Biography of Euclid. Who is Euclid and what is he known for: a story about the ancient mathematician, his discoveries and contributions to science

Euclid (c. 300 BC) is an ancient Greek mathematician who is the author of the first treatise on mathematics that has reached our time.

Life path and scientific achievements

There is not much biographical information about Euclid. What is known for certain is that his scientific activity took place in the 3rd century. BC e in Alexandria.

Euclid was the first mathematician of the School of Alexandria. The scientist’s main work, known as “Principles,” is devoted to stereometry, planimetry and questions of number theory. In fact, Euclid created the foundation for the development of mathematics. Also preserved are his essay “On the Division of Figures”, 4 books on “Conic Sections” and “Porisms”. In addition, Euclid wrote about optics, astronomy and music.

Euclid's Elements was the basic textbook on geometry for 2 millennia. While working on this textbook, Euclid processed and brought together the material of his predecessors. This textbook consists of 13 books. A distinctive feature of the textbook is the presence of a list of postulates and axioms. Let's look at the contents of "Beginnings":

Book 1 – properties of parallelograms and triangles (the Pythagorean theorem was also included here);
Books 3 and 4 – geometry of circles, circumscribed and inscribed polygons;
Book 5 – theory of proportions;
Book 6 – theory of similar figures;
Books 7 and 9 – number theory, theorems on geometric progressions and proportions;
Book 10 – classification of irrationalities;
Book 11 – basics of stereometry;
12th book – theorems on the volumes of pyramids and cones and on the ratios of the areas of circles;
Book 13 – features of constructing regular polyhedra.

The Elements became the common basis for the treatises of Archimedes and other ancient authors. The propositions proved in them are generally known. In addition, this textbook played a significant role in the development of modern mathematics.

Pappus reports that the ancient Greek mathematician was gentle and always kind to those who could contribute to the development of mathematics.

Stobey says that one day a student asked Euclid: “What benefits will I get from science?” In response, Euclid called the slave and ordered: “Give this man 3 obols, since he wants to make a profit from his studies.”

According to his philosophical views, the first theorist of mathematics was a Platonist.

One funny incident happened in Euclid’s life. One day, King Ptolemy wanted to study geometry, and asked Euclid if there was a faster path than the one described in the Elements. To this the scientist replied: “There are no royal roads in geometry.”

By the end of the 16th century. Euclid's Elements were even translated into Chinese.

Euclid or Euclid(ancient Greek Εὐκλείδης , from “good fame”, flourishing time - about 300 BC. BC) - ancient Greek mathematician, author of the first theoretical treatise on mathematics that has come down to us. Biographical information about Euclid is extremely scarce. The only thing that can be considered reliable is that his scientific activity took place in Alexandria in the 3rd century. BC e.

Biography

The most reliable information about the life of Euclid is considered to be the little that is given in Proclus’s comments to the first book Started Euclid (although it should be taken into account that Proclus lived almost 800 years after Euclid). Noting that “those who wrote on the history of mathematics” did not bring the development of this science to the time of Euclid, Proclus points out that Euclid was younger than Plato’s circle, but older than Archimedes and Eratosthenes, “lived in the time of Ptolemy I Soter,” “because Archimedes, who lived under Ptolemy the First, mentions Euclid and, in particular, says that Ptolemy asked him if there was more shortcut studying geometry rather than Beginnings; and he replied that there is no royal path to geometry.”

Additional touches to Euclid's portrait can be gleaned from Pappus and Stobaeus. Pappus reports that Euclid was gentle and kind to everyone who could contribute even in the slightest degree to the development of mathematical sciences, and Stobaeus relates another anecdote about Euclid. Having begun to study geometry and having analyzed the first theorem, one young man asked Euclid: “What benefit will I get from this science?” Euclid called the slave and said: “Give him three obols, since he wants to make a profit from his studies.” The historicity of the story is questionable, since a similar one is told about Plato.

Some modern authors interpret Proclus's statement - Euclid lived in the time of Ptolemy I Soter - to mean that Euclid lived at the court of Ptolemy and was the founder of the Alexandrian Museion. It should be noted, however, that this idea was established in Europe in the 17th century, while medieval authors identified Euclid with the student of Socrates, the philosopher Euclid of Megara.

Arab authors believed that Euclid lived in Damascus and published there " Beginnings» Apollonia. An anonymous 12th-century Arabic manuscript reports:

Euclid, son of Naucrates, known as "Geometra", a scientist of old times, Greek by origin, Syrian by residence, originally from Tyre...

The name of Euclid is also associated with the formation of Alexandrian mathematics (geometric algebra) as a science. In general, the amount of data about Euclid is so scarce that there is a version (though not widespread) that we are talking about the collective pseudonym of a group of Alexandrian scientists.

« Beginnings» Euclid

Euclid's main work is called Started. Books with the same title, which consistently presented all the basic facts of geometry and theoretical arithmetic, were previously compiled by Hippocrates of Chios, Leontes and Theudius. However Beginnings Euclid pushed all these works out of use and remained the basic textbook of geometry for more than two millennia. When creating his textbook, Euclid included in it much of what was created by his predecessors, processing this material and bringing it together.

Beginnings consist of thirteen books. The first and some other books are preceded by a list of definitions. The first book is also preceded by a list of postulates and axioms. As a rule, postulates define basic constructions (for example, “it is required that a straight line can be drawn through any two points”), and axioms define general rules output when operating with quantities (for example, “if two quantities are equal to a third, they are equal to each other”).

Euclid opens the gates of the Garden of Mathematics. Illustration from Niccolò Tartaglia’s treatise “The New Science”

In Book I the properties of triangles and parallelograms are studied; This book is crowned with the famous Pythagorean theorem for right triangles. Book II, going back to the Pythagoreans, is devoted to the so-called “geometric algebra”. Books III and IV describe the geometry of circles, as well as inscribed and circumscribed polygons; when working on these books, Euclid could have used the writings of Hippocrates of Chios. In Book V, the general theory of proportions, built by Eudoxus of Cnidus, is introduced, and in Book VI it is applied to the theory of similar figures. Books VII-IX are devoted to number theory and go back to the Pythagoreans; the author of Book VIII may have been Archytas of Tarentum. These books discuss theorems on proportions and geometric progressions, introduce a method for finding the greatest common divisor of two numbers (now known as the Euclid algorithm), construct even perfect numbers, and prove the infinity of the set of prime numbers. In the X book, which is the most voluminous and the hard part Started, a classification of irrationalities is constructed; it is possible that its author is Theaetetus of Athens. Book XI contains the basics of stereometry. In the XII book, using the method of exhaustion, theorems on the ratios of the areas of circles, as well as the volumes of pyramids and cones are proved; The author of this book is generally acknowledged to be Eudoxus of Cnidus. Finally, Book XIII is devoted to the construction of five regular polyhedra; it is believed that some of the constructions were developed by Theaetetus of Athens.

In the manuscripts that have reached us, two more books have been added to these thirteen books. Book XIV belongs to the Alexandrian Hypsicles (c. 200 BC), and Book XV was created during the life of Isidore of Miletus, builder of the temple of St. Sophia in Constantinople (beginning of the 6th century AD).

