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Title: The Ten Books on Architecture
Author: Vitruvius Pollio
Release date: December 31, 2006 [eBook #20239]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20239
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VITRUVIUS
THE TEN BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE
TRANSLATED BY
MORRIS HICKY MORGAN, PH.D., LL.D.
LATE PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND ORIGINAL DESIGNS
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
HERBERT LANGFORD WARREN, A.M.
NELSON ROBINSON JR. PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1914
COPYRIGHT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
* * * * *
PREFACE
During the last years of his life, Professor Morgan had devoted much
time and energy to the preparation of a translation of Vitruvius, which
he proposed to supplement with a revised text, illustrations, and notes.
He had completed the translation, with the exception of the last four
chapters of the tenth book, and had discussed, with Professor Warren,
the illustrations intended for the first six books of the work; the
notes had not been arranged or completed, though many of them were
outlined in the manuscript, or the intention to insert them indicated.
The several books of the translation, so far as it was completed, had
been read to a little group of friends, consisting of Professors Sheldon
and Kittredge, and myself, and had received our criticism, which had, at
times, been utilized in the revision of the work.
After the death of Professor Morgan, in spite of my obvious incompetency
from a technical point of view, I undertook, at the request of his
family, to complete the translation, and to see the book through the
press. I must, therefore, assume entire responsibility for the
translation of the tenth book, beginning with chapter thirteen, and
further responsibility for necessary changes made by me in the earlier
part of the translation, changes which, in no case, affect any theory
held by Professor Morgan, but which involve mainly the adoption of
simpler forms of statement, or the correction of obvious oversights.
The text followed is that of Valentine Rose in his second edition
(Leipzig, 1899), and the variations from this text are, with a few
exceptions which are indicated in the footnotes, in the nature of a
return to the consensus of the manuscript readings.
The illustrations in the first six books are believed to be
substantially in accord with the wishes of Professor Morgan. The
suggestions for illustrations in the later books were incomplete, and
did not indicate, in all cases, with sufficient definiteness to allow
them to be executed, the changes from conventional plans and designs
intended by the translator. It has, therefore, been decided to include
in this part of the work only those illustrations which are known to
have had the full approval of Professor Morgan. The one exception to
this principle is the reproduction of a rough model of the Ram of
Hegetor, constructed by me on the basis of the measurements given by
Vitruvius and Athenaeus.
It does not seem to me necessary or even advisable to enter into a long
discussion as to the date of Vitruvius, which has been assigned to
various periods from the time of Augustus to the early centuries of our
era. Professor Morgan, in several articles in the _Harvard Studies in
Classical Philology_, and in the _Proceedings of the American Academy_,
all of which have been reprinted in a volume of _Addresses and Essays_
(New York, 1909), upheld the now generally accepted view that Vitruvius
wrote in the time of Augustus, and furnished conclusive evidence that
nothing in his language is inconsistent with this view. In revising the
translation, I met with one bit of evidence for a date before the end of
the reign of Nero which I have never seen adduced. In viii, 3, 21, the
kingdom of Cottius is mentioned, the name depending, it is true, on an
emendation, but one which has been universally accepted since it was
first proposed in 1513. The kingdom of Cottius was made into a Roman
province by Nero (cf. Suetonius, _Nero_, 18), and it is inconceivable
that any Roman writer subsequently referred to it as a kingdom.
It does seem necessary to add a few words about the literary merits of
Vitruvius in this treatise, and about Professor Morgan's views as to the
general principles to be followed in the translation.
Vitruvius was not a great literary personage, ambitious as he was to
appear in that character. As Professor Morgan has aptly said, "he has
all the marks of one unused to composition, to whom writing is a painful
task." In his hand the measuring-rod was a far mightier implement than
the pen. His turgid and pompous rhetoric displays itself in the
introductions to the different books, where his exaggerated effort to
introduce some semblance of style into his commonplace lectures on the
noble principles which should govern the conduct of the architect, or
into the prosaic lists of architects and writers on architecture, is
everywhere apparent. Even in the more technical portions of his work, a
like conscious effort may be detected, and, at the same time, a lack of
confidence in his ability to express himself in unmistakable language.
He avoids periodic sentences, uses only the simpler subjunctive
constructions, repeats the antecedent in relative clauses, and, not
infrequently, adopts a formal language closely akin to that of
specifications and contracts, the style with which he was, naturally,
most familiar. He ends each book with a brief summary, almost a formula,
somewhat like a sigh of relief, in which the reader unconsciously
shares. At times his meaning is ambiguous, not because of grammatical
faults, which are comparatively few and unimportant, but because, when
he does attempt a periodic sentence, he becomes involved, and finds it
difficult to extricate himself.
Some of these peculiarities and crudities of expression Professor Morgan
purposely imitated, because of his conviction that a translation should
not merely reproduce the substance of a book, but should also give as
clear a picture as possible of the original, of its author, and of the
working of his mind. The translation is intended, then, to be faithful
and exact, but it deliberately avoids any attempt to treat the language
of Vitruvius as though it were Ciceronian, or to give a false impression
of conspicuous literary merit in a work which is destitute of that
quality. The translator had, however, the utmost confidence in the
sincerity of Vitruvius and in the serious purpose of his treatise on
architecture.
To those who have liberally given their advice and suggestions in
response to requests from Professor Morgan, it is impossible for me to
make adequate acknowledgment. Their number is so great, and my knowledge
of the indebtedness in individual cases is so small, that each must be
content with the thought of the full and generous acknowledgment which
he would have received had Professor Morgan himself written this
preface.
Personally I am under the greatest obligations to Professor H. L.
Warren, who has freely given both assistance and criticism; to Professor
G. L. Kittredge, who has read with me most of the proof; to the Syndics
of the Harvard University Press, who have made possible the publication
of the work; and to the members of the Visiting Committee of the
Department of the Classics and the classmates of Professor Morgan, who
have generously supplied the necessary funds for the illustrations.
ALBERT A. HOWARD.
CONTENTS
BOOK I
PREFACE 3
THE EDUCATION OF THE ARCHITECT 5
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE 13
THE DEPARTMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE 16
THE SITE OF A CITY 17
THE CITY WALLS 21
THE DIRECTIONS OF THE STREETS; WITH REMARKS ON THE WINDS 24
THE SITES FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS 31
BOOK II
INTRODUCTION 35
THE ORIGIN OF THE DWELLING HOUSE 38
ON THE PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE ACCORDING TO THE PHYSICISTS 42
BRICK 42
SAND 44
LIME 45
POZZOLANA 46
STONE 49
METHODS OF BUILDING WALLS 51
TIMBER 58
HIGHLAND AND LOWLAND FIR 64
BOOK III
INTRODUCTION 69
ON SYMMETRY: IN TEMPLES AND IN THE HUMAN BODY 72
CLASSIFICATION OF TEMPLES 75
THE PROPORTIONS OF INTERCOLUMNIATIONS AND OF COLUMNS 78
THE FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES OF TEMPLES 86
PROPORTIONS OF THE BASE, CAPITALS, AND ENTABLATURE IN THE
IONIC ORDER 90
BOOK IV
INTRODUCTION 101
THE ORIGINS OF THE THREE ORDERS, AND THE PROPORTIONS OF THE
CORINTHIAN CAPITAL 102
THE ORNAMENTS OF THE ORDERS 107
PROPORTIONS OF DORIC TEMPLES 109
THE CELLA AND PRONAOS 114
HOW THE TEMPLE SHOULD FACE 116
THE DOORWAYS OF TEMPLES 117
TUSCAN TEMPLES 120
CIRCULAR TEMPLES AND OTHER VARIETIES 122
ALTARS 125
BOOK V
INTRODUCTION 129
THE FORUM AND BASILICA 131
THE TREASURY, PRISON, AND SENATE HOUSE 137
THE THEATRE: ITS SITE, FOUNDATIONS, AND ACOUSTICS 137
HARMONICS 139
SOUNDING VESSELS IN THE THEATRE 143
PLAN OF THE THEATRE 146
GREEK THEATRES 151
ACOUSTICS OF THE SITE OF A THEATRE 153
COLONNADES AND WALKS 154
BATHS 157
THE PALAESTRA 159
HARBOURS, BREAKWATERS, AND SHIPYARDS 162
BOOK VI
INTRODUCTION 167
ON CLIMATE AS DETERMINING THE STYLE OF THE HOUSE 170
SYMMETRY, AND MODIFICATIONS IN IT TO SUIT THE SITE 174
PROPORTIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL ROOMS 176
THE PROPER EXPOSURES OF THE DIFFERENT ROOMS 180
HOW THE ROOMS SHOULD BE SUITED TO THE STATION OF THE
OWNER 181
THE FARMHOUSE 183
THE GREEK HOUSE 185
ON FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES 189
BOOK VII
INTRODUCTION 195
FLOORS 202
THE SLAKING OF LIME FOR STUCCO 204
VAULTINGS AND STUCCO WORK 205
ON STUCCO WORK IN DAMP PLACES, AND ON THE DECORATION OF
DINING ROOMS 208
THE DECADENCE OF FRESCO PAINTING 210
MARBLE FOR USE IN STUCCO 213
NATURAL COLOURS 214
CINNABAR AND QUICKSILVER 215
CINNABAR (_continued_) 216
ARTIFICIAL COLOURS. BLACK 217
BLUE. BURNT OCHRE 218
WHITE LEAD, VERDIGRIS, AND ARTIFICIAL SANDARACH 219
PURPLE 219
SUBSTITUTES FOR PURPLE, YELLOW OCHRE, MALACHITE GREEN, AND
INDIGO 220
BOOK VIII
INTRODUCTION 225
HOW TO FIND WATER 227
RAINWATER 229
VARIOUS PROPERTIES OF DIFFERENT WATERS 232
TESTS OF GOOD WATER 242
LEVELLING AND LEVELLING INSTRUMENTS 242
AQUEDUCTS, WELLS, AND CISTERNS 244
BOOK IX
INTRODUCTION 251
THE ZODIAC AND THE PLANETS 257
THE PHASES OF THE MOON 262
THE COURSE OF THE SUN THROUGH THE TWELVE SIGNS 264
THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS 265
THE SOUTHERN CONSTELLATIONS 267
ASTROLOGY AND WEATHER PROGNOSTICS 269
THE ANALEMMA AND ITS APPLICATIONS 270
SUNDIALS AND WATER CLOCKS 273
BOOK X
INTRODUCTION 281
MACHINES AND IMPLEMENTS 283
HOISTING MACHINES 285
THE ELEMENTS OF MOTION 290
ENGINES FOR RAISING WATER 293
WATER WHEELS AND WATER MILLS 294
THE WATER SCREW 295
THE PUMP OF CTESIBIUS 297
THE WATER ORGAN 299
THE HODOMETER 301
CATAPULTS OR SCORPIONES 303
BALLISTAE 305
THE STRINGING AND TUNING OF CATAPULTS 308
SIEGE MACHINES 309
THE TORTOISE 311
HEGETOR'S TORTOISE 312
MEASURES OF DEFENCE 315
NOTE ON SCAMILLI IMPARES 320
INDEX 321
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CARYATIDES FROM TREASURY OF CNIDIANS, DELPHI 6
CARYATIDES OF ERECHTHEUM, ATHENS 6
CARYATID IN VILLA ALBANI, ROME 6
CARYATIDES 7
PERSIANS 9
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY WALLS 23
TOWER OF THE WINDS, ATHENS 26
DIAGRAM OF THE WINDS 29
DIAGRAM OF DIRECTIONS OF STREETS 30
VITRUVIUS' BRICK-BOND 44
TRAVERTINE QUARRIES, ROMAN CAMPAGNA 49
