_Read the Passage through carefully._--As you read you will notice many allusions and key-words, _e.g._ +Archimedes+, +ego quaestor+, +Syracusanis+, +sepulcrum+, etc. These, taken in connection with the heading and the author, will suggest to you the main subject of the passage--the finding of the Tomb of Archimedes by Cicero.
+I.+ +Archimedis ego quaestor ignoratum ab Syracusanis, cum esse omnino negarent, saeptum undique et vestitum vepribus et dumetis, indagavi sepulcrum.+
+Quaestor+ (contr. from +quaesītor+--+quaero+), i.e. _investigator_, originally two main functions:--
(a) The preparation of evidence in public prosecutions (this about 240 B.C. transferred to the Tribunes).
(b) Treasurers of State. Of these the +Quaestores urbani+ stayed at Rome, while the +Quaestores provinciales+ or +militares+ acted as financial assistants to the _Consuls_ or _Praetors_ for the provinces.
+saeptum+ = _hedged in_; +saepes+ = _a hedge_, _fence_.
+indagavi+ = _I traced out_. A metaphor from hunting. Cf.
‘Dum trepidant alae, saltusque indagine cingunt.’
‘While the scouts (beaters) are all busy, and are encircling the coverts with nets.’
(ii.) _Translation._--The form of the sentence is quite simple. The principal verb is +indagavi+, with subject +ego quaestor+, and object +sepulcrum+. From +ignoratum ... dumetis+ describes +sepulcrum+, and the subordinate clause +cum ... negarent+ emphasises +ignoratum a Syracusanis+. You may now translate
(a) literally: _I, when Quaestor, traced out the tomb of Archimedes, not known of by the Syracusans, for they said it was not there at all, hedged in on all sides and covered with brambles and brushwood._
(b) A better rendering: _When I was Quaestor I was able to trace the tomb of Archimedes, overgrown and hedged in with brambles and brushwood. The Syracusans knew nothing of it, and entirely denied its existence._
Notice here the improvement made by breaking up the one long sentence into two.
+II.+ +Tenebam enim quosdam senariolos, quos in eius monumento esse inscriptos acceperam: qui declarabant in summo sepulcro sphaeram esse positam cum cylindro.+
+senariolos+ = _some lines_, _i.e._ of poetry--dimin. of +senarius+ (+seni+) = _consisting of six each_, especially of the _iambic senarii_.