Beginnings provide a general basis for subsequent geometric treatises by Archimedes, Apollonius and other ancient authors; the propositions proven in them are considered generally known. Comments to Let's start in antiquity were Heron, Porphyry, Pappus, Proclus, Simplicius. A commentary by Proclus on Book I has been preserved, as well as a commentary by Pappus on Book X (in Arabic translation). From ancient authors, the commentary tradition passes to the Arabs, and then to Medieval Europe.

In the creation and development of modern science Beginnings also played an important ideological role. They remained a model of a mathematical treatise, strictly and systematically presenting the main provisions of a particular mathematical science.

Other works of Euclid

Of the other works of Euclid, the following have survived:

Data (δεδομένα ) - about what is necessary to define a figure;
About division (περὶ διαιρέσεων ) - partially preserved and only in Arabic translation; gives division geometric shapes into parts equal to or interconnected in a given ratio;
Phenomena (φαινόμενα ) - applications of spherical geometry to astronomy;
Optics (ὀπτικά ) - about the rectilinear propagation of light.

By brief descriptions known:

Porisms (πορίσματα ) - about the conditions that determine the curves;
Conic sections (κωνικά );
Superficial places (τόποι πρὸς ἐπιφανείᾳ ) - about the properties of conic sections;
Pseudaria (ψευδαρία ) - about errors in geometric proofs;

Euclid is also credited with:

Euclid and ancient philosophy

Texts and translations

Old Russian translations

Euclidean elements from twelve neftonic books were selected and reduced into eight books through the professor of mathematics A. Farkhvarson. / Per. from lat. I. Satarova. St. Petersburg, 1739. 284 pp.
Elements of geometry, that is, the first foundations of the science of measuring distance, consisting of axis Euclidean books. / Per. from French N. Kurganova. St. Petersburg, 1769. 288 pp.
Euclidean elements eight books, namely: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th and 12th. / Per. from Greek St. Petersburg,

The ancient Greek thinker Euclid became the first mathematician of the Alexandrian school and the author of one of the most ancient theoretical mathematical treatises. Much less is known about the biography of this scientist than about his works. Thus, in the famous work “Elements,” Euclid outlined stereometry, planimetry, aspects of number theory, and created the basis for the subsequent development of mathematics.

Euclid's biography supposedly began in 325 BC (this is an approximate date, the exact year of birth is unknown) in Alexandria. Some researchers suggest that the future mathematician was born in Tyre, and spent most of his adult life in Damascus. Euclid probably came from rich family, since he studied at an Athens school (at that time such education was available only to wealthy citizens).

Scientists have been able to establish that the author of the Elements was younger than the famous followers of Plato, who lived and worked in the period from 427 to 347 centuries BC, but older, who was born in 287 and died in 212 BC. Euclid understood Plato's philosophical concept and shared its main provisions.

The above information about the identity and life path Euclid was drawn by researchers from the comments of Proclus, written by him for the first book of the Elements. The statements of Stobaeus and Pappus about the personality of the ancient Greek thinker are also known. Stobaeus allegedly said that in response to a student’s question about the benefits of science, Euclid ordered a slave to give him several coins. Papp noted that the scientist knew how to be kind and gentle with any person who could, at least to some extent, be useful for the development of mathematical sciences.

The surviving data about Euclid are so scarce and dubious that there was a version about assigning the pseudonym “Euclid” to entire teams of scientists from ancient Alexandria. Euclid of Alexandria is confused with the Greek philosopher Euclid of Megara, a student who lived in the 400th century BC. In the Middle Ages, Euclid of Megara was even considered the author of the Elements.

Mathematics

Euclid spent a considerable part of his free time in the Library of Alexandria, the temple of knowledge founded by Ptolemy. Within the walls of this institution, the ancient Greek scientist began to combine arithmetic laws, geometric principles and the theory of irrational numbers into geometry. Euclid described the results of his work in the book “Elements” - a work that made a great contribution to the development of mathematics.

Euclid's book "Elements"

The book consists of fifteen volumes:

In Book I, the author talks about the properties of parallelograms and triangles, completing the presentation with the use of the Pythagorean theorem in calculating the parameters of right triangles.
Book number II describes the principles and patterns of geometric algebra and goes back to the knowledge accumulated by the Pythagoreans.
In books III and IV, Euclid examines the geometry of circles, circumscribed and inscribed polygons. In the course of creating these volumes, the author may have resorted to using the works of Hippocrates of Chios.
In Book V, the ancient Greek mathematician examined the general theory of proportions developed by Eudoxus of Cnidus.
In the materials of Book VI, the author applies the general theory of proportions of Eudoxus of Cnidus to the theory of similar figures.
Books numbered VII-IX describe number theory. When writing these volumes, the mathematician again turned to materials created and collected by the Pythagoreans - representatives of the teaching in which number plays a central role. In these works, the author talks about geometric progressions and proportions, proves the infinity of the set prime numbers, studies even perfect numbers, introduces the concept of GCD (greatest common divisor). The algorithm for finding such a divisor is currently called the Euclidean algorithm. There is an assumption that Book VIII was written not by Euclid himself, but by Archytas of Tarentum.

Euclid's famous work "Elements"

Volume number X is the most complex and voluminous work in the “Principles”, which contains a classification of irrationalities. The authorship of this book is also unknown for certain: it could have been written either by Euclid himself or by Theaetetus of Athens.
On pages XI of the book, the mathematician talks about the basics of stereometry.
Book XII contains proofs of theorems on the volumes of cones and pyramids, and the ratios of the areas of circles. To construct these proofs, the method of exhaustion is used. Most researchers agree that this book was not written by Euclid either. The probable author is Eudoxus of Cnidus.

The materials of Book XIII contain information on the construction of five regular polyhedra (“Platonic solids”). Some of the constructions presented in the volume could have been developed by Theaetetus of Athens.
Books XIV and XV are also generally agreed to belong to other authors. Thus, the penultimate volume of the Elements was written by Hypsicles (who also lived in Alexandria, but later than Euclid), and the last by Isidore of Miletus (who built the Temple of St. Sophia in Constantinople at the beginning of the sixth century BC).

Before the appearance of Euclid's Elements, works with the same name, the essence of which was a consistent presentation of the key facts of theoretical arithmetic and geometry, were compiled by Leontes, Hippocrates of Chios, and Feudius. All of them practically disappeared from use after the appearance of Euclid's work.

For two thousand years, the fifteen volumes of the Elements served as the basic textbook on geometry. The work was translated into Arabic and then into English. The Principia has been reprinted hundreds of times, and the basic mathematics it contains remains relevant to this day.

Euclid's book "Elements"

A significant part of the materials that the author included in the work are not own discoveries, but previously known theories. The essence of Euclid's work was to process the material, systematize it and bring disparate data together. Euclid began some books with a list of definitions; the first book also contains a list of axioms and postulates.