EXAMPLE OF OPUS INCERTUM, CIRCULAR TEMPLE, TIVOLI 51
OPUS RETICULATUM, THERMAE OF HADRIAN'S VILLA, TIVOLI 52
EXAMPLE OF OPUS RETICULATUM, DOORWAY OF STOA POECILE, HADRIAN'S
VILLA 52
MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS, RESTORED 54
CLASSIFICATION OF TEMPLES ACCORDING TO ARRANGEMENTS OF COLONNADES 76
HYPAETHRAL TEMPLE OF VITRUVIUS COMPARED WITH PARTHENON AND
TEMPLE OF APOLLO NEAR MILETUS 77
CLASSIFICATION OF TEMPLES ACCORDING TO INTERCOLUMNIATION 79
EUSTYLE TEMPLE OF VITRUVIUS COMPARED WITH TEMPLE OF TEOS 81
VITRUVIUS' RULES FOR DIAMETER AND HEIGHT OF COLUMNS COMPARED
WITH ACTUAL EXAMPLES 83
DIMINUTION OF COLUMNS IN RELATION TO DIMENSIONS OF HEIGHT 85
ENTASIS OF COLUMNS 87
FRA GIOCONDO'S IDEA OF "SCAMILLI IMPARES" 89
IONIC ORDER ACCORDING TO VITRUVIUS COMPARED WITH ORDER OF
MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS 91
COMPARISON OF IONIC ORDER ACCORDING TO VITRUVIUS WITH ACTUAL
EXAMPLES AND WITH VIGNOLA'S ORDER 95
BASILICA AT POMPEII 104
CORINTHIAN CAPITAL OF VITRUVIUS COMPARED WITH MONUMENTS 105
VITRUVIUS' DORIC ORDER COMPARED WITH TEMPLE AT CORI AND THEATRE
OF MARCELLUS 111
VITRUVIUS' TEMPLE PLAN COMPARED WITH ACTUAL EXAMPLES 115
VITRUVIUS' RULE FOR DOORWAYS COMPARED WITH TWO EXAMPLES 119
TUSCAN TEMPLE ACCORDING TO VITRUVIUS 121
CIRCULAR TEMPLE, TIVOLI 123
MAISON CARRÉE, NÎMES 123
PLAN OF TEMPLE, TIVOLI 123
PLAN OF TEMPLE OF VESTA, ROME 123
PLAN OF CIRCULAR TEMPLE ACCORDING TO VITRUVIUS 124
FORUM, TIMGAD 131
FORUM, POMPEII 133
PLAN OF BASILICA, POMPEII 134
VITRUVIUS' BASILICA, FANO 135
ROMAN THEATRE ACCORDING TO VITRUVIUS 147
THEATRE AT ASPENDUS 149
THEATRE PORTICO ACCORDING TO VITRUVIUS 152
TEPIDARIUM OF STABIAN BATHS, POMPEII 157
APODYTERIUM FOR WOMEN, STABIAN BATHS, POMPEII 157
STABIAN BATHS, POMPEII 158
PALAESTRA, OLYMPIA, AND GREEK PALAESTRA ACCORDING TO VITRUVIUS 161
PLANS OF HOUSES, POMPEII 176
PLAN OF HOUSE OF SILVER WEDDING, POMPEII 177
PLAN OF TYPICAL ROMAN HOUSE 178
PERISTYLE OF HOUSE OF THE VETTII, POMPEII 179
PLAN OF HOUSE OF THE VETTII, POMPEII 179
PLAN OF VILLA RUSTICA, NEAR POMPEII 183
PLAN OF VITRUVIUS' GREEK HOUSE 186
PLAN OF GREEK HOUSE, DELOS 187
PLAN OF GREEK HOUSE DISCOVERED AT PERGAMUM 188
RETAINING WALLS 191
CONSTRUCTION OF THE ANALEMMA 271
CONSTRUCTION OF WATER SCREW 295
WATER SCREW 296
HEGETOR'S RAM AND TORTOISE 312
1. From sixteenth century MS.
2. From model by A. A. Howard.
* * * * *
VITRUVIUS
* * * * *
BOOK I
PREFACE
1. While your divine intelligence and will, Imperator Caesar, were
engaged in acquiring the right to command the world, and while your
fellow citizens, when all their enemies had been laid low by your
invincible valour, were glorying in your triumph and victory,--while all
foreign nations were in subjection awaiting your beck and call, and the
Roman people and senate, released from their alarm, were beginning to be
guided by your most noble conceptions and policies, I hardly dared, in
view of your serious employments, to publish my writings and long
considered ideas on architecture, for fear of subjecting myself to your
displeasure by an unseasonable interruption.
2. But when I saw that you were giving your attention not only to the
welfare of society in general and to the establishment of public order,
but also to the providing of public buildings intended for utilitarian
purposes, so that not only should the State have been enriched with
provinces by your means, but that the greatness of its power might
likewise be attended with distinguished authority in its public
buildings, I thought that I ought to take the first opportunity to lay
before you my writings on this theme. For in the first place it was this
subject which made me known to your father, to whom I was devoted on
account of his great qualities. After the council of heaven gave him a
place in the dwellings of immortal life and transferred your father's
power to your hands, my devotion continuing unchanged as I remembered
him inclined me to support you. And so with Marcus Aurelius, Publius
Minidius, and Gnaeus Cornelius, I was ready to supply and repair
ballistae, scorpiones, and other artillery, and I have received rewards
for good service with them. After your first bestowal of these upon me,
you continued to renew them on the recommendation of your sister.
3. Owing to this favour I need have no fear of want to the end of my
life, and being thus laid under obligation I began to write this work
for you, because I saw that you have built and are now building
extensively, and that in future also you will take care that our public
and private buildings shall be worthy to go down to posterity by the
side of your other splendid achievements. I have drawn up definite rules
to enable you, by observing them, to have personal knowledge of the
quality both of existing buildings and of those which are yet to be
constructed. For in the following books I have disclosed all the
principles of the art.
CHAPTER I
THE EDUCATION OF THE ARCHITECT
1. The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of
study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all
work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child
of practice and theory. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise
of employment where manual work is done with any necessary material
according to the design of a drawing. Theory, on the other hand, is the
ability to demonstrate and explain the productions of dexterity on the
principles of proportion.
2. It follows, therefore, that architects who have aimed at acquiring
manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a
position of authority to correspond to their pains, while those who
relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the
shadow, not the substance. But those who have a thorough knowledge of
both, like men armed at all points, have the sooner attained their
object and carried authority with them.
3. In all matters, but particularly in architecture, there are these two
points:--the thing signified, and that which gives it its significance.
That which is signified is the subject of which we may be speaking; and
that which gives significance is a demonstration on scientific
principles. It appears, then, that one who professes himself an
architect should be well versed in both directions. He ought, therefore,
to be both naturally gifted and amenable to instruction. Neither natural
ability without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can
make the perfect artist. Let him be educated, skilful with the pencil,
instructed in geometry, know much history, have followed the
philosophers with attention, understand music, have some knowledge of
medicine, know the opinions of the jurists, and be acquainted with
astronomy and the theory of the heavens.
4. The reasons for all this are as follows. An architect ought to be an
educated man so as to leave a more lasting remembrance in his treatises.
Secondly, he must have a knowledge of drawing so that he can readily
make sketches to show the appearance of the work which he proposes.
Geometry, also, is of much assistance in architecture, and in particular
it teaches us the use of the rule and compasses, by which especially we
acquire readiness in making plans for buildings in their grounds, and
rightly apply the square, the level, and the plummet. By means of
optics, again, the light in buildings can be drawn from fixed quarters
of the sky. It is true that it is by arithmetic that the total cost of
buildings is calculated and measurements are computed, but difficult
questions involving symmetry are solved by means of geometrical theories
and methods.
5. A wide knowledge of history is requisite because, among the
ornamental parts of an architect's design for a work, there are many the
underlying idea of whose employment he should be able to explain to
inquirers. For instance, suppose him to set up the marble statues of
women in long robes, called Caryatides, to take the place of columns,
with the mutules and coronas placed directly above their heads, he will
give the following explanation to his questioners. Caryae, a state in
Peloponnesus, sided with the Persian enemies against Greece; later the
Greeks, having gloriously won their freedom by victory in the war, made
common cause and declared war against the people of Caryae. They took
the town, killed the men, abandoned the State to desolation, and carried
off their wives into slavery, without permitting them, however, to lay
aside the long robes and other marks of their rank as married women, so
that they might be obliged not only to march in the triumph but to
appear forever after as a type of slavery, burdened with the weight of
their shame and so making atonement for their State. Hence, the
architects of the time designed for public buildings statues of these
women, placed so as to carry a load, in order that the sin and the
punishment of the people of Caryae might be known and handed down even
to posterity.
[Illustration: Photo. H. B. Warren CARYATIDES OF THE ERECHTHEUM AT
ATHENS]
[Illustration: CARYATIDES FROM THE TREASURY OF THE CNIDIANS AT DELPHI]
[Illustration: Photo. Anderson CARYATIDES NOW IN THE VILLA ALBANI AT
ROME]
[Illustration: CARYATIDES (From the edition of Vitruvius by Fra
Giocondo, Venice, 1511)]
6. Likewise the Lacedaemonians under the leadership of Pausanias, son of
Agesipolis, after conquering the Persian armies, infinite in number,
with a small force at the battle of Plataea, celebrated a glorious
triumph with the spoils and booty, and with the money obtained from the
sale thereof built the Persian Porch, to be a monument to the renown and
valour of the people and a trophy of victory for posterity. And there
they set effigies of the prisoners arrayed in barbarian costume and
holding up the roof, their pride punished by this deserved affront,
that enemies might tremble for fear of the effects of their courage,
and that their own people, looking upon this ensample of their valour
and encouraged by the glory of it, might be ready to defend their
independence. So from that time on, many have put up statues of Persians
supporting entablatures and their ornaments, and thus from that motive
have greatly enriched the diversity of their works. There are other
stories of the same kind which architects ought to know.
7. As for philosophy, it makes an architect high-minded and not
self-assuming, but rather renders him courteous, just, and honest
without avariciousness. This is very important, for no work can be
rightly done without honesty and incorruptibility. Let him not be
grasping nor have his mind preoccupied with the idea of receiving
perquisites, but let him with dignity keep up his position by cherishing
a good reputation. These are among the precepts of philosophy.
Furthermore philosophy treats of physics (in Greek [Greek: physiologia])
where a more careful knowledge is required because the problems which
come under this head are numerous and of very different kinds; as, for
example, in the case of the conducting of water. For at points of intake
and at curves, and at places where it is raised to a level, currents of
air naturally form in one way or another; and nobody who has not learned
the fundamental principles of physics from philosophy will be able to
provide against the damage which they do. So the reader of Ctesibius or
Archimedes and the other writers of treatises of the same class will not
be able to appreciate them unless he has been trained in these subjects
by the philosophers.
