Quibus praeter ista quae dixi etiam illa ratiocinatio necessaria est, cur in planis quidem speculis ferme pares optutus et imagines videantur, in tumidis vero et globosis omnia defectiora, at contra in cavis auctiora; ubi et cur laeva cum dexteris permutentur; quando se imago eodem speculo tum recondat penitus, tum foras exerat; cur cava specula, si exadversum soli retineantur, appositum fomitem accendant; qui fiat ut arcus in nubibus varie, duo soles aemula similitudine visantur, alia praeterea eiusdem modi plurima, quae tractat volumine ingenti Archimedes Syracusanus, vir in omni quidem geometria multum ante alios admirabilis subtilitate, sed haud sciam an propter hoc vel maxime memorandus, quod inspexerat speculum saepe ac diligenter.
Beside the questions I have mentioned, she must also understand the reason why in plane mirrors objects and their reflections seem almost identical, while in convex, rounded ones everything seems diminished, and in concave ones magnified; when and why left and right are reversed; under what circumstances the image in one and the same mirror sometimes recedes inward, at other times protrudes outward; why concave mirrors, if they are held to face the sun, set fire to fuel placed next to them; how it is that a rainbow looks multicolored, while two suns look closely similar; and many questions of the same sort that Archimedes of Syracuse discusses in a large volume, a man who in all branches of geometry was admirable above all others for his ingenuity, but I rather think deserves particular mention for having frequently and minutely studied the mirror.
final_alignments\Apuleius_Apologia.json