Euclid's postulates are divided into two groups: general concepts, including generally accepted scientific statements and geometric axioms. So, in the first group there are such statements:

“If two quantities are separately equal to the same third, then they are equal to each other.”

"Whole more than the amount parts."

The second group contains, for example, the following statements:

“A straight line can be drawn from any point to any point.”

"All right angles are equal to each other."

"Elements" is not the only book written by Euclid. He also wrote a number of works on catoptrics ( new industry optics, which to a large extent established the mathematical function of mirrors). The scientist devoted several works to the study of conic sections. The mathematician also developed assumptions and hypotheses regarding the trajectory of bodies and the laws of mechanics. He became the author of the key tools with which geometry operates - the so-called “Euclidean constructions”. Many of the works of this ancient Greek thinker have not survived to this day.

Philosophy

In ancient times, philosophy was closely intertwined with many other branches scientific knowledge. Thus, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic and music were considered mathematical sciences, the understanding of which is necessary for the qualitative study of philosophy. Euclid developed Plato's doctrine of the four elements, which correspond to the four regular polyhedra:

the element of fire is personified by the tetrahedron;
the air element corresponds to the octahedron;
the element of earth is associated with the cube;
The water element is associated with the icosahedron.

In this context, “Principia” can be considered as a kind of teaching about the construction of “Platonic solids,” that is, five regular polyhedra. The teaching contains all the necessary prerequisites, evidence and connections. The proof of the possibility of constructing such bodies ends with the statement of the fact that no other regular bodies, with the exception of these five, exist.

Almost every theorem of Euclid in the Elements also corresponds to indicators of the doctrine of proof. Thus, the author consistently deduces consequences from causes, forming a chain of logical evidence. At the same time, he even proves statements of a general nature, which also corresponds to the teachings of Aristotle.

Personal life

Only some information has reached us about Euclid’s work in science, but practically nothing is known about his personal life. There is a legend that King Ptolemy, who decided to study geometry, was annoyed by its complexity. Then he turned to Euclid and asked him to point out an easier path to knowledge, to which the thinker replied: “There is no royal road to geometry.” The expression subsequently became popular.

There is evidence that this ancient Greek scientist founded a private mathematical school at the Library of Alexandria. The same science enthusiasts as Euclid himself studied there. Even at the end of his life, Euclid helped students write papers, create their own theories and develop corresponding proofs.

There is no exact information about the scientist’s appearance. His portraits and sculptures are a figment of the imagination of their creators, an invented image passed down from generation to generation.

Death

Presumably, Euclid died in the 260s BC. The exact causes of death are not known. The scientist's legacy survived him for two thousand years and inspired many great people centuries after his death.

There is an opinion that the politician loved to quote the sayings of Euclid in his speeches and had with him several volumes of the Elements.

Scientists of subsequent years based their works on the works of Euclid. Thus, the Russian mathematician Nikolai Lobachevsky used the materials of the ancient Greek thinker to develop hyperbolic geometry, or Lobachevsky geometry. The format of mathematics that Euclid created is now known as “Euclidean geometry.” The scientist also created a device for determining the pitch of a string and studied intervallic relationships, contributing to the creation of keyboard musical instruments.

Bibliography

"Beginnings"
"Data"
"About division"
"Phenomena"
"Optics"
"Porisms"
"Conic sections"
"Superficial places"
"Pseudaria"
"Catoptrics"
"Dividing the Canon"

Biography

The most reliable information about the life of Euclid is considered to be the little that is given in the Commentaries of Proclus to the first book Started Euclid. Noting that “those who wrote on the history of mathematics” did not bring the development of this science to the time of Euclid, Proclus points out that Euclid was older than Plato’s circle, but younger than Archimedes and Eratosthenes and “lived in the time of Ptolemy I Soter,” “because Archimedes, who lived under Ptolemy the First, mentions Euclid and, in particular, says that Ptolemy asked him if there was a shorter way to study geometry than Beginnings; and he replied that there is no royal path to geometry"

Additional touches to Euclid's portrait can be gleaned from Pappus and Stobaeus. Pappus reports that Euclid was gentle and kind to everyone who could, even in the slightest degree, contribute to the development of mathematical sciences, and Stobaeus relates another anecdote about Euclid. Having begun to study geometry and having analyzed the first theorem, one young man asked Euclid: “What benefit will I get from this science?” Euclid called the slave and said: “Give him three obols, since he wants to make a profit from his studies.”

Euclid, son of Naucrates, known as "Geometra", a scientist of old times, Greek by origin, Syrian by residence, originally from Tyre...

According to his philosophical views, Euclid was most likely a Platonist.

Beginnings Euclid

Euclid's main work is called Beginnings. Books with the same title, which consistently presented all the basic facts of geometry and theoretical arithmetic, were previously compiled by Hippocrates of Chios, Leontes and Theudius. However Beginnings Euclid pushed all these works out of use and remained the basic textbook of geometry for more than two millennia. When creating his textbook, Euclid included in it much of what was created by his predecessors, processing this material and bringing it together.

Beginnings consist of thirteen books. The first and some other books are preceded by a list of definitions. The first book is also preceded by a list of postulates and axioms. As a rule, postulates define basic constructions (for example, “it is required that a straight line can be drawn through any two points”), and axioms - general rules of inference when operating with quantities (for example, “if two quantities are equal to a third, they are equal between yourself").

In Book I the properties of triangles and parallelograms are studied; This book is crowned with the famous Pythagorean theorem for right triangles. Book II, going back to the Pythagoreans, is devoted to the so-called “geometric algebra”. Books III and IV describe the geometry of circles, as well as inscribed and circumscribed polygons; when working on these books, Euclid could have used the writings of Hippocrates of Chios. In Book V, the general theory of proportions, built by Eudoxus of Cnidus, is introduced, and in Book VI it is applied to the theory of similar figures. Books VII-IX are devoted to number theory and go back to the Pythagoreans; the author of Book VIII may have been Archytas of Tarentum. These books discuss theorems on proportions and geometric progressions, introduce a method for finding the greatest common divisor of two numbers (now known as the Euclid algorithm), construct even perfect numbers, and prove the infinity of the set of prime numbers. In the X book, which is the most voluminous and complex part Started, a classification of irrationalities is constructed; it is possible that its author is Theaetetus of Athens. Book XI contains the basics of stereometry. In the XII book, using the method of exhaustion, theorems on the ratios of the areas of circles, as well as the volumes of pyramids and cones are proved; The author of this book is generally acknowledged to be Eudoxus of Cnidus. Finally, Book XIII is devoted to the construction of five regular polyhedra; it is believed that some of the constructions were developed by Theaetetus of Athens.

Other works of Euclid

Statue of Euclid at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Of the other works of Euclid, the following have survived:

Data (δεδομένα ) - about what is necessary to define a figure;
About division (περὶ διαιρέσεων ) - partially preserved and only in Arabic translation; gives the division of geometric figures into parts that are equal or consist of each other in a given ratio;
Phenomena (φαινόμενα ) - applications of spherical geometry to astronomy;
Optics (ὀπτικά ) - about the rectilinear propagation of light.

From brief descriptions we know:

Porisms (πορίσματα ) - about the conditions that determine the curves;
Conic sections (κωνικά );
Superficial places (τόποι πρὸς ἐπιφανείᾳ ) - about the properties of conic sections;
Pseudaria (ψευδαρία ) - about errors in geometric proofs;

Euclid is also credited with:

Euclid and ancient philosophy

The Greek treatise of Pseudo-Euclid with Russian translation and notes by G. A. Ivanov was published in Moscow in 1894

Literature

Bibliography

Max Stack. Bibliographia Euclideana. Die Geisteslinien der Tradition in den Editionen der “Elemente” des Euklid (um 365-300). Handschriften, Inkunabeln, Frühdrucke (16.Jahrhundert). Textkritische Editionen des 17.-20. Jahrhunderts. Editionen der Opera minora (16.-20.Jahrhundert). Nachdruck, herausgeg. von Menso Folkerts. Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1981.

Texts and translations

Old Russian translations

Euclidean elements from twelve non-phthonic books were selected and reduced into eight books through the professor of mathematics A. Farkhvarson. / Per. from lat. I. Satarova. St. Petersburg, 1739. 284 pp.
Elements of geometry, that is, the first foundations of the science of measuring distance, consisting of axis Euclidean books. / Per. from French N. Kurganova. St. Petersburg, 1769. 288 pp.
Euclidean elements eight books, namely: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th and 12th. / Per. from Greek St. Petersburg, . 370 pp.
- 2nd ed. ...books 13 and 14 are attached to this. 1789. 424 pp.
Euclidean principles eight books, namely: the first six, 11th and 12th, containing the foundations of geometry. / Per. F. Petrushevsky. St. Petersburg, 1819. 480 pp.
Euclidean began three books, namely: the 7th, 8th and 9th, containing the general theory of numbers of ancient geometers. / Per. F. Petrushevsky. St. Petersburg, 1835. 160 pp.
Eight books of geometry Euclid. / Per. with him. pupils of a real school... Kremenchug, 1877. 172 pp.
Beginnings Euclid. / From input. and interpretations by M.E. Vashchenko-Zakharchenko. Kyiv, 1880. XVI, 749 pp.

Modern editions works of Euclid

The beginnings of Euclid. Per. and comm. D. D. Mordukhai-Boltovsky, ed. with the participation of I. N. Veselovsky and M. Ya. Vygodsky. In 3 volumes (Series “Classics of Natural History”). M.: GTTI, 1948-50. 6000 copies

Books I-VI (1948. 456 pp.) on www.math.ru or on mccme.ru
Books VII-X (1949. 512 pp.) on www.math.ru or on mccme.ru
Books XI-XIV (1950. 332 pp.) on www.math.ru or on mccme.ru

Euclidus Opera Omnia. Ed. I. L. Heiberg & H. Menge. 9 vols. Leipzig: Teubner, 1883-1916.

Vol. I-IX at www.wilbourhall.org

Heath T. L. The thirteen books of Euclid's Elements. 3 vols. Cambridge UP, 1925. Editions and translations: Greek (ed. J. L. Heiberg), English (ed. Th. L. Heath)
Euclide. Les elements. 4 vols. Trad. et comm. B. Vitrac; intr. M. Caving. P.: Presses universitaires de France, 1990-2001.
Barbera A. The Euclidian Division of the Canon: Greek and Latin Sources // Greek and Latin Music Theory. Vol. 8. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.

Comments

Antique comments Started

Proclus Diadochos. Commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements. Introduction. Per. and comm. Yu. A. Shichalina. M.: GLK, 1994.
Proclus Diadochos. Commentaries on the first book of Euclid's Elements. Postulates and axioms. Per. A. I. Shchetnikova. ΣΧΟΛΗ , vol. 2, 2008, p. 265-276.
Proclus Diadochos. Commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements. Definitions. Per. A. I. Shchetnikova. Arche: Proceedings of the cultural-logical seminar, vol. 5. M.: RSUH, 2009, p. 261-320.
Thompson W. Pappus’ commentary on Euclid’s Elements. Cambridge, 1930.

Research

ABOUT Beginnings Euclid

Alimov N. G. Magnitude and relation in Euclid. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 8, 1955, p. 573-619.
Bashmakova I. G. Arithmetic books of Euclid’s Elements. , vol. 1, 1948, p. 296-328.
Van der Waerden B. L. Waking Science. M.: Fizmatgiz, 1959.
Vygodsky M. Ya. “Principles” of Euclid. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 1, 1948, p. 217-295.
Glebkin V.V. Science in the context of culture: (“Euclides’ Elements” and “Jiu Zhang Xuan Shu”). M.: Interprax, 1994. 188 pp. 3000 copies. ISBN 5-85235-097-4
Kagan V.F. Euclid, his successors and commentators. In the book: Kagan V.F. Foundations of Geometry. Part 1. M., 1949, p. 28-110.
Raik A.E. The tenth book of Euclid’s Elements. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 1, 1948, p. 343-384.
Rodin A.V. Mathematics of Euclid in the light of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. M.: Nauka, 2003.
Tseyten G. G. History of mathematics in antiquity and the Middle Ages. M.-L.: ONTI, 1938.
Shchetnikov A.I. The second book of Euclid’s “Principles”: its mathematical content and structure. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 12(47), 2007, p. 166-187.
Shchetnikov A.I. The works of Plato and Aristotle as evidence of the formation of a system of mathematical definitions and axioms. ΣΧΟΛΗ , vol. 1, 2007, p. 172-194.

Artmann B. Euclid’s “Elements” and its prehistory. Apeiron, v. 24, 1991, p. 1-47.
Brooker M.I.H., Connors J.R., Slee A.V. Euclid. CD-ROM. Melbourne, CSIRO-Publ., 1997.
Burton H.E. The optics of Euclid. J. Opt. Soc. Amer., v. 35, 1945, p. 357-372.
Itard J. Lex livres arithmetiqués d'Euclide. P.: Hermann, 1961.
Fowler D.H. An invitation to read Book X of Euclid’s Elements. Historia Mathematica, v. 19, 1992, p. 233-265.
Knorr W.R. The evolution of the Euclidean Elements. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1975.
Mueller I. Philosophy of mathematics and deductive structure in Euclid’s Elements. Cambridge (Mass.), MIT Press, 1981.
Schreiber P. Euclid. Leipzig: Teubner, 1987.
Seidenberg A. Did Euclid’s Elements, Book I, develop geometry axiomatically? Archive for History of Exact Sciences, v. 14, 1975, p. 263-295.
Staal J.F. Euclid and Panini // Philosophy East and West. 1965. No. 15. P. 99-115.
Taisbak C.M. Division and logos. A theory of equivalent couples and sets of integers, propounded by Euclid in the arithmetical books of the Elements. Odense UP, 1982.
Taisbak C.M. Colored quadrangles. A guide to the tenth book of Euclid's Elements. Copenhagen, Museum Tusculanum Press, 1982.
Tannery P. La geometrié grecque. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1887.

