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The present article deals with the reception of Archimedes’ mechanics by Federico Commandino and Guidobaldo dal Monte, in particular with their interpretation of a crucial passage contained in Quadrature of the Parabola. Both of them, faced with the problem of which conception of equilibrium Archimedes referred to, do not seem to have been eagerly interested in reconstructing a textual close version of the latter’s theory of mechanics. This leads to reflect on central features of what is called “Mathematical Humanism,” as these two exponents of the Urbino School and protagonists of the so-called Archimedean Revival are generally considered to have adopted a philological style of restoring the texts of ancient mathematics.