8. Music, also, the architect ought to understand so that he may have
knowledge of the canonical and mathematical theory, and besides be able
to tune ballistae, catapultae, and scorpiones to the proper key. For to
the right and left in the beams are the holes in the frames through
which the strings of twisted sinew are stretched by means of windlasses
and bars, and these strings must not be clamped and made fast until they
give the same correct note to the ear of the skilled workman. For the
arms thrust through those stretched strings must, on being let go,
strike their blow together at the same moment; but if they are not in
unison, they will prevent the course of projectiles from being straight.
[Illustration: PERSIANS
(From the edition of Vitruvius by Fra Giocondo, Venice, 1511)]
9. In theatres, likewise, there are the bronze vessels (in Greek [Greek:
êcheia]) which are placed in niches under the seats in accordance with
the musical intervals on mathematical principles. These vessels are
arranged with a view to musical concords or harmony, and apportioned in
the compass of the fourth, the fifth, and the octave, and so on up to
the double octave, in such a way that when the voice of an actor falls
in unison with any of them its power is increased, and it reaches the
ears of the audience with greater clearness and sweetness. Water
organs, too, and the other instruments which resemble them cannot be
made by one who is without the principles of music.
10. The architect should also have a knowledge of the study of medicine
on account of the questions of climates (in Greek [Greek: klimata]),
air, the healthiness and unhealthiness of sites, and the use of
different waters. For without these considerations, the healthiness of a
dwelling cannot be assured. And as for principles of law, he should know
those which are necessary in the case of buildings having party walls,
with regard to water dripping from the eaves, and also the laws about
drains, windows, and water supply. And other things of this sort should
be known to architects, so that, before they begin upon buildings, they
may be careful not to leave disputed points for the householders to
settle after the works are finished, and so that in drawing up contracts
the interests of both employer and contractor may be wisely
safe-guarded. For if a contract is skilfully drawn, each may obtain a
release from the other without disadvantage. From astronomy we find the
east, west, south, and north, as well as the theory of the heavens, the
equinox, solstice, and courses of the stars. If one has no knowledge of
these matters, he will not be able to have any comprehension of the
theory of sundials.
11. Consequently, since this study is so vast in extent, embellished and
enriched as it is with many different kinds of learning, I think that
men have no right to profess themselves architects hastily, without
having climbed from boyhood the steps of these studies and thus, nursed
by the knowledge of many arts and sciences, having reached the heights
of the holy ground of architecture.
12. But perhaps to the inexperienced it will seem a marvel that human
nature can comprehend such a great number of studies and keep them in
the memory. Still, the observation that all studies have a common bond
of union and intercourse with one another, will lead to the belief that
this can easily be realized. For a liberal education forms, as it were,
a single body made up of these members. Those, therefore, who from
tender years receive instruction in the various forms of learning,
recognize the same stamp on all the arts, and an intercourse between all
studies, and so they more readily comprehend them all. This is what led
one of the ancient architects, Pytheos, the celebrated builder of the
temple of Minerva at Priene, to say in his Commentaries that an
architect ought to be able to accomplish much more in all the arts and
sciences than the men who, by their own particular kinds of work and the
practice of it, have brought each a single subject to the highest
perfection. But this is in point of fact not realized.
13. For an architect ought not to be and cannot be such a philologian as
was Aristarchus, although not illiterate; nor a musician like
Aristoxenus, though not absolutely ignorant of music; nor a painter like
Apelles, though not unskilful in drawing; nor a sculptor such as was
Myron or Polyclitus, though not unacquainted with the plastic art; nor
again a physician like Hippocrates, though not ignorant of medicine; nor
in the other sciences need he excel in each, though he should not be
unskilful in them. For, in the midst of all this great variety of
subjects, an individual cannot attain to perfection in each, because it
is scarcely in his power to take in and comprehend the general theories
of them.
14. Still, it is not architects alone that cannot in all matters reach
perfection, but even men who individually practise specialties in the
arts do not all attain to the highest point of merit. Therefore, if
among artists working each in a single field not all, but only a few in
an entire generation acquire fame, and that with difficulty, how can an
architect, who has to be skilful in many arts, accomplish not merely the
feat--in itself a great marvel--of being deficient in none of them, but
also that of surpassing all those artists who have devoted themselves
with unremitting industry to single fields?
15. It appears, then, that Pytheos made a mistake by not observing that
the arts are each composed of two things, the actual work and the theory
of it. One of these, the doing of the work, is proper to men trained in
the individual subject, while the other, the theory, is common to all
scholars: for example, to physicians and musicians the rhythmical beat
of the pulse and its metrical movement. But if there is a wound to be
healed or a sick man to be saved from danger, the musician will not
call, for the business will be appropriate to the physician. So in the
case of a musical instrument, not the physician but the musician will be
the man to tune it so that the ears may find their due pleasure in its
strains.
16. Astronomers likewise have a common ground for discussion with
musicians in the harmony of the stars and musical concords in tetrads
and triads of the fourth and the fifth, and with geometricians in the
subject of vision (in Greek [Greek: logos optikos]); and in all other
sciences many points, perhaps all, are common so far as the discussion
of them is concerned. But the actual undertaking of works which are
brought to perfection by the hand and its manipulation is the function
of those who have been specially trained to deal with a single art. It
appears, therefore, that he has done enough and to spare who in each
subject possesses a fairly good knowledge of those parts, with their
principles, which are indispensable for architecture, so that if he is
required to pass judgement and to express approval in the case of those
things or arts, he may not be found wanting. As for men upon whom nature
has bestowed so much ingenuity, acuteness, and memory that they are able
to have a thorough knowledge of geometry, astronomy, music, and the
other arts, they go beyond the functions of architects and become pure
mathematicians. Hence they can readily take up positions against those
arts because many are the artistic weapons with which they are armed.
Such men, however, are rarely found, but there have been such at times;
for example, Aristarchus of Samos, Philolaus and Archytas of Tarentum,
Apollonius of Perga, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, and among Syracusans
Archimedes and Scopinas, who through mathematics and natural philosophy
discovered, expounded, and left to posterity many things in connexion
with mechanics and with sundials.
17. Since, therefore, the possession of such talents due to natural
capacity is not vouchsafed at random to entire nations, but only to a
few great men; since, moreover, the function of the architect requires a
training in all the departments of learning; and finally, since reason,
on account of the wide extent of the subject, concedes that he may
possess not the highest but not even necessarily a moderate knowledge of
the subjects of study, I request, Caesar, both of you and of those who
may read the said books, that if anything is set forth with too little
regard for grammatical rule, it may be pardoned. For it is not as a very
great philosopher, nor as an eloquent rhetorician, nor as a grammarian
trained in the highest principles of his art, that I have striven to
write this work, but as an architect who has had only a dip into those
studies. Still, as regards the efficacy of the art and the theories of
it, I promise and expect that in these volumes I shall undoubtedly show
myself of very considerable importance not only to builders but also to
all scholars.
CHAPTER II
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE
1. Architecture depends on Order (in Greek [Greek: taxis]), Arrangement
(in Greek [Greek: diathesis]), Eurythmy, Symmetry, Propriety, and
Economy (in Greek [Greek: oikonomia]).
2. Order gives due measure to the members of a work considered
separately, and symmetrical agreement to the proportions of the whole.
It is an adjustment according to quantity (in Greek [Greek: posotês]).
By this I mean the selection of modules from the members of the work
itself and, starting from these individual parts of members,
constructing the whole work to correspond. Arrangement includes the
putting of things in their proper places and the elegance of effect
which is due to adjustments appropriate to the character of the work.
Its forms of expression (Greek [Greek: ideai]) are these: groundplan,
elevation, and perspective. A groundplan is made by the proper
successive use of compasses and rule, through which we get outlines for
the plane surfaces of buildings. An elevation is a picture of the front
of a building, set upright and properly drawn in the proportions of the
contemplated work. Perspective is the method of sketching a front with
the sides withdrawing into the background, the lines all meeting in the
centre of a circle. All three come of reflexion and invention. Reflexion
is careful and laborious thought, and watchful attention directed to the
agreeable effect of one's plan. Invention, on the other hand, is the
solving of intricate problems and the discovery of new principles by
means of brilliancy and versatility. These are the departments belonging
under Arrangement.
3. Eurythmy is beauty and fitness in the adjustments of the members.
This is found when the members of a work are of a height suited to their
breadth, of a breadth suited to their length, and, in a word, when they
all correspond symmetrically.
4. Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work
itself, and relation between the different parts and the whole general
scheme, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard. Thus in
the human body there is a kind of symmetrical harmony between forearm,
foot, palm, finger, and other small parts; and so it is with perfect
buildings. In the case of temples, symmetry may be calculated from the
thickness of a column, from a triglyph, or even from a module; in the
ballista, from the hole or from what the Greeks call the [Greek:
peritrêtos]; in a ship, from the space between the tholepins [Greek:
(diapêgma)]; and in other things, from various members.
5. Propriety is that perfection of style which comes when a work is
authoritatively constructed on approved principles. It arises from
prescription [Greek: (thematismô)], from usage, or from nature. From
prescription, in the case of hypaethral edifices, open to the sky, in
honour of Jupiter Lightning, the Heaven, the Sun, or the Moon: for these
are gods whose semblances and manifestations we behold before our very
eyes in the sky when it is cloudless and bright. The temples of
Minerva, Mars, and Hercules, will be Doric, since the virile strength of
these gods makes daintiness entirely inappropriate to their houses. In
temples to Venus, Flora, Proserpine, Spring-Water, and the Nymphs, the
Corinthian order will be found to have peculiar significance, because
these are delicate divinities and so its rather slender outlines, its
flowers, leaves, and ornamental volutes will lend propriety where it is
due. The construction of temples of the Ionic order to Juno, Diana,
Father Bacchus, and the other gods of that kind, will be in keeping with
the middle position which they hold; for the building of such will be an
appropriate combination of the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of
the Corinthian.
6. Propriety arises from usage when buildings having magnificent
interiors are provided with elegant entrance-courts to correspond; for
there will be no propriety in the spectacle of an elegant interior
approached by a low, mean entrance. Or, if dentils be carved in the
cornice of the Doric entablature or triglyphs represented in the Ionic
entablature over the cushion-shaped capitals of the columns, the effect
will be spoilt by the transfer of the peculiarities of the one order of
building to the other, the usage in each class having been fixed long
ago.
7. Finally, propriety will be due to natural causes if, for example, in
the case of all sacred precincts we select very healthy neighbourhoods
with suitable springs of water in the places where the fanes are to be
built, particularly in the case of those to Aesculapius and to Health,
gods by whose healing powers great numbers of the sick are apparently
cured. For when their diseased bodies are transferred from an unhealthy
to a healthy spot, and treated with waters from health-giving springs,
they will the more speedily grow well. The result will be that the
divinity will stand in higher esteem and find his dignity increased, all
owing to the nature of his site. There will also be natural propriety in
using an eastern light for bedrooms and libraries, a western light in
winter for baths and winter apartments, and a northern light for picture
galleries and other places in which a steady light is needed; for that
quarter of the sky grows neither light nor dark with the course of the
sun, but remains steady and unshifting all day long.
8. Economy denotes the proper management of materials and of site, as
well as a thrifty balancing of cost and common sense in the construction
of works. This will be observed if, in the first place, the architect
does not demand things which cannot be found or made ready without great
expense. For example: it is not everywhere that there is plenty of
pitsand, rubble, fir, clear fir, and marble, since they are produced in
different places and to assemble them is difficult and costly. Where
there is no pitsand, we must use the kinds washed up by rivers or by the
sea; the lack of fir and clear fir may be evaded by using cypress,
poplar, elm, or pine; and other problems we must solve in similar ways.