About other works of Euclid

Zverkina G. A. Review of Euclid’s treatise “Data”. Mathematics and practice, mathematics and culture. M., 2000, p. 174-192.
Ilyina E. A. About the “Data” of Euclid. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 7(42), 2002, p. 201-208.
Shawl M. // . M., 1883.
Berggren J.L., Thomas R.S.D. Euclid's Phaenomena: a translation and study of a Hellenistic treatise in spherical astronomy. NY, Garland, 1996.
Schmidt R. Euclid's Recipients, commonly called the Data. Golden Hind Press, 1988.
S. Kutateladze

Arab authors believed that Euclid lived in Damascus and published there " Beginnings» Apollonia. An anonymous 12th-century Arabic manuscript reports:

Euclid, son of Naucrates, known as "Geometra", a scientist of old times, Greek by origin, Syrian by residence, originally from Tyre...

In general, the amount of data about Euclid is so scarce that there is a version (though not widely widespread) that we're talking about about the collective pseudonym of a group of Alexandrian scientists.

« Beginnings» Euclid

Beginnings consist of thirteen books. The first and some other books are preceded by a list of definitions. The first book is also preceded by a list of postulates and axioms. As a rule, postulates define basic constructions (for example, “it is required that a straight line can be drawn through any two points”), and axioms - general rules of inference when operating with quantities (for example, “if two quantities are equal to a third, they are equal between yourself").

In Book I the properties of triangles and parallelograms are studied; This book is crowned with the famous Pythagorean theorem for right triangles. Book II, going back to the Pythagoreans, is devoted to the so-called “geometric algebra”. Books III and IV describe the geometry of circles, as well as inscribed and circumscribed polygons; when working on these books, Euclid could have used the writings of Hippocrates of Chios. In Book V, the general theory of proportions, built by Eudoxus of Cnidus, is introduced, and in Book VI it is applied to the theory of similar figures. Books VII-IX are devoted to number theory and go back to the Pythagoreans; the author of Book VIII may have been Archytas of Tarentum. These books discuss theorems on proportions and geometric progressions, introduce a method for finding the greatest common divisor of two numbers (now known as the Euclid algorithm), construct even perfect numbers, and prove the infinity of the set of prime numbers. In the X book, which is the most voluminous and complex part Started, a classification of irrationalities is constructed; it is possible that its author is Theaetetus of Athens. Book XI contains the basics of stereometry. In the XII book, using the method of exhaustion, theorems on the ratios of the areas of circles, as well as the volumes of pyramids and cones are proved; The author of this book is generally acknowledged to be Eudoxus of Cnidus. Finally, Book XIII is devoted to the construction of five regular polyhedra; it is believed that some of the constructions were developed by Theaetetus of Athens.

Other works of Euclid

Of the other works of Euclid, the following have survived:

Data (δεδομένα ) - about what is necessary to define a figure;
About division (περὶ διαιρέσεων ) - partially preserved and only in Arabic translation; gives the division of geometric figures into parts that are equal or consist of each other in a given ratio;
Phenomena (φαινόμενα ) - applications of spherical geometry to astronomy;
Optics (ὀπτικά ) - about the rectilinear propagation of light.

From brief descriptions we know:

Porisms (πορίσματα ) - about the conditions that determine the curves;
Conic sections (κωνικά );
Superficial places (τόποι πρὸς ἐπιφανείᾳ ) - about the properties of conic sections;
Pseudaria (ψευδαρία ) - about errors in geometric proofs;

Euclid is also credited with:

Euclid and ancient philosophy

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Literature

Bibliography

Max Stack. Bibliographia Euclideana. Die Geisteslinien der Tradition in den Editionen der “Elemente” des Euklid (um 365-300). Handschriften, Inkunabeln, Frühdrucke (16.Jahrhundert). Textkritische Editionen des 17.-20. Jahrhunderts. Editionen der Opera minora (16.-20.Jahrhundert). Nachdruck, herausgeg. von Menso Folkerts. Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1981.

Texts and translations

Old Russian translations

Euclidean elements from twelve non-phthonic books were selected and reduced into eight books through the professor of mathematics A. Farkhvarson. / Per. from lat. I. Satarova. St. Petersburg, 1739. 284 pp.
Elements of geometry, that is, the first foundations of the science of measuring distance, consisting of axis Euclidean books. / Per. from French N. Kurganova. St. Petersburg, 1769. 288 pp.
Euclidean elements eight books, namely: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th and 12th. / Per. from Greek St. Petersburg, . 370 pp.
- 2nd ed. ...books 13 and 14 are attached to this. 1789. 424 pp.
Euclidean principles eight books, namely: the first six, 11th and 12th, containing the foundations of geometry. / Per. F. Petrushevsky. St. Petersburg, 1819. 480 pp.
Euclidean began three books, namely: the 7th, 8th and 9th, containing the general theory of numbers of ancient geometers. / Per. F. Petrushevsky. St. Petersburg, 1835. 160 pp.
Eight books of geometry Euclid. / Per. with him. pupils of a real school... Kremenchug, 1877. 172 pp.
Beginnings Euclid. / From input. and interpretations by M. E. Vashchenko-Zakharchenko. Kyiv, 1880. XVI, 749 pp.

Modern editions of Euclid's works

The beginnings of Euclid. Per. and comm. D. D. Mordukhai-Boltovsky, ed. with the participation of I. N. Veselovsky and M. Ya. Vygodsky. In 3 volumes (Series “Classics of Natural History”). M.: GTTI, 1948-50. 6000 copies

Books I-VI (1948. 456 pp.) on or on
Books VII-X (1949. 512 pp.) on or on
Books XI-XIV (1950. 332 pp.) on or on

Euclidus Opera Omnia. Ed. I. L. Heiberg & H. Menge. 9 vols. Leipzig: Teubner, 1883-1916.

Vol. I-IX on

Heath T. L. The thirteen books of Euclid's Elements. 3 vols. Cambridge UP, 1925. Editions and translations: ,
Euclide. Les elements. 4 vols. Trad. et comm. B. Vitrac; intr. M. Caving. P.: Presses universitaires de France, 1990-2001.
Barbera A. The Euclidian Division of the Canon: Greek and Latin Sources // Greek and Latin Music Theory. Vol. 8. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.

Comments

Antique comments Started

Proclus Diadochos. . Per. and comm. Yu. A. Shichalina. M.: GLK, 1994.
Proclus Diadochos. Commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements / Translation by A. I. Shchetnikov. - M.: Russian Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Science, 2013.
Thompson W. Pappus’ commentary on Euclid’s Elements. Cambridge, 1930.

