Although we know little of Menelaus of Alexandria's life Ptolemy
records astronomical observations made by Menelaus in Rome on
the 14th January in the year 98. These observation included that
of the occultation of the star Beta Scorpii by the moon. He also
makes an appearance in a work by Plutarch who describes a
conversation between Menelaus and Lucius in which Lucius
apologises to Menelaus for doubting the fact that light, when
reflected, obeys the law that the angle of incidence equals the
angle of reflection. Lucius says (see for example ):- In your
presence, my dear Menelaus, I am ashamed to confute a
mathematical proposition, the foundation, as it were, on which
rests the subject of catoptrics. Yet it must be said that the
proposition, "All reflection occurs at equal angles" is neither
self evident nor an admitted fact. This conversation is supposed
to have taken place in Rome probably quite a long time after 75
AD, and indeed if our guess that Menelaus was born in 70 AD is
close to being correct then i