9. A second stage in Economy is reached when we have to plan the
different kinds of dwellings suitable for ordinary householders, for
great wealth, or for the high position of the statesman. A house in town
obviously calls for one form of construction; that into which stream the
products of country estates requires another; this will not be the same
in the case of money-lenders and still different for the opulent and
luxurious; for the powers under whose deliberations the commonwealth is
guided dwellings are to be provided according to their special needs:
and, in a word, the proper form of economy must be observed in building
houses for each and every class.
CHAPTER III
THE DEPARTMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE
1. There are three departments of architecture: the art of building, the
making of timepieces, and the construction of machinery. Building is, in
its turn, divided into two parts, of which the first is the construction
of fortified towns and of works for general use in public places, and
the second is the putting up of structures for private individuals.
There are three classes of public buildings: the first for defensive,
the second for religious, and the third for utilitarian purposes. Under
defence comes the planning of walls, towers, and gates, permanent
devices for resistance against hostile attacks; under religion, the
erection of fanes and temples to the immortal gods; under utility, the
provision of meeting places for public use, such as harbours, markets,
colonnades, baths, theatres, promenades, and all other similar
arrangements in public places.
2. All these must be built with due reference to durability,
convenience, and beauty. Durability will be assured when foundations are
carried down to the solid ground and materials wisely and liberally
selected; convenience, when the arrangement of the apartments is
faultless and presents no hindrance to use, and when each class of
building is assigned to its suitable and appropriate exposure; and
beauty, when the appearance of the work is pleasing and in good taste,
and when its members are in due proportion according to correct
principles of symmetry.
CHAPTER IV
THE SITE OF A CITY
1. For fortified towns the following general principles are to be
observed. First comes the choice of a very healthy site. Such a site
will be high, neither misty nor frosty, and in a climate neither hot nor
cold, but temperate; further, without marshes in the neighbourhood. For
when the morning breezes blow toward the town at sunrise, if they bring
with them mists from marshes and, mingled with the mist, the poisonous
breath of the creatures of the marshes to be wafted into the bodies of
the inhabitants, they will make the site unhealthy. Again, if the town
is on the coast with a southern or western exposure, it will not be
healthy, because in summer the southern sky grows hot at sunrise and is
fiery at noon, while a western exposure grows warm after sunrise, is hot
at noon, and at evening all aglow.
2. These variations in heat and the subsequent cooling off are harmful
to the people living on such sites. The same conclusion may be reached
in the case of inanimate things. For instance, nobody draws the light
for covered wine rooms from the south or west, but rather from the
north, since that quarter is never subject to change but is always
constant and unshifting. So it is with granaries: grain exposed to the
sun's course soon loses its good quality, and provisions and fruit,
unless stored in a place unexposed to the sun's course, do not keep
long.
3. For heat is a universal solvent, melting out of things their power of
resistance, and sucking away and removing their natural strength with
its fiery exhalations so that they grow soft, and hence weak, under its
glow. We see this in the case of iron which, however hard it may
naturally be, yet when heated thoroughly in a furnace fire can be easily
worked into any kind of shape, and still, if cooled while it is soft and
white hot, it hardens again with a mere dip into cold water and takes on
its former quality.
4. We may also recognize the truth of this from the fact that in summer
the heat makes everybody weak, not only in unhealthy but even in healthy
places, and that in winter even the most unhealthy districts are much
healthier because they are given a solidity by the cooling off.
Similarly, persons removed from cold countries to hot cannot endure it
but waste away; whereas those who pass from hot places to the cold
regions of the north, not only do not suffer in health from the change
of residence but even gain by it.
5. It appears, then, that in founding towns we must beware of districts
from which hot winds can spread abroad over the inhabitants. For while
all bodies are composed of the four elements (in Greek [Greek:
stoicheia]), that is, of heat, moisture, the earthy, and air, yet there
are mixtures according to natural temperament which make up the natures
of all the different animals of the world, each after its kind.
6. Therefore, if one of these elements, heat, becomes predominant in any
body whatsoever, it destroys and dissolves all the others with its
violence. This defect may be due to violent heat from certain quarters
of the sky, pouring into the open pores in too great proportion to admit
of a mixture suited to the natural temperament of the body in question.
Again, if too much moisture enters the channels of a body, and thus
introduces disproportion, the other elements, adulterated by the liquid,
are impaired, and the virtues of the mixture dissolved. This defect, in
turn, may arise from the cooling properties of moist winds and breezes
blowing upon the body. In the same way, increase or diminution of the
proportion of air or of the earthy which is natural to the body may
enfeeble the other elements; the predominance of the earthy being due to
overmuch food, that of air to a heavy atmosphere.
7. If one wishes a more accurate understanding of all this, he need only
consider and observe the natures of birds, fishes, and land animals, and
he will thus come to reflect upon distinctions of temperament. One form
of mixture is proper to birds, another to fishes, and a far different
form to land animals. Winged creatures have less of the earthy, less
moisture, heat in moderation, air in large amount. Being made up,
therefore, of the lighter elements, they can more readily soar away into
the air. Fish, with their aquatic nature, being moderately supplied with
heat and made up in great part of air and the earthy, with as little of
moisture as possible, can more easily exist in moisture for the very
reason that they have less of it than of the other elements in their
bodies; and so, when they are drawn to land, they leave life and water
at the same moment. Similarly, the land animals, being moderately
supplied with the elements of air and heat, and having less of the
earthy and a great deal of moisture, cannot long continue alive in the
water, because their portion of moisture is already abundant.
8. Therefore, if all this is as we have explained, our reason showing us
that the bodies of animals are made up of the elements, and these
bodies, as we believe, giving way and breaking up as a result of excess
or deficiency in this or that element, we cannot but believe that we
must take great care to select a very temperate climate for the site of
our city, since healthfulness is, as we have said, the first requisite.
9. I cannot too strongly insist upon the need of a return to the method
of old times. Our ancestors, when about to build a town or an army post,
sacrificed some of the cattle that were wont to feed on the site
proposed and examined their livers. If the livers of the first victims
were dark-coloured or abnormal, they sacrificed others, to see whether
the fault was due to disease or their food. They never began to build
defensive works in a place until after they had made many such trials
and satisfied themselves that good water and food had made the liver
sound and firm. If they continued to find it abnormal, they argued from
this that the food and water supply found in such a place would be just
as unhealthy for man, and so they moved away and changed to another
neighbourhood, healthfulness being their chief object.
10. That pasturage and food may indicate the healthful qualities of a
site is a fact which can be observed and investigated in the case of
certain pastures in Crete, on each side of the river Pothereus, which
separates the two Cretan states of Gnosus and Gortyna. There are cattle
at pasture on the right and left banks of that river, but while the
cattle that feed near Gnosus have the usual spleen, those on the other
side near Gortyna have no perceptible spleen. On investigating the
subject, physicians discovered on this side a kind of herb which the
cattle chew and thus make their spleen small. The herb is therefore
gathered and used as a medicine for the cure of splenetic people. The
Cretans call it [Greek: hasplênon]. From food and water, then, we may
learn whether sites are naturally unhealthy or healthy.
11. If the walled town is built among the marshes themselves, provided
they are by the sea, with a northern or north-eastern exposure, and are
above the level of the seashore, the site will be reasonable enough. For
ditches can be dug to let out the water to the shore, and also in times
of storms the sea swells and comes backing up into the marshes, where
its bitter blend prevents the reproductions of the usual marsh
creatures, while any that swim down from the higher levels to the shore
are killed at once by the saltness to which they are unused. An instance
of this may be found in the Gallic marshes surrounding Altino, Ravenna,
Aquileia, and other towns in places of the kind, close by marshes. They
are marvellously healthy, for the reasons which I have given.
12. But marshes that are stagnant and have no outlets either by rivers
or ditches, like the Pomptine marshes, merely putrefy as they stand,
emitting heavy, unhealthy vapours. A case of a town built in such a spot
was Old Salpia in Apulia, founded by Diomede on his way back from Troy,
or, according to some writers, by Elpias of Rhodes. Year after year
there was sickness, until finally the suffering inhabitants came with a
public petition to Marcus Hostilius and got him to agree to seek and
find them a proper place to which to remove their city. Without delay he
made the most skilful investigations, and at once purchased an estate
near the sea in a healthy place, and asked the Senate and Roman people
for permission to remove the town. He constructed the walls and laid out
the house lots, granting one to each citizen for a mere trifle. This
done, he cut an opening from a lake into the sea, and thus made of the
lake a harbour for the town. The result is that now the people of Salpia
live on a healthy site and at a distance of only four miles from the old
town.
CHAPTER V
THE CITY WALLS
1. After insuring on these principles the healthfulness of the future
city, and selecting a neighbourhood that can supply plenty of food
stuffs to maintain the community, with good roads or else convenient
rivers or seaports affording easy means of transport to the city, the
next thing to do is to lay the foundations for the towers and walls. Dig
down to solid bottom, if it can be found, and lay them therein, going as
deep as the magnitude of the proposed work seems to require. They should
be much thicker than the part of the walls that will appear above
ground, and their structure should be as solid as it can possibly be
laid.
2. The towers must be projected beyond the line of wall, so that an
enemy wishing to approach the wall to carry it by assault may be exposed
to the fire of missiles on his open flank from the towers on his right
and left. Special pains should be taken that there be no easy avenue by
which to storm the wall. The roads should be encompassed at steep
points, and planned so as to approach the gates, not in a straight line,
but from the right to the left; for as a result of this, the right hand
side of the assailants, unprotected by their shields, will be next the
wall. Towns should be laid out not as an exact square nor with salient
angles, but in circular form, to give a view of the enemy from many
points. Defence is difficult where there are salient angles, because the
angle protects the enemy rather than the inhabitants.
3. The thickness of the wall should, in my opinion, be such that armed
men meeting on top of it may pass one another without interference. In
the thickness there should be set a very close succession of ties made
of charred olive wood, binding the two faces of the wall together like
pins, to give it lasting endurance. For that is a material which neither
decay, nor the weather, nor time can harm, but even though buried in the
earth or set in the water it keeps sound and useful forever. And so not
only city walls but substructures in general and all walls that require
a thickness like that of a city wall, will be long in falling to decay
if tied in this manner.
4. The towers should be set at intervals of not more than a bowshot
apart, so that in case of an assault upon any one of them, the enemy may
be repulsed with scorpiones and other means of hurling missiles from the
towers to the right and left. Opposite the inner side of every tower the
wall should be interrupted for a space the width of the tower, and have
only a wooden flooring across, leading to the interior of the tower but
not firmly nailed. This is to be cut away by the defenders in case the
enemy gets possession of any portion of the wall; and if the work is
quickly done, the enemy will not be able to make his way to the other
towers and the rest of the wall unless he is ready to face a fall.
5. The towers themselves must be either round or polygonal. Square
towers are sooner shattered by military engines, for the battering rams
pound their angles to pieces; but in the case of round towers they can
do no harm, being engaged, as it were, in driving wedges to their
centre. The system of fortification by wall and towers may be made
safest by the addition of earthen ramparts, for neither rams, nor
mining, nor other engineering devices can do them any harm.