Research

ABOUT Beginnings Euclid

Alimov N. G. Magnitude and relation in Euclid. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 8, 1955, p. 573-619.
Bashmakova I. G. Arithmetic books of Euclid’s Elements. , vol. 1, 1948, p. 296-328.
Van der Waerden B. L. Waking Science. M.: Fizmatgiz, 1959.
Vygodsky M. Ya. “Principles” of Euclid. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 1, 1948, p. 217-295.
Glebkin V.V. Science in the context of culture: (“Euclides’ Elements” and “Jiu Zhang Xuan Shu”). M.: Interprax, 1994. 188 pp. 3000 copies. ISBN 5-85235-097-4
Kagan V.F. Euclid, his successors and commentators. In the book: Kagan V.F. Foundations of Geometry. Part 1. M., 1949, p. 28-110.
Raik A.E. The tenth book of Euclid’s Elements. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 1, 1948, p. 343-384.
Rodin A.V. Mathematics of Euclid in the light of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. M.: Nauka, 2003.
Tseyten G. G. History of mathematics in antiquity and the Middle Ages. M.-L.: ONTI, 1938.
Shchetnikov A.I. The second book of Euclid’s “Principles”: its mathematical content and structure. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 12(47), 2007, p. 166-187.
Shchetnikov A.I. The works of Plato and Aristotle as evidence of the formation of a system of mathematical definitions and axioms. ΣΧΟΛΗ , vol. 1, 2007, p. 172-194.
Artmann B. Euclid’s “Elements” and its prehistory. Apeiron, v. 24, 1991, p. 1-47.
Brooker M.I.H., Connors J.R., Slee A.V. Euclid. CD-ROM. Melbourne, CSIRO-Publ., 1997.
Burton H.E. The optics of Euclid. J. Opt. Soc. Amer., v. 35, 1945, p. 357-372.
Itard J. Lex livres arithmetiqués d'Euclide. P.: Hermann, 1961.
Fowler D.H. An invitation to read Book X of Euclid’s Elements. Historia Mathematica, v. 19, 1992, p. 233-265.
Knorr W.R. The evolution of the Euclidean Elements. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1975.
Mueller I. Philosophy of mathematics and deductive structure in Euclid’s Elements. Cambridge (Mass.), MIT Press, 1981.
Schreiber P. Euclid. Leipzig: Teubner, 1987.
Seidenberg A. Did Euclid’s Elements, Book I, develop geometry axiomatically? Archive for History of Exact Sciences, v. 14, 1975, p. 263-295.
Staal J.F. Euclid and Panini // Philosophy East and West. 1965. No. 15. P. 99-115.
Taisbak C.M. Division and logos. A theory of equivalent couples and sets of integers, propounded by Euclid in the arithmetical books of the Elements. Odense UP, 1982.
Taisbak C.M. Colored quadrangles. A guide to the tenth book of Euclid's Elements. Copenhagen, Museum Tusculanum Press, 1982.
Tannery P. La geometrié grecque. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1887.

About other works of Euclid

Zverkina G. A. Review of Euclid’s treatise “Data”. Mathematics and practice, mathematics and culture. M., 2000, p. 174-192.
Ilyina E. A. About the “Data” of Euclid. Historical and mathematical research, vol. 7(42), 2002, p. 201-208.
Shawl M. // . M., 1883.
Berggren J.L., Thomas R.S.D. Euclid's Phaenomena: a translation and study of a Hellenistic treatise in spherical astronomy. NY, Garland, 1996.
Schmidt R. Euclid's Recipients, commonly called the Data. Golden Hind Press, 1988.
S. Kutateladze

Notes

Links

Khramov Yu. A. Euclid // Physicists: Biographical Directory / Ed. A. I. Akhiezer. - Ed. 2nd, rev. and additional - M.: Nauka, 1983. - P. 109. - 400 p. - 200,000 copies.(in translation)



Science

Philosophy

Philology

Literature

Passage characterizing Euclid

“Oh, how heavy is this incessant nonsense!” - thought Prince Andrei, trying to banish this face from his imagination. But this face stood before him with the force of reality, and this face came closer. Prince Andrei wanted to return to the former world of pure thought, but he could not, and delirium pulled him into its realm. The quiet whispering voice continued its measured babble, something was pressing, stretching, and a strange face stood in front of him. Prince Andrey gathered all his strength to come to his senses; he moved, and suddenly his ears began to ring, his eyes grew dim, and he, like a man plunged into water, lost consciousness. When he woke up, Natasha, the same living Natasha, whom of all the people in the world he most wanted to love with that new, pure divine love that was now open to him, was kneeling before him. He realized that it was a living, real Natasha, and was not surprised, but was quietly happy. Natasha, on her knees, scared but chained (she could not move), looked at him, holding back her sobs. Her face was pale and motionless. Only in the lower part of it was something trembling.
Prince Andrei sighed with relief, smiled and extended his hand.
- You? - he said. - How happy!
Natasha, with a quick but careful movement, moved towards him on her knees and, carefully taking his hand, bent over her face and began to kiss her, barely touching her lips.
- Sorry! - She said in a whisper, raising her head and looking at him. - Forgive me!
“I love you,” said Prince Andrei.
- Sorry…
- Forgive what? - asked Prince Andrei.
“Forgive me for what I did,” Natasha said in a barely audible, broken whisper and began to kiss her hand more often, barely touching her lips.
“I love you more, better than before,” said Prince Andrei, raising her face with his hand so that he could look into her eyes.
These eyes, filled with happy tears, timidly, compassionately and joyfully lovingly looked at him. Natasha’s thin and pale face with swollen lips was more than ugly, it was scary. But Prince Andrei did not see this face, he saw shining eyes that were beautiful. A conversation was heard behind them.
Peter the valet, now completely awake from his sleep, woke the doctor. Timokhin, who had not slept all the time from pain in his leg, had long seen everything that was being done, and, diligently covering his undressed body with a sheet, shrank on the bench.
-What is this? - said the doctor, rising from his bed. - Please go, madam.
At the same time, a girl sent by the Countess, who missed her daughter, knocked on the door.
Like a somnambulist who was awakened in the middle of her sleep, Natasha left the room and, returning to her hut, fell sobbing on her bed.

From that day, during the entire further journey of the Rostovs, at all rests and overnight stays, Natasha did not leave the wounded Bolkonsky, and the doctor had to admit that he did not expect from the girl either such firmness or such skill in caring for the wounded.
No matter how terrible the thought seemed to the countess that Prince Andrei could (very likely, according to the doctor) die during the journey in the arms of her daughter, she could not resist Natasha. Although, as a result of the now established rapprochement between the wounded Prince Andrei and Natasha, it occurred to him that in the event of recovery, the previous relationship of the bride and groom would be resumed, no one, least of all Natasha and Prince Andrei, spoke about this: the unresolved, hanging question of life or death is not only over Bolkonsky, but over Russia, overshadowed all other assumptions.

