Noli turbare circulos meos!

Death of Archimedes, an 1815 painting by Thomas Degeorge. It depicts a mechanical drawing on a roll rather than in sand.

"Nōlī turbāre circulōs meōs!" is a Latin phrase, meaning "Do not disturb my circles!". It is said to have been uttered by Archimedes—in reference to a geometric figure he had outlined on the sand—when he was confronted by a Roman soldier during the Siege of Syracuse prior to being killed.[1]

  1. ^ "Archimedes of Syracuse (Ca. 287-ca. 212 BC) -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography".