Agathinus, who stared straight ahead. I realized that the two of them had hardly said a word to each other or exchanged a glance all night.
'Gentlemen, we digress,' said Cicero. 'The point of the story is the solution that Archimedes devised.'
'Ah, now this is the part that I've never been quite able to follow,' said Dorotheus, laughing.
'But it's really quite simple,' Cicero assured him. 'This is what Archimedes did. He took an amount of gold of a certain weight-a single Roman uncia, let's say. He placed the uncia of gold in a vessel of water, and marked how high the waterline rose. Then he took an uncia of silver, placed it in the same vessel, and marked the water-line. Being a lighter substance, the uncia of silver was larger than the uncia of gold, and so displaced more water, and thus caused a higher waterline. Then Archimedes took the crown and, knowing the exact number of uncias of gold that Hiero had given the artisan, calculated how high it should cause the waterline to rise. If the waterline rose higher than expected, then the crown could not be made of solid gold, and must contain some material of greater volume per uncia, such as silver. Sure enough, the crown displaced more water than it should have. The artisan, his deception discovered, confessed to having covered a silver crown with gold.'
'I see,' said Dorotheus slowly and without irony. A light seemed genuinely to dawn in his eyes. 'Do you know, Cicero, I have never before been able to grasp Archimedes's principle.'
'Ah, but you should. It can be of great practical use to a man dealing in payments and commodities, as you do.'
'Yes, I can see that,' said Dorotheus, nodding thoughtfully.
Cicero smiled. 'You see, it's really simple, as most basic principles are. But it takes a man like Archimedes to discover such princi-ples in the first place.' He gazed at his wine by the lamplight. 'But absentminded he certainly was, always drifting into his world of pure geometry. At the baths, they say, he would even use himself as a tablet, drawing geometrical shapes in the massage oil on his belly.'
This image pleased Dorotheus, who slapped his own belly and laughed heartily. Even Agathinus grinned. Margero merely raised an eyebrow.
'Thus Archimedes met his death as absentmindedly absorbed in mathematics as ever,' said Cicero. 'But I'm sure you all know the story of his end already…'
'Vaguely,' allowed Agathinus.
'Oh, but you must enlighten us,' said Dorotheus.
'Very well, if you insist. After Hiero died, the Romans occupied Sicily, to keep it as a bulwark against Carthage. On the day that Syracuse was taken by the general Marcellus, Archimedes was on the beach, working out a theorem by drawing figures with a stick in the sand, when a troop of Roman soldiers came marching up. Archimedes, who didn't even know that the city had been taken, took no notice until the soldiers began to tramp across his drawings. He made a rude remark-'
'He suggested that they all go copulate with their mothers, as I recall,' said Margero, smiling languidly.
Cicero cleared his throat. 'At any rate, one of the soldiers flew into a rage and killed Archimedes on the spot.'
'1 had no idea that a preoccupation with mathematics could be so dangerous,' quipped Agathinus, straight- faced.
'At least Archimedes knew how to mind his own business,' said Margero quietly. Again, I thought I saw him glare at Agathinus, who showed no reaction.
Cicero ignored the interruption. 'When the Roman general learned of the tragedy, he was mortified, of course. He ordered a grand funeral procession and the construction of an elaborately or-namented tomb inscribed with the greatest of Archimedes's theorems and decorated with sculptures of the forms whose properties he discovered-the sphere, the cone, the cylinder, and so on. I say- where is the tomb of Archimedes? I should like to see it while I'm here.'
Agathinus and Dorotheus looked at each other and shrugged. Margero's face was as unreadable as a cat's.
'Do you mean to say that none of you knows the location of Archimedes's tomb? Is it not general knowledge?'
'Somewhere in the old necropolis outside the city walls, I suppose,' said Agathinus vaguely.
'Not everyone is as preoccupied with their dead ancestors as you Romans,' said Margero.
'But surely the tomb of a man as great as Archimedes should be regarded as a shrine.' Cicero suddenly stiffened. His eyes flashed. His jaw quivered. 'Eureka! I have found it!' He was suddenly so animated that we all gave a start, even the heavy-lidded Margero. 'Gor-dianus the Finder, it was the Fates who brought us two Romans together here in Syracuse! I have a purpose here, and so have you.'
'What are you talking about, Cicero?'
'What do you say to a bit of employment? You shall locate the lost tomb of Archimedes for me-if it still exists-and I shall restore it to its former glory! It shall be the crowning achievement of my year in Sicily. Brilliant! Who can doubt it was the Fates who engi-neered this evening and its outcome, who brought us all together, we two Romans and our new Syracusan friends? Eureka! I feel like Archimedes in the bathing tub.'
'Just don't go running naked though the streets,' quipped Dorotheus, his round body shaking with mirth.
The evening had come to a natural conclusion, and the three Syracusans made ready to leave. Cicero retired, leaving it to Tiro to show them out and to conduct Eco and me to our beds. At the door, Agathinus lingered behind his departing companions and drew me aside.
'I take it that Cicero is serious about hiring you to go looking for Archimedes's tomb tomorrow?'
'So it appears. They call me Finder, after all.'
Agathinus pursed his thin lips and studied me with cool, apprais-ing eyes that betrayed a hint of amusement. 'You seem to be a decent enough fellow, Gordianus-for a Roman. Ah, yes, don't deny it-I saw you laughing in silence tonight along with us, while your countryman lectured us about Hiero and Archimedes. As if we were schoolboys, indeed! As if he were the native Syracusan, not us! But as I say, you seem decent enough. Shall I do you a favor and tell you where to find the tomb?'
'You know?'
'It's not exactly common knowledge, but yes, I know where it is.' 'Yet you didn't tell Cicero.'
'Never! I think you know why. The know-it-all! From what I've heard, he's more honest than most of the bureaucrats Rome sends us, but still-the gall of the man! But I like you, Gordianus. And I like your son; I liked the way he laughed at Dorotheus's awful jokes. Shall I show you where to find the tomb of Archimedes? Then you can show it to Cicero, or not, as you please-and charge him a stiff fee for your services, I hope.'
I smiled. 'I appreciate the favor, Agathinus. Where exactly is the tomb?'
'In the old necropolis outside the Achradina Gate, about a hundred paces north of the road. There are a lot of old monuments there; it's a bit of a maze. My father showed me the tomb when I was a boy. The inscriptions of the theorems had largely worn away, but I remember the geometrical sculptures quite vividly. The necropolis has fallen into neglect, I'm afraid. The monuments are all overgrown.' He thought for a moment. 'It's hard to give exact directions. It would be easier simply to show you. Can you meet me outside the gate tomorrow morning?'
'You're a busy man, Agathinus. I don't want to impose on you.'
'It's no imposition, so long as we do it first thing in the morning. Meet me an hour after dawn.'
I nodded, and Agathinus departed.
'How did the dinner go?' asked Tiro as he showed us to our room. 'I know that Eco didn't think much of the evening.' He mimicked Eco yawning. Meanwhile Eco, yawning for real, tumbled backward onto a sleeping couch that looked infinitely more comfortable than the vermin-ridden mats at the inn where we had been staying.
'An evening is never too dull if it ends with a full stomach, a roof over my head, and the prospect of gainful employment.' I said. 'As for the company, Dorotheus is likable enough, if a bit loud. And Agathinus appears to be an