[Illustration: CONSTRUCTION OF CITY WALLS
(From the edition of Vitruvius by Fra Giocondo, Venice, 1511)]
6. The rampart form of defence, however, is not required in all places,
but only where outside the wall there is high ground from which an
assault on the fortifications may be made over a level space lying
between. In places of this kind we must first make very wide, deep
ditches; next sink foundations for a wall in the bed of the ditch and
build them thick enough to support an earth-work with ease.
7. Then within this substructure lay a second foundation, far enough
inside the first to leave ample room for cohorts in line of battle to
take position on the broad top of the rampart for its defence. Having
laid these two foundations at this distance from one another, build
cross walls between them, uniting the outer and inner foundation, in a
comb-like arrangement, set like the teeth of a saw. With this form of
construction, the enormous burden of earth will be distributed into
small bodies, and will not lie with all its weight in one crushing mass
so as to thrust out the substructures.
8. With regard to the material of which the actual wall should be
constructed or finished, there can be no definite prescription, because
we cannot obtain in all places the supplies that we desire. Dimension
stone, flint, rubble, burnt or unburnt brick,--use them as you find
them. For it is not every neighbourhood or particular locality that can
have a wall built of burnt brick like that at Babylon, where there was
plenty of asphalt to take the place of lime and sand, and yet possibly
each may be provided with materials of equal usefulness so that out of
them a faultless wall may be built to last forever.
CHAPTER VI
THE DIRECTIONS OF THE STREETS; WITH REMARKS ON THE WINDS
1. The town being fortified, the next step is the apportionment of house
lots within the wall and the laying out of streets and alleys with
regard to climatic conditions. They will be properly laid out if
foresight is employed to exclude the winds from the alleys. Cold winds
are disagreeable, hot winds enervating, moist winds unhealthy. We must,
therefore, avoid mistakes in this matter and beware of the common
experience of many communities. For example, Mytilene in the island of
Lesbos is a town built with magnificence and good taste, but its
position shows a lack of foresight. In that community when the wind is
south, the people fall ill; when it is northwest, it sets them coughing;
with a north wind they do indeed recover but cannot stand about in the
alleys and streets, owing to the severe cold.
2. Wind is a flowing wave of air, moving hither and thither
indefinitely. It is produced when heat meets moisture, the rush of heat
generating a mighty current of air. That this is the fact we may learn
from bronze eolipiles, and thus by means of a scientific invention
discover a divine truth lurking in the laws of the heavens. Eolipiles
are hollow bronze balls, with a very small opening through which water
is poured into them. Set before a fire, not a breath issues from them
before they get warm; but as soon as they begin to boil, out comes a
strong blast due to the fire. Thus from this slight and very short
experiment we may understand and judge of the mighty and wonderful laws
of the heavens and the nature of winds.
3. By shutting out the winds from our dwellings, therefore, we shall not
only make the place healthful for people who are well, but also in the
case of diseases due perhaps to unfavourable situations elsewhere, the
patients, who in other healthy places might be cured by a different form
of treatment, will here be more quickly cured by the mildness that comes
from the shutting out of the winds. The diseases which are hard to cure
in neighbourhoods such as those to which I have referred above are
catarrh, hoarseness, coughs, pleurisy, consumption, spitting of blood,
and all others that are cured not by lowering the system but by building
it up. They are hard to cure, first, because they are originally due to
chills; secondly, because the patient's system being already exhausted
by disease, the air there, which is in constant agitation owing to winds
and therefore deteriorated, takes all the sap of life out of their
diseased bodies and leaves them more meagre every day. On the other
hand, a mild, thick air, without draughts and not constantly blowing
back and forth, builds up their frames by its unwavering steadiness, and
so strengthens and restores people who are afflicted with these
diseases.
4. Some have held that there are only four winds: Solanus from due east;
Auster from the south; Favonius from due west; Septentrio from the
north. But more careful investigators tell us that there are eight.
Chief among such was Andronicus of Cyrrhus who in proof built the marble
octagonal tower in Athens. On the several sides of the octagon he
executed reliefs representing the several winds, each facing the point
from which it blows; and on top of the tower he set a conical shaped
piece of marble and on this a bronze Triton with a rod outstretched in
its right hand. It was so contrived as to go round with the wind, always
stopping to face the breeze and holding its rod as a pointer directly
over the representation of the wind that was blowing.
5. Thus Eurus is placed to the southeast between Solanus and Auster:
Africus to the southwest between Auster and Favonius; Caurus, or, as
many call it, Corus, between Favonius and Septentrio; and Aquilo between
Septentrio and Solanus. Such, then, appears to have been his device,
including the numbers and names of the wind and indicating the
directions from which particular winds blow. These facts being thus
determined, to find the directions and quarters of the winds your method
of procedure should be as follows.
6. In the middle of the city place a marble amussium, laying it true by
the level, or else let the spot be made so true by means of rule and
level that no amussium is necessary. In the very centre of that spot set
up a bronze gnomon or "shadow tracker" (in Greek [Greek: skiathêras]).
At about the fifth hour in the morning, take the end of the shadow cast
by this gnomon, and mark it with a point. Then, opening your compasses
to this point which marks the length of the gnomon's shadow, describe a
circle from the centre. In the afternoon watch the shadow of your gnomon
as it lengthens, and when it once more touches the circumference of
this circle and the shadow in the afternoon is equal in length to
that of the morning, mark it with a point.
[Illustration: THE TOWER OF THE WINDS AT ATHENS]
7. From these two points describe with your compasses intersecting arcs,
and through their intersection and the centre let a line be drawn to the
circumference of the circle to give us the quarters of south and north.
Then, using a sixteenth part of the entire circumference of the circle
as a diameter, describe a circle with its centre on the line to the
south, at the point where it crosses the circumference, and put points
to the right and left on the circumference on the south side, repeating
the process on the north side. From the four points thus obtained draw
lines intersecting the centre from one side of the circumference to the
other. Thus we shall have an eighth part of the circumference set out
for Auster and another for Septentrio. The rest of the entire
circumference is then to be divided into three equal parts on each side,
and thus we have designed a figure equally apportioned among the eight
winds. Then let the directions of your streets and alleys be laid down
on the lines of division between the quarters of two winds.
8. On this principle of arrangement the disagreeable force of the winds
will be shut out from dwellings and lines of houses. For if the streets
run full in the face of the winds, their constant blasts rushing in from
the open country, and then confined by narrow alleys, will sweep through
them with great violence. The lines of houses must therefore be directed
away from the quarters from which the winds blow, so that as they come
in they may strike against the angles of the blocks and their force thus
be broken and dispersed.
9. Those who know names for very many winds will perhaps be surprised at
our setting forth that there are only eight. Remembering, however, that
Eratosthenes of Cyrene, employing mathematical theories and geometrical
methods, discovered from the course of the sun, the shadows cast by an
equinoctial gnomon, and the inclination of the heaven that the
circumference of the earth is two hundred and fifty-two thousand stadia,
that is, thirty-one one million five hundred thousand paces, and
observing that an eighth part of this, occupied by a wind, is three
million nine hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred paces, they
should not be surprised to find that a single wind, ranging over so wide
a field, is subject to shifts this way and that, leading to a variety of
breezes.
10. So we often have Leuconotus and Altanus blowing respectively to the
right and left of Auster; Libonotus and Subvesperus to the right and
left of Africus; Argestes, and at certain periods the Etesiae, on either
side of Favonius; Circias and Corus on the sides of Caurus; Thracias and
Gallicus on either side of Septentrio; Supernas and Caecias to the right
and left of Aquilo; Carbas, and at a certain period the Ornithiae, on
either side of Solanus; while Eurocircias and Volturnus blow on the
flanks of Eurus which is between them. There are also many other names
for winds derived from localities or from the squalls which sweep from
rivers or down mountains.
11. Then, too, there are the breezes of early morning; for the sun on
emerging from beneath the earth strikes humid air as he returns, and as
he goes climbing up the sky he spreads it out before him, extracting
breezes from the vapour that was there before the dawn. Those that still
blow on after sunrise are classed with Eurus, and hence appears to come
the Greek name [Greek: euros] as the child of the breezes, and the word
for "to-morrow," [Greek: aurion], named from the early morning breezes.
Some people do indeed say that Eratosthenes could not have inferred the
true measure of the earth. Whether true or untrue, it cannot affect the
truth of what I have written on the fixing of the quarters from which
the different winds blow.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE WINDS (From the edition of Vitruvius by
Fra Giocondo, Venice, 1511)]
12. If he was wrong, the only result will be that the individual winds
may blow, not with the scope expected from his measurement, but with
powers either more or less widely extended. For the readier
understanding of these topics, since I have treated them with brevity,
it has seemed best to me to give two figures, or, as the Greeks say,
[Greek: schêmata], at the end of this book: one designed to show the
precise quarters from which the winds arise; the other, how by turning
the directions of the rows of houses and the streets away from their
full force, we may avoid unhealthy blasts. Let A be the centre of a
plane surface, and B the point to which the shadow of the gnomon reaches
in the morning. Taking A as the centre, open the compasses to the point
B, which marks the shadow, and describe a circle. Put the gnomon back
where it was before and wait for the shadow to lessen and grow again
until in the afternoon it is equal to its length in the morning,
touching the circumference at the point C. Then from the points B and C
describe with the compasses two arcs intersecting at D. Next draw a line
from the point of intersection D through the centre of the circle to the
circumference and call it E F. This line will show where the south and
north lie.
[Illustration]
13. Then find with the compasses a sixteenth part of the entire
circumference; then centre the compasses on the point E where the line
to the south touches the circumference, and set off the points G and H
to the right and left of E. Likewise on the north side, centre the
compasses on the circumference at the point F on the line to the north,
and set off the points I and K to the right and left; then draw lines
through the centre from G to K and from H to I. Thus the space from G to
H will belong to Auster and the south, and the space from I to K will be
that of Septentrio. The rest of the circumference is to be divided
equally into three parts on the right and three on the left, those to
the east at the points L and M, those to the west at the points N and
O. Finally, intersecting lines are to be drawn from M to O and from L
to N. Thus we shall have the circumference divided into eight equal
spaces for the winds. The figure being finished, we shall have at the
eight different divisions, beginning at the south, the letter G between
Eurus and Auster, H between Auster and Africus, N between Africus and
Favonius, O between Favonius and Caurus, K between Caurus and
Septentrio, I between Septentrio and Aquilo, L between Aquilo and
Solanus, and M between Solanus and Eurus. This done, apply a gnomon to
these eight divisions and thus fix the directions of the different
alleys.
CHAPTER VII
THE SITES FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS
1. Having laid out the alleys and determined the streets, we have next
to treat of the choice of building sites for temples, the forum, and all
other public places, with a view to general convenience and utility. If
the city is on the sea, we should choose ground close to the harbour as
the place where the forum is to be built; but if inland, in the middle
of the town. For the temples, the sites for those of the gods under
whose particular protection the state is thought to rest and for
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, should be on the very highest point
commanding a view of the greater part of the city. Mercury should be in
the forum, or, like Isis and Serapis, in the emporium: Apollo and Father
Bacchus near the theatre: Hercules at the circus in communities which
have no gymnasia nor amphitheatres; Mars outside the city but at the
training ground, and so Venus, but at the harbour. It is moreover shown
by the Etruscan diviners in treatises on their science that the fanes of
Venus, Vulcan, and Mars should be situated outside the walls, in order
that the young men and married women may not become habituated in the
city to the temptations incident to the worship of Venus, and that
buildings may be free from the terror of fires through the religious
rites and sacrifices which call the power of Vulcan beyond the walls.
