Browsing in a renaissance philologist’s toolbox: Archimedes’ rule

Abstract

A letter preserved in a manuscript of the 16th century belonged to Gian Vincenzo Pinelli, shows the high esteem bestowed on Archimedes at that time. An anonymous philologist was working on the critical edition of Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia and asked a mathematician for help in amending a doubtful lectio of a passage in the 2nd book. The philologist’s interpretation is discussed and rejected by the mathematician thanks to the use of Archimedes’ rule for the approximation of pi.