Pierre woke up late on September 3rd. His head ached, the dress in which he slept without undressing weighed down his body, and in his soul there was a vague consciousness of something shameful that had been committed the day before; This was a shameful conversation yesterday with Captain Rambal.
The clock showed eleven, but it seemed especially cloudy outside. Pierre stood up, rubbed his eyes and, seeing the pistol with a cut-out stock, which Gerasim had put back on the desk, Pierre remembered where he was and what lay ahead of him exactly that day.
“Am I too late? - thought Pierre. “No, he will probably make his entry into Moscow no earlier than twelve.” Pierre did not allow himself to think about what lay ahead of him, but was in a hurry to act as quickly as possible.
Having straightened his dress, Pierre took the pistol in his hands and was about to leave. But then for the first time the thought came to him about how, not in his hand, he could carry this weapon down the street. Even under a wide caftan it was difficult to hide a large pistol. It could not be placed inconspicuously either behind a belt or under an armpit. In addition, the pistol was unloaded, and Pierre did not have time to load it. “It’s all the same, it’s a dagger,” Pierre said to himself, although more than once, while discussing the fulfillment of his intention, he decided with himself that main mistake student in 1809 was that he wanted to kill Napoleon with a dagger. But it's as if main goal Pierre's goal was not to carry out his intended task, but to show himself that he did not renounce his intention and was doing everything to fulfill it. Pierre hastily took the blunt jagged dagger in a green sheath, which he had bought from the Sukharev Tower along with the pistol. and hid it under his vest.
Having belted his caftan and pulled down his hat, Pierre, trying not to make noise and not meet the captain, walked along the corridor and went out into the street.
The fire that he had looked at so indifferently the night before had grown significantly overnight. Moscow has already been burning since different sides. Karetny Ryad, Zamoskvorechye, Gostiny Dvor, Povarskaya, barges on the Moscow River and the wood market near the Dorogomilovsky Bridge were burning at the same time.
Pierre's path lay through the alleys to Povarskaya and from there to the Arbat, to St. Nicholas the Apparition, with whom he had long ago determined in his imagination the place where his deed should be carried out. Most of the houses had locked gates and shutters. The streets and alleys were deserted. The air smelled of burning and smoke. Occasionally we encountered Russians with anxiously timid faces and Frenchmen with a non-urban, camp look, walking along the middle of the streets. Both of them looked at Pierre in surprise. In addition to his great height and thickness, in addition to the strange, gloomily concentrated and suffering expression on his face and entire figure, the Russians looked closely at Pierre because they did not understand what class this man could belong to. The French followed him with their eyes in surprise, especially because Pierre, disgusted by all the other Russians who looked at the French in fear or curiosity, did not pay any attention to them. At the gate of one house, three Frenchmen, who were explaining something to Russian people who did not understand them, stopped Pierre, asking if he knew French?
Pierre shook his head negatively and moved on. In another alley, a sentry standing by a green box shouted at him, and only at the repeated menacing scream and the sound of a gun taken by the sentry on his hand did Pierre realize that he had to go around to the other side of the street. He heard and saw nothing around him. He, like something terrible and alien to him, carried his intention with haste and horror, afraid - taught by the experience of the previous night - to somehow lose it. But Pierre was not destined to convey his mood intact to the place where he was heading. In addition, even if he had not been delayed by anything on the way, his intention could not have been fulfilled simply because Napoleon had traveled more than four hours ago from the Dorogomilovsky suburb through the Arbat to the Kremlin and was now sitting in the gloomiest mood in the Tsar’s office the Kremlin Palace and gave detailed, detailed orders about the measures that immediately had to be taken to extinguish the fire, prevent looting and calm the residents. But Pierre did not know this; He, completely absorbed in what was to come, suffered, as people suffer who stubbornly undertake an impossible task - not because of the difficulties, but because the task is unusual for their nature; he was tormented by the fear that he would weaken at the decisive moment and, as a result, lose self-respect.
Although he did not see or hear anything around him, he instinctively knew the way and did not make the mistake of taking the side streets that led him to Povarskaya.
As Pierre approached Povarskaya, the smoke became stronger and stronger, and there was even heat from the fire. Occasionally tongues of fire rose from behind the roofs of houses. More people met on the streets, and these people were more anxious. But Pierre, although he felt that something extraordinary was happening around him, was not aware that he was approaching a fire. Walking along a path that ran along a large undeveloped place, adjacent on one side to Povarskaya, on the other to the gardens of Prince Gruzinsky’s house, Pierre suddenly heard the desperate cry of a woman next to him. He stopped, as if awakening from sleep, and raised his head.
To the side of the path, on the dry, dusty grass, household belongings were piled up: feather beds, a samovar, icons and chests. On the ground next to the chests sat an elderly, thin woman, with long protruding upper teeth, dressed in a black coat and cap. This woman, rocking and saying something, cried sorely. Two girls, from ten to twelve years old, dressed in dirty short dresses and cloaks, looked at their mother with an expression of bewilderment on their pale, frightened faces. A smaller boy, about seven years old, wearing a suit and someone else’s huge cap, was crying in the arms of an old woman nanny. A barefoot, dirty girl sat on a chest and, having loosened her whitish braid, pulled back her singed hair, sniffing it. The husband, a short, stooped man in a uniform, with wheel-shaped sideburns and smooth temples visible from under a straight-on cap, with a motionless face, pushed apart the chests, placed one on top of the other, and pulled out some clothes from under them.
The woman almost threw herself at Pierre's feet when she saw him.
“Dear fathers, Orthodox Christians, save, help, my dear!.. someone help,” she said through sobs. - A girl!.. A daughter!.. They left my youngest daughter!.. She burned down! Oh oh oh! That's why I cherish you... Oh oh oh!
“That’s enough, Marya Nikolaevna,” the husband addressed his wife in a quiet voice, obviously only to justify himself to a stranger. - My sister must have taken it away, otherwise where else would I be? - he added.
- Idol! Villain! – the woman screamed angrily, suddenly stopping crying. “You have no heart, you don’t feel sorry for your brainchild.” Someone else would have pulled it out of the fire. And this is an idol, not a man, not a father. “You are a noble man,” the woman quickly turned to Pierre, sobbing. “It caught fire nearby,” he said to us. The girl screamed: it’s burning! They rushed to collect. They jumped out in what they were wearing... That's what they captured... God's blessing and a dowry bed, otherwise everything was lost. Grab the children, Katechka is gone. Oh my God! Ooo! – and again she began to sob. - My dear child, it burned! burned!
- Where, where did she stay? - said Pierre. From the expression on his animated face, his woman realized that this man could help her.
- Father! Father! – she screamed, grabbing his legs. “Benefactor, at least calm my heart... Aniska, go, you vile one, see her off,” she shouted at the girl, angrily opening her mouth and with this movement showing off her long teeth even more.
“Show me off, show me off, I’ll... I’ll... I’ll do it,” Pierre said hastily in a breathless voice.
The dirty girl came out from behind the chest, tidied up her braid and, sighing, walked forward along the path with her blunt bare feet. Pierre seemed to suddenly come to life after a severe faint. He raised his head higher, his eyes lit up with the sparkle of life, and he quickly followed the girl, overtook her and went out onto Povarskaya. The entire street was covered in a cloud of black smoke. Tongues of flame burst out here and there from this cloud. A large crowd of people crowded in front of the fire. A French general stood in the middle of the street and said something to those around him. Pierre, accompanied by the girl, approached the place where the general stood; but French soldiers stopped him.
“On ne passe pas, [They don’t pass here,”] a voice shouted to him.
- Here, uncle! - said the girl. - We'll go through the Nikulins along the alley.
Pierre turned back and walked, occasionally jumping up to keep up with her. The girl ran across the street, turned left into an alley and, after passing three houses, turned right into the gate.
“Here now,” said the girl, and, running through the yard, she opened the gate in the plank fence and, stopping, pointed to Pierre a small wooden outbuilding that burned brightly and hotly. One side of it collapsed, the other was burning, and the flames were blazing brightly from under the window openings and from under the roof.
When Pierre entered the gate, he was overcome with heat, and he involuntarily stopped.
– Which, which is your house? he asked.
- Oh oh oh! - the girl howled, pointing to the outbuilding. “He was the one, she was the very one who was our father.” You burned, my treasure, Katechka, my beloved young lady, oh, oh! - Aniska howled at the sight of the fire, feeling the need to express her feelings.
Pierre leaned towards the outbuilding, but the heat was so strong that he involuntarily described an arc around the outbuilding and found himself next to a large house, which was still burning only on one side of the roof and around which a crowd of French were swarming. Pierre at first did not understand what these French were doing, carrying something; but, seeing in front of him a Frenchman who was beating a peasant with a blunt cleaver, taking away his fox fur coat, Pierre vaguely understood that they were robbing here, but he had no time to dwell on this thought.
The sound of the crackling and roar of collapsing walls and ceilings, the whistle and hiss of flames and animated cries of the people, the sight of wavering, now sullen, thick black, now soaring lightening clouds of smoke with sparkles and sometimes solid, sheaf-shaped, red, sometimes scaly golden flame moving along the walls , the sensation of heat and smoke and the speed of movement produced on Pierre their usual stimulating effect of fires. This effect was especially strong on Pierre, because Pierre suddenly, at the sight of this fire, felt freed from the thoughts that were weighing him down. He felt young, cheerful, agile and determined. He ran around the outbuilding from the side of the house and was about to run to the part of it that was still standing, when a cry of several voices was heard above his head, followed by the cracking and ringing of something heavy that fell next to him.
Pierre looked around and saw the French in the windows of the house, who had thrown out a chest of drawers filled with some kind of metal things. Other French soldiers below approached the box.
“Eh bien, qu"est ce qu"il veut celui la, [This one still needs something," one of the French shouted at Pierre.
- Un enfant dans cette maison. N"avez vous pas vu un enfant? [A child in this house. Have you seen the child?] - said Pierre.
– Tiens, qu"est ce qu"il chante celui la? Va te promener, [What else is this interpreting? “Get to hell,” voices were heard, and one of the soldiers, apparently afraid that Pierre would take it into his head to take away the silver and bronze that were in the box, advanced threateningly towards him.
- Un enfant? - the Frenchman shouted from above. - J"ai entendu piailler quelque chose au jardin. Peut etre c"est sou moutard au bonhomme. Faut etre humain, voyez vous... [Child? I heard something squeaking in the garden. Maybe it's his child. Well, it is necessary according to humanity. We are all human...]
– Ou est il? Ou est il? [Where is he? Where is he?] asked Pierre.
- Par ici! Par ici! [Here, here!] - the Frenchman shouted to him from the window, pointing to the garden that was behind the house. – Attendez, je vais descendre. [Wait, I'll get off now.]
And indeed, a minute later a Frenchman, a black-eyed fellow with some kind of spot on his cheek, in only his shirt, jumped out of the window of the lower floor and, slapping Pierre on the shoulder, ran with him into the garden.
“Depechez vous, vous autres,” he shouted to his comrades, “commence a faire chaud.” [Hey, you're more lively, it's starting to get hot.]
Running out behind the house onto a sand-strewn path, the Frenchman pulled Pierre's hand and pointed him towards the circle. Under the bench lay a three-year-old girl in a pink dress.
– Voila votre moutard. “Ah, une petite, tant mieux,” said the Frenchman. - Au revoir, mon gros. Faut être humaine. Nous sommes tous mortels, voyez vous, [Here is your child. Ah, girl, so much the better. Goodbye, fat man. Well, it is necessary according to humanity. All people,] - and the Frenchman with a spot on his cheek ran back to his comrades.
Pierre, gasping for joy, ran up to the girl and wanted to take her in his arms. But, seeing a stranger, the scrofulous, unpleasant-looking, scrofulous, mother-like girl screamed and ran away. Pierre, however, grabbed her and picked her up; she screamed in a desperately angry voice and with her small hands began to tear Pierre’s hands away from her and bite them with her snotty mouth. Pierre was overcome by a feeling of horror and disgust, similar to the one he experienced when touching some small animal. But he made an effort over himself so as not to abandon the child, and ran with him back to big house. But it was no longer possible to go back the same way; the girl Aniska was no longer there, and Pierre, with a feeling of pity and disgust, hugging the painfully sobbing and wet girl as tenderly as possible, ran through the garden to look for another way out.