As for Mars, when that divinity is enshrined outside the walls, the
citizens will never take up arms against each other, and he will defend
the city from its enemies and save it from danger in war.
2. Ceres also should be outside the city in a place to which people need
never go except for the purpose of sacrifice. That place should be under
the protection of religion, purity, and good morals. Proper sites should
be set apart for the precincts of the other gods according to the nature
of the sacrifices offered to them.
The principle governing the actual construction of temples and their
symmetry I shall explain in my third and fourth books. In the second I
have thought it best to give an account of the materials used in
buildings with their good qualities and advantages, and then in the
succeeding books to describe and explain the proportions of buildings,
their arrangements, and the different forms of symmetry.
BOOK II
INTRODUCTION
1. Dinocrates, an architect who was full of confidence in his own ideas
and skill, set out from Macedonia, in the reign of Alexander, to go to
the army, being eager to win the approbation of the king. He took with
him from his country letters from relatives and friends to the principal
military men and officers of the court, in order to gain access to them
more readily. Being politely received by them, he asked to be presented
to Alexander as soon as possible. They promised, but were rather slow,
waiting for a suitable opportunity. So Dinocrates, thinking that they
were playing with him, had recourse to his own efforts. He was of very
lofty stature and pleasing countenance, finely formed, and extremely
dignified. Trusting, therefore, to these natural gifts, he undressed
himself in his inn, anointed his body with oil, set a chaplet of poplar
leaves on his head, draped his left shoulder with a lion's skin, and
holding a club in his right hand stalked forth to a place in front of
the tribunal where the king was administering justice.
2. His strange appearance made the people turn round, and this led
Alexander to look at him. In astonishment he gave orders to make way for
him to draw near, and asked who he was. "Dinocrates," quoth he, "a
Macedonian architect, who brings thee ideas and designs worthy of thy
renown. I have made a design for the shaping of Mount Athos into the
statue of a man, in whose left hand I have represented a very spacious
fortified city, and in his right a bowl to receive the water of all the
streams which are in that mountain, so that it may pour from the bowl
into the sea."
3. Alexander, delighted with the idea of his design, immediately
inquired whether there were any fields in the neighbourhood that could
maintain the city in corn. On finding that this was impossible without
transport from beyond the sea, "Dinocrates," quoth he, "I appreciate
your design as excellent in composition, and I am delighted with it, but
I apprehend that anybody who should found a city in that spot would be
censured for bad judgement. For as a newborn babe cannot be nourished
without the nurse's milk, nor conducted to the approaches that lead to
growth in life, so a city cannot thrive without fields and the fruits
thereof pouring into its walls, nor have a large population without
plenty of food, nor maintain its population without a supply of it.
Therefore, while thinking that your design is commendable, I consider
the site as not commendable; but I would have you stay with me, because
I mean to make use of your services."
4. From that time, Dinocrates did not leave the king, but followed him
into Egypt. There Alexander, observing a harbour rendered safe by
nature, an excellent centre for trade, cornfields throughout all Egypt,
and the great usefulness of the mighty river Nile, ordered him to build
the city of Alexandria, named after the king. This was how Dinocrates,
recommended only by his good looks and dignified carriage, came to be so
famous. But as for me, Emperor, nature has not given me stature, age has
marred my face, and my strength is impaired by ill health. Therefore,
since these advantages fail me, I shall win your approval, as I hope, by
the help of my knowledge and my writings.
5. In my first book, I have said what I had to say about the functions
of architecture and the scope of the art, as well as about fortified
towns and the apportionment of building sites within the fortifications.
Although it would next be in order to explain the proper proportions and
symmetry of temples and public buildings, as well as of private houses,
I thought best to postpone this until after I had treated the practical
merits of the materials out of which, when they are brought together,
buildings are constructed with due regard to the proper kind of material
for each part, and until I had shown of what natural elements those
materials are composed. But before beginning to explain their natural
properties, I will prefix the motives which originally gave rise to
buildings and the development of inventions in this field, following in
the steps of early nature and of those writers who have devoted
treatises to the origins of civilization and the investigation of
inventions. My exposition will, therefore, follow the instruction which
I have received from them.
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN OF THE DWELLING HOUSE
1. The men of old were born like the wild beasts, in woods, caves, and
groves, and lived on savage fare. As time went on, the thickly crowded
trees in a certain place, tossed by storms and winds, and rubbing their
branches against one another, caught fire, and so the inhabitants of the
place were put to flight, being terrified by the furious flame. After it
subsided, they drew near, and observing that they were very comfortable
standing before the warm fire, they put on logs and, while thus keeping
it alive, brought up other people to it, showing them by signs how much
comfort they got from it. In that gathering of men, at a time when
utterance of sound was purely individual, from daily habits they fixed
upon articulate words just as these had happened to come; then, from
indicating by name things in common use, the result was that in this
chance way they began to talk, and thus originated conversation with one
another.
2. Therefore it was the discovery of fire that originally gave rise to
the coming together of men, to the deliberative assembly, and to social
intercourse. And so, as they kept coming together in greater numbers
into one place, finding themselves naturally gifted beyond the other
animals in not being obliged to walk with faces to the ground, but
upright and gazing upon the splendour of the starry firmament, and also
in being able to do with ease whatever they chose with their hands and
fingers, they began in that first assembly to construct shelters. Some
made them of green boughs, others dug caves on mountain sides, and some,
in imitation of the nests of swallows and the way they built, made
places of refuge out of mud and twigs. Next, by observing the shelters
of others and adding new details to their own inceptions, they
constructed better and better kinds of huts as time went on.
3. And since they were of an imitative and teachable nature, they would
daily point out to each other the results of their building, boasting of
the novelties in it; and thus, with their natural gifts sharpened by
emulation, their standards improved daily. At first they set up forked
stakes connected by twigs and covered these walls with mud. Others made
walls of lumps of dried mud, covering them with reeds and leaves to keep
out the rain and the heat. Finding that such roofs could not stand the
rain during the storms of winter, they built them with peaks daubed with
mud, the roofs sloping and projecting so as to carry off the rain water.
4. That houses originated as I have written above, we can see for
ourselves from the buildings that are to this day constructed of like
materials by foreign tribes: for instance, in Gaul, Spain, Portugal, and
Aquitaine, roofed with oak shingles or thatched. Among the Colchians in
Pontus, where there are forests in plenty, they lay down entire trees
flat on the ground to the right and the left, leaving between them a
space to suit the length of the trees, and then place above these
another pair of trees, resting on the ends of the former and at right
angles with them. These four trees enclose the space for the dwelling.
Then upon these they place sticks of timber, one after the other on the
four sides, crossing each other at the angles, and so, proceeding with
their walls of trees laid perpendicularly above the lowest, they build
up high towers. The interstices, which are left on account of the
thickness of the building material, are stopped up with chips and mud.
As for the roofs, by cutting away the ends of the crossbeams and making
them converge gradually as they lay them across, they bring them up to
the top from the four sides in the shape of a pyramid. They cover it
with leaves and mud, and thus construct the roofs of their towers in a
rude form of the "tortoise" style.
5. On the other hand, the Phrygians, who live in an open country, have
no forests and consequently lack timber. They therefore select a natural
hillock, run a trench through the middle of it, dig passages, and extend
the interior space as widely as the site admits. Over it they build a
pyramidal roof of logs fastened together, and this they cover with reeds
and brushwood, heaping up very high mounds of earth above their
dwellings. Thus their fashion in houses makes their winters very warm
and their summers very cool. Some construct hovels with roofs of rushes
from the swamps. Among other nations, also, in some places there are
huts of the same or a similar method of construction. Likewise at
Marseilles we can see roofs without tiles, made of earth mixed with
straw. In Athens on the Areopagus there is to this day a relic of
antiquity with a mud roof. The hut of Romulus on the Capitol is a
significant reminder of the fashions of old times, and likewise the
thatched roofs of temples or the Citadel.
6. From such specimens we can draw our inferences with regard to the
devices used in the buildings of antiquity, and conclude that they were
similar.
Furthermore, as men made progress by becoming daily more expert in
building, and as their ingenuity was increased by their dexterity so
that from habit they attained to considerable skill, their intelligence
was enlarged by their industry until the more proficient adopted the
trade of carpenters. From these early beginnings, and from the fact that
nature had not only endowed the human race with senses like the rest of
the animals, but had also equipped their minds with the powers of
thought and understanding, thus putting all other animals under their
sway, they next gradually advanced from the construction of buildings to
the other arts and sciences, and so passed from a rude and barbarous
mode of life to civilization and refinement.
7. Then, taking courage and looking forward from the standpoint of
higher ideas born of the multiplication of the arts, they gave up huts
and began to build houses with foundations, having brick or stone
walls, and roofs of timber and tiles; next, observation and application
led them from fluctuating and indefinite conceptions to definite rules
of symmetry. Perceiving that nature had been lavish in the bestowal of
timber and bountiful in stores of building material, they treated this
like careful nurses, and thus developing the refinements of life,
embellished them with luxuries. Therefore I shall now treat, to the best
of my ability, of the things which are suitable to be used in buildings,
showing their qualities and their excellencies.
8. Some persons, however, may find fault with the position of this book,
thinking that it should have been placed first. I will therefore explain
the matter, lest it be thought that I have made a mistake. Being engaged
in writing a complete treatise on architecture, I resolved to set forth
in the first book the branches of learning and studies of which it
consists, to define its departments, and to show of what it is composed.
Hence I have there declared what the qualities of an architect should
be. In the first book, therefore, I have spoken of the function of the
art, but in this I shall discuss the use of the building materials which
nature provides. For this book does not show of what architecture is
composed, but treats of the origin of the building art, how it was
fostered, and how it made progress, step by step, until it reached its
present perfection.
9. This book is, therefore, in its proper order and place.
I will now return to my subject, and with regard to the materials suited
to the construction of buildings will consider their natural formation
and in what proportions their elementary constituents were combined,
making it all clear and not obscure to my readers. For there is no kind
of material, no body, and no thing that can be produced or conceived of,
which is not made up of elementary particles; and nature does not admit
of a truthful exploration in accordance with the doctrines of the
physicists without an accurate demonstration of the primary causes of
things, showing how and why they are as they are.
CHAPTER II
ON THE PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE ACCORDING TO THE PHYSICISTS
1. First of all Thales thought that water was the primordial substance
of all things. Heraclitus of Ephesus, surnamed by the Greeks [Greek:
skoteinos] on account of the obscurity of his writings, thought that it
was fire. Democritus and his follower Epicurus thought that it was the
atoms, termed by our writers "bodies that cannot be cut up," or, by
some, "indivisibles." The school of the Pythagoreans added air and the
earthy to the water and fire. Hence, although Democritus did not in a
strict sense name them, but spoke only of indivisible bodies, yet he
seems to have meant these same elements, because when taken by
themselves they cannot be harmed, nor are they susceptible of
dissolution, nor can they be cut up into parts, but throughout time
eternal they forever retain an infinite solidity.
2. All things therefore appear to be made up and produced by the coming
together of these elements, so that they have been distributed by nature
among an infinite number of kinds of things. Hence I believed it right
to treat of the diversity and practical peculiarities of these things as
well as of the qualities which they exhibit in buildings, so that
persons who are intending to build may understand them and so make no
mistake, but may gather materials which are suitable to use in their
buildings.
