I was thinking about a quote in the shower but I couldn't remember if it was Socrates or Archimedes who said it. Which reminded me of a story my Latin teacher told me in high school. She said that Archimedes was killed by a roman soldier while drawing a circle on the ground. According to her, Archimedes told the soldier to move out of his way so he could continue drawing his circle and was promptly run through.
Is there any truth to this?
Sorry if this violates the rules, I read them and as far as I can tell it does not. Although it is a fairly specific question.
The main sources for the death of Archimedes are Plutarch (in the Life of Marcellus) and Livy. Both describe in some detail the siege and fall of Syracuse, the city Archimedes defended with his many devices and inventions. Neither report the famous line. However, both state that Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier, against the orders of the Roman commander Marcellus, who wanted him taken alive. Plutarch mentions that Archimedes was working on something and asked the Roman soldier to wait.
The story that he told his attacker not to disturb the sand he was drawing in first occurs in Valerius Maximus. However, even he did not attribute to Archimedes the famous line "do not disturb my circles". This appears to be an entirely apocryphal quote that appeared in the tradition at some point during the Middle Ages.