When Pierre, having run around courtyards and alleys, came back with his burden to Gruzinsky’s garden, on the corner of Povarskaya, at first he did not recognize the place from which he had gone to fetch the child: it was so cluttered with people and belongings pulled out of houses. In addition to Russian families with their goods, who were fleeing here from the fire, there were also several French soldiers in various attire. Pierre did not pay attention to them. He was in a hurry to find the official’s family in order to give his daughter to his mother and go again to save someone else. It seemed to Pierre that he had a lot more to do and quickly. Inflamed from the heat and running around, Pierre at that moment, even more strongly than before, experienced that feeling of youth, revival and determination that overwhelmed him as he ran to save the child. The girl now became quiet and, holding Pierre’s caftan with her hands, sat on his hand and, like a wild animal, looked around her. Pierre occasionally glanced at her and smiled slightly. It seemed to him that he saw something touchingly innocent and angelic in this frightened and painful face.
Neither the official nor his wife were in their former place. Pierre walked quickly among the people, looking around different faces that came his way. Involuntarily he noticed a Georgian or Armenian family, consisting of a handsome, very old man with an oriental face, dressed in a new covered sheepskin coat and new boots, an old woman of the same type and a young woman. This very young woman seemed to Pierre the perfection of oriental beauty, with her sharp, arched black eyebrows and long, unusually delicately ruddy and beautiful face without any expression. Among the scattered belongings, in the crowd in the square, she, in her rich satin cloak and a bright purple scarf covering her head, resembled a delicate greenhouse plant thrown out into the snow. She sat on a bundle somewhat behind the old woman and motionlessly looked at the ground with her large black elongated eyes with long eyelashes. Apparently, she knew her beauty and was afraid for it. This face struck Pierre, and in his haste, walking along the fence, he looked back at her several times. Having reached the fence and still not finding those he needed, Pierre stopped, looking around.
The figure of Pierre with a child in his arms was now even more remarkable than before, and several Russian men and women gathered around him.
– Or lost someone, dear man? Are you one of the nobles yourself, or what? Whose child is it? - they asked him.
Pierre replied that the child belonged to a woman in a black cloak, who was sitting with the children in this place, and asked if anyone knew her and where she had gone.
“It must be the Anferovs,” said the old deacon, turning to the pockmarked woman. “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy,” he added in his usual bass voice.