CHAPTER III
BRICK
1. Beginning with bricks, I shall state of what kind of clay they ought
to be made. They should not be made of sandy or pebbly clay, or of fine
gravel, because when made of these kinds they are in the first place
heavy; and, secondly, when washed by the rain as they stand in walls,
they go to pieces and break up, and the straw in them does not hold
together on account of the roughness of the material. They should rather
be made of white and chalky or of red clay, or even of a coarse grained
gravelly clay. These materials are smooth and therefore durable; they
are not heavy to work with, and are readily laid.
2. Bricks should be made in Spring or Autumn, so that they may dry
uniformly. Those made in Summer are defective, because the fierce heat
of the sun bakes their surface and makes the brick seem dry while inside
it is not dry. And so the shrinking, which follows as they dry, causes
cracks in the parts which were dried before, and these cracks make the
bricks weak. Bricks will be most serviceable if made two years before
using; for they cannot dry thoroughly in less time. When fresh undried
bricks are used in a wall, the stucco covering stiffens and hardens into
a permanent mass, but the bricks settle and cannot keep the same height
as the stucco; the motion caused by their shrinking prevents them from
adhering to it, and they are separated from their union with it. Hence
the stucco, no longer joined to the core of the wall, cannot stand by
itself because it is so thin; it breaks off, and the walls themselves
may perhaps be ruined by their settling. This is so true that at Utica
in constructing walls they use brick only if it is dry and made five
years previously, and approved as such by the authority of a magistrate.
3. There are three kinds of bricks. First, the kind called in Greek
Lydian, being that which our people use, a foot and a half long and one
foot wide. The other two kinds are used by the Greeks in their
buildings. Of these, one is called [Greek: pentadôron], the other
[Greek: tetradôron]. [Greek: Dôron] is the Greek for "palm," for in
Greek [Greek: dôron] means the giving of gifts, and the gift is always
presented in the palm of the hand. A brick five palms square is called
"pentadoron"; one four palms square "tetradoron." Public buildings are
constructed of [Greek: pentadôra], private of [Greek: tetradôra].
4. With these bricks there are also half-bricks. When these are used in
a wall, a course of bricks is laid on one face and a course of
half-bricks on the other, and they are bedded to the line on each face.
The walls are bonded by alternate courses of the two different kinds,
and as the bricks are always laid so as to break joints, this lends
strength and a not unattractive appearance to both sides of such walls.
[Illustration: VITRUVIUS' BRICK-BOND ACCORDING TO REBER]
In the states of Maxilua and Callet, in Further Spain, as well as in
Pitane in Asia Minor, there are bricks which, when finished and dried,
will float on being thrown into water. The reason why they can float
seems to be that the clay of which they are made is like pumice-stone.
So it is light, and also it does not, after being hardened by exposure
to the air, take up or absorb liquid. So these bricks, being of this
light and porous quality, and admitting no moisture into their texture,
must by the laws of nature float in water, like pumice, no matter what
their weight may be. They have therefore great advantages; for they are
not heavy to use in building and, once made, they are not spoiled by bad
weather.
CHAPTER IV
SAND
1. In walls of masonry the first question must be with regard to the
sand, in order that it may be fit to mix into mortar and have no dirt in
it. The kinds of pitsand are these: black, gray, red, and carbuncular.
Of these the best will be found to be that which crackles when rubbed in
the hand, while that which has much dirt in it will not be sharp enough.
Again: throw some sand upon a white garment and then shake it out; if
the garment is not soiled and no dirt adheres to it, the sand is
suitable.
2. But if there are no sandpits from which it can be dug, then we must
sift it out from river beds or from gravel or even from the sea beach.
This kind, however, has these defects when used in masonry: it dries
slowly; the wall cannot be built up without interruption but from time
to time there must be pauses in the work; and such a wall cannot carry
vaultings. Furthermore, when sea-sand is used in walls and these are
coated with stucco, a salty efflorescence is given out which spoils the
surface.
3. But pitsand used in masonry dries quickly, the stucco coating is
permanent, and the walls can support vaultings. I am speaking of sand
fresh from the sandpits. For if it lies unused too long after being
taken out, it is disintegrated by exposure to sun, moon, or hoar frost,
and becomes earthy. So when mixed in masonry, it has no binding power on
the rubble, which consequently settles and down comes the load which the
walls can no longer support. Fresh pitsand, however, in spite of all its
excellence in concrete structures, is not equally useful in stucco, the
richness of which, when the lime and straw are mixed with such sand,
will cause it to crack as it dries on account of the great strength of
the mixture. But river sand, though useless in "signinum" on account of
its thinness, becomes perfectly solid in stucco when thoroughly worked
by means of polishing instruments.
CHAPTER V
LIME
1. Sand and its sources having been thus treated, next with regard to
lime we must be careful that it is burned from a stone which, whether
soft or hard, is in any case white. Lime made of close-grained stone of
the harder sort will be good in structural parts; lime of porous stone,
in stucco. After slaking it, mix your mortar, if using pitsand, in the
proportions of three parts of sand to one of lime; if using river or
sea-sand, mix two parts of sand with one of lime. These will be the
right proportions for the composition of the mixture. Further, in using
river or sea-sand, the addition of a third part composed of burnt brick,
pounded up and sifted, will make your mortar of a better composition to
use.
2. The reason why lime makes a solid structure on being combined with
water and sand seems to be this: that rocks, like all other bodies, are
composed of the four elements. Those which contain a larger proportion
of air, are soft; of water, are tough from the moisture; of earth, hard;
and of fire, more brittle. Therefore, if limestone, without being
burned, is merely pounded up small and then mixed with sand and so put
into the work, the mass does not solidify nor can it hold together. But
if the stone is first thrown into the kiln, it loses its former property
of solidity by exposure to the great heat of the fire, and so with its
strength burnt out and exhausted it is left with its pores open and
empty. Hence, the moisture and air in the body of the stone being burned
out and set free, and only a residuum of heat being left lying in it, if
the stone is then immersed in water, the moisture, before the water can
feel the influence of the fire, makes its way into the open pores; then
the stone begins to get hot, and finally, after it cools off, the heat
is rejected from the body of the lime.
3. Consequently, limestone when taken out of the kiln cannot be as heavy
as when it was thrown in, but on being weighed, though its bulk remains
the same as before, it is found to have lost about a third of its weight
owing to the boiling out of the water. Therefore, its pores being thus
opened and its texture rendered loose, it readily mixes with sand, and
hence the two materials cohere as they dry, unite with the rubble, and
make a solid structure.
CHAPTER VI
POZZOLANA
1. There is also a kind of powder which from natural causes produces
astonishing results. It is found in the neighbourhood of Baiae and in
the country belonging to the towns round about Mt. Vesuvius. This
substance, when mixed with lime and rubble, not only lends strength to
buildings of other kinds, but even when piers of it are constructed in
the sea, they set hard under water. The reason for this seems to be that
the soil on the slopes of the mountains in these neighbourhoods is hot
and full of hot springs. This would not be so unless the mountains had
beneath them huge fires of burning sulphur or alum or asphalt. So the
fire and the heat of the flames, coming up hot from far within through
the fissures, make the soil there light, and the tufa found there is
spongy and free from moisture. Hence, when the three substances, all
formed on a similar principle by the force of fire, are mixed together,
the water suddenly taken in makes them cohere, and the moisture quickly
hardens them so that they set into a mass which neither the waves nor
the force of the water can dissolve.
2. That there is burning heat in these regions may be proved by the
further fact that in the mountains near Baiae, which belongs to the
Cumaeans, there are places excavated to serve as sweating-baths, where
the intense heat that comes from far below bores its way through the
earth, owing to the force of the fire, and passing up appears in these
regions, thus making remarkably good sweating-baths. Likewise also it is
related that in ancient times the tides of heat, swelling and
overflowing from under Mt. Vesuvius, vomited forth fire from the
mountain upon the neighbouring country. Hence, what is called
"sponge-stone" or "Pompeian pumice" appears to have been reduced by
burning from another kind of stone to the condition of the kind which we
see.
3. The kind of sponge-stone taken from this region is not produced
everywhere else, but only about Aetna and among the hills of Mysia which
the Greeks call the "Burnt District," and in other places of the same
peculiar nature. Seeing that in such places there are found hot springs
and warm vapour in excavations on the mountains, and that the ancients
tell us that there were once fires spreading over the fields in those
very regions, it seems to be certain that moisture has been extracted
from the tufa and earth, by the force of fire, just as it is from
limestone in kilns.
4. Therefore, when different and unlike things have been subjected to
the action of fire and thus reduced to the same condition, if after
this, while in a warm, dry state, they are suddenly saturated with
water, there is an effervescence of the heat latent in the bodies of
them all, and this makes them firmly unite and quickly assume the
property of one solid mass.
There will still be the question why Tuscany, although it abounds in hot
springs, does not furnish a powder out of which, on the same principle,
a wall can be made which will set fast under water. I have therefore
thought best to explain how this seems to be, before the question should
be raised.
5. The same kinds of soil are not found in all places and countries
alike, nor is stone found everywhere. Some soils are earthy; others
gravelly, and again pebbly; in other places the material is sandy; in a
word, the properties of the soil are as different and unlike as are the
various countries. In particular, it may be observed that sandpits are
hardly ever lacking in any place within the districts of Italy and
Tuscany which are bounded by the Apennines; whereas across the Apennines
toward the Adriatic none are found, and in Achaea and Asia Minor or, in
short, across the sea, the very term is unknown. Hence it is not in all
the places where boiling springs of hot water abound, that there is the
same combination of favourable circumstances which has been described
above. For things are produced in accordance with the will of nature;
not to suit man's pleasure, but as it were by a chance distribution.
6. Therefore, where the mountains are not earthy but consist of soft
stone, the force of the fire, passing through the fissures in the stone,
sets it afire. The soft and delicate part is burned out, while the hard
part is left. Consequently, while in Campania the burning of the earth
makes ashes, in Tuscany the combustion of the stone makes carbuncular
sand. Both are excellent in walls, but one is better to use for
buildings on land, the other for piers under salt water. The Tuscan
stone is softer in quality than tufa but harder than earth, and being
thoroughly kindled by the violent heat from below, the result is the
production in some places of the kind of sand called carbuncular.
[Illustration: TRAVERTINE QUARRIES ON THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA
1. 2. Ancient quarries. 3. A similar modern quarry.
The top of the rock shows the original ground level. The present ground
level shows the depth to which the rock has been removed.]
CHAPTER VII
STONE
1. I have now spoken of lime and sand, with their varieties and points
of excellence. Next comes the consideration of stone-quarries from which
dimension stone and supplies of rubble to be used in building are taken
and brought together. The stone in quarries is found to be of different
and unlike qualities. In some it is soft: for example, in the environs
of the city at the quarries of Grotta Rossa, Palla, Fidenae, and of the
Alban hills; in others, it is medium, as at Tivoli, at Amiternum, or Mt.
Soracte, and in quarries of this sort; in still others it is hard, as in
lava quarries. There are also numerous other kinds: for instance, in
Campania, red and black tufas; in Umbria, Picenum, and Venetia, white
tufa which can be cut with a toothed saw, like wood.
2. All these soft kinds have the advantage that they can be easily
worked as soon as they have been taken from the quarries. Under cover
they play their part well; but in open and exposed situations the frost
and rime make them crumble, and they go to pieces. On the seacoast, too,
the salt eats away and dissolves them, nor can they stand great heat
either. But travertine and all stone of that class can stand injury
whether from a heavy load laid upon it or from the weather; exposure to
fire, however, it cannot bear, but splits and cracks to pieces at once.
This is because in its natural composition there is but little moisture
and not much of the earthy, but a great deal of air and of fire.
Therefore, it is not only without the earthy and watery elements, but
when fire, expelling the air from it by the operation and force of heat,
penetrates into its inmost parts and occupies the empty spaces of the
fissures, there comes a great glow and the stone is made to burn as
fiercely as do the particles of fire itself.
3. There are also several quarries called Anician in the territory of
Tarquinii, the stone being of the colour of peperino. The principal
workshops lie round the lake of Bolsena and in the prefecture of
Statonia. This stone has innumerable good qualities. Neither the season
of frost nor exposure to fire can harm it, but it remains solid and
lasts to a great age, because there is only a little air and fire in its
natural composition, a moderate amount of moisture, and a great deal of
the earthy. Hence its structure is of close texture and solid, and so it
cannot be injured by the weather or by the force of fire.
4. This may best be seen from monuments in the neighbourhood of the town
of Ferento which are made of stone from these quarries. Among them are
large statues exceedingly well made, images of smaller size, and flowers
and acanthus leaves gracefully carved. Old as these are, they look as
fresh as if they were only just finished. Bronze workers, also, make
moulds for the casting of bronze out of stone from these quarries, and
find it very useful in bronze-founding. If the quarries were only near
Rome, all our buildings might well be constructed from the products of
these workshops.
5. But since, on account of the proximity of the stone-quarries of
Grotta Rossa, Palla, and the others that are nearest to the city,
necessity drives us to make use of their products, we must proceed as
follows, if we wish our work to be finished without flaws. Let the stone
be taken from the quarry two years before building is to begin, and not
in winter but in summer. Then let it lie exposed in an open place. Such
stone as has been damaged by the two years of exposure should be used in
the foundations. The rest, which remains unhurt, has passed the test of
nature and will endure in those parts of the building which are above
ground. This precaution should be observed, not only with dimension
stone, but also with the rubble which is to be used in walls.
[Illustration: Photo. Moscioni
EXAMPLE OF OPUS INCERTUM. THE CIRCULAR TEMPLE AT TIVOLI]
CHAPTER VIII
METHODS OF BUILDING WALLS
1. There are two styles of walls: "opus reticulatum," now used by
everybody, and the ancient style called "opus incertum." Of these, the
reticulatum looks better, but its construction makes it likely to crack,
because its beds and builds spread out in every direction. On the other
hand, in the opus incertum, the rubble, lying in courses and imbricated,
makes a wall which, though not beautiful, is stronger than the
reticulatum.
2. Both kinds should be constructed of the smallest stones, so that the
walls, being thoroughly puddled with the mortar, which is made of lime
and sand, may hold together longer. Since the stones used are soft and
porous, they are apt to suck the moisture out of the mortar and so to
dry it up. But when there is abundance of lime and sand, the wall,
containing more moisture, will not soon lose its strength, for they will
hold it together. But as soon as the moisture is sucked out of the
mortar by the porous rubble, and the lime and sand separate and
disunite, the rubble can no longer adhere to them and the wall will in
time become a ruin.
3. This we may learn from several monuments in the environs of the city,
which are built of marble or dimension stone, but on the inside packed
with masonry between the outer walls. In the course of time, the mortar
has lost its strength, which has been sucked out of it by the porousness
of the rubble; and so the monuments are tumbling down and going to
pieces, with their joints loosened by the settling of the material that
bound them together.
4. He who wishes to avoid such a disaster should leave a cavity behind
the facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red
dimension stone or burnt brick or lava in courses, and then bind them to
the fronts by means of iron clamps and lead. For thus his work, being no
mere heap of material but regularly laid in courses, will be strong
enough to last forever without a flaw, because the beds and builds, all
settling equally and bonded at the joints, will not let the work bulge
out, nor allow the fall of the face walls which have been tightly
fastened together.
5. Consequently, the method of construction employed by the Greeks is
not to be despised. They do not use a structure of soft rubble polished
on the outside, but whenever they forsake dimension stone, they lay
courses of lava or of some hard stone, and, as though building with
brick, they bind the upright joints by interchanging the direction of
the stones as they lie in the courses. Thus they attain to a perfection
that will endure to eternity. These structures are of two kinds. One of
them is called "isodomum," the other "pseudisodomum."
6. A wall is called isodomum when all the courses are of equal height;
pseudisodomum, when the rows of courses do not match but run unequally.
Both kinds are strong: first, because the rubble itself is of close
texture and solid, unable to suck the moisture out of the mortar, but
keeping it in its moist condition for a very long period; secondly,
because the beds of the stones, being laid smooth and level to begin
with, keep the mortar from falling, and, as they are bonded throughout
the entire thickness of the wall, they hold together for a very long
period.
7. Another method is that which they call [Greek: emplekton], used also
among us in the country. In this the facings are finished, but the other
stones left in their natural state and then laid with alternate bonding
stones. But our workmen, in their hurry to finish, devote themselves
only to the facings of the walls, setting them upright but filling the
space between with a lot of broken stones and mortar thrown in anyhow.
This makes three different sections in the same structure; two
consisting of facing and one of filling between them. The Greeks,
however, do not build so; but laying their stones level and building
every other stone length-wise into the thickness, they do not fill the
space between, but construct the thickness of their walls in one solid
and unbroken mass from the facings to the interior. Further, at
intervals they lay single stones which run through the entire
thickness of the wall. These stones, which show at each end, are called
[Greek: diatonoi], and by their bonding powers they add very greatly to
the solidity of the walls.
[Illustration: Photo. Moscioni
OPUS RETICULATUM FROM THE THERMAE OF HADRIAN'S VILLA AT TIVOLI]
[Illustration: Photo. Moscioni
EXAMPLE OF OPUS RETICULATUM FROM THE DOORWAY OF THE STOA POECILE. VILLA
OF HADRIAN AT TIVOLI]
8. One who in accordance with these notes will take pains in selecting
his method of construction, may count upon having something that will
last. No walls made of rubble and finished with delicate beauty--no such
walls can escape ruin as time goes on. Hence, when arbitrators are
chosen to set a valuation on party walls, they do not value them at what
they cost to build, but look up the written contract in each case and
then, after deducting from the cost one eightieth for each year that the
wall has been standing, decide that the remainder is the sum to be paid.
They thus in effect pronounce that such walls cannot last more than
eighty years.
9. In the case of brick walls, however, no deduction is made provided
that they are still standing plumb, but they are always valued at what
they cost to build. Hence in some states we may see public buildings and
private houses, as well as those of kings, built of brick: in Athens,
for example, the part of the wall which faces Mt. Hymettus and
Pentelicus; at Patras, the cellae of the temple of Jupiter and Hercules,
which are brick, although on the outside the entablature and columns of
the temple are of stone; in Italy, at Arezzo, an ancient wall
excellently built; at Tralles, the house built for the kings of the
dynasty of Attalus, which is now always granted to the man who holds the
state priesthood. In Sparta, paintings have been taken out of certain
walls by cutting through the bricks, then have been placed in wooden
frames, and so brought to the Comitium to adorn the aedileship of Varro
and Murena.
10. Then there is the house of Croesus which the people of Sardis have
set apart as a place of repose for their fellow-citizens in the
retirement of age,--a "Gerousia" for the guild of the elder men. At
Halicarnassus, the house of that most potent king Mausolus, though
decorated throughout with Proconnesian marble, has walls built of brick
which are to this day of extraordinary strength, and are covered with
stucco so highly polished that they seem to be as glistening as glass.
That king did not use brick from poverty; for he was choke-full of
revenues, being ruler of all Caria.
11. As for his skill and ingenuity as a builder, they may be seen from
what follows. He was born at Melassa, but recognizing the natural
advantages of Halicarnassus as a fortress, and seeing that it was
suitable as a trading centre and that it had a good harbour, he fixed
his residence there. The place had a curvature like that of the seats in
a theatre. On the lowest tier, along the harbour, was built the forum.
About halfway up the curving slope, at the point where the curved
cross-aisle is in a theatre, a broad wide street was laid out, in the
middle of which was built the Mausoleum, a work so remarkable that it is
classed among the Seven Wonders of the World. At the top of the hill, in
the centre, is the fane of Mars, containing a colossal acrolithic statue
by the famous hand of Leochares. That is, some think that this statue is
by Leochares, others by Timotheus. At the extreme right of the summit is
the fane of Venus and Mercury, close to the spring of Salmacis.
12. There is a mistaken idea that this spring infects those who drink of
it with an unnatural lewdness. It will not be out of place to explain
how this idea came to spread throughout the world from a mistake in the
telling of the tale. It cannot be that the water makes men effeminate
and unchaste, as it is said to do; for the spring is of remarkable
clearness and excellent in flavour. The fact is that when Melas and
Arevanias came there from Argos and Troezen and founded a colony
together, they drove out the Carians and Lelegans who were barbarians.
These took refuge in the mountains, and, uniting there, used to make
raids, plundering the Greeks and laying their country waste in a cruel
manner. Later, one of the colonists, to make money, set up a
well-stocked shop, near the spring because the water was so good, and
the way in which he carried it on attracted the barbarians. So they
began to come down, one at a time, and to meet with society, and thus
they were brought back of their own accord, giving up their rough and
savage ways for the delights of Greek customs. Hence this water acquired
its peculiar reputation, not because it really induced unchastity, but
because those barbarians were softened by the charm of civilization.
[Illustration: THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS AS RESTORED BY FRIEDRICH
ADLER]
13. But since I have been tempted into giving a description of this
fortified place, it remains to finish my account of it. Corresponding to
the fane of Venus and the spring described above, which are on the
right, we have on the extreme left the royal palace which king Mausolus
built there in accordance with a plan all his own. To the right it
commands a view of the forum, the harbour, and the entire line of
fortifications, while just below it, to the left, there is a concealed
harbour, hidden under the walls in such a way that nobody could see or
know what was going on in it. Only the king himself could, in case of
need, give orders from his own palace to the oarsmen and soldiers,
without the knowledge of anybody else.
14. After the death of Mausolus, his wife Artemisia became queen, and
the Rhodians, regarding it as an outrage that a woman should be ruler of
the states of all Caria, fitted out a fleet and sallied forth to seize
upon the kingdom. When news of this reached Artemisia, she gave orders
that her fleet should be hidden away in that harbour with oarsmen and
marines mustered and concealed, but that the rest of the citizens should
take their places on the city wall. After the Rhodians had landed at the
larger harbour with their well-equipped fleet, she ordered the people on
the wall to cheer them and to promise that they would deliver up the
town. Then, when they had passed inside the wall, leaving their fleet
empty, Artemisia suddenly made a canal which led to the sea, brought her
fleet thus out of the smaller harbour, and so sailed into the larger.
Disembarking her soldiers, she towed the empty fleet of the Rhodians out
to sea. So the Rhodians were surrounded without means of retreat, and
were slain in the very forum.
15. So Artemisia embarked her own soldiers and oarsmen in the ships of
the Rhodians and set forth for Rhodes. The Rhodians, beholding their own
ships approaching wreathed with laurel, supposed that their
fellow-citizens were returning victorious, and admitted the enemy. Then
Artemisia, after taking Rhodes and killing its leading men, put up in
the city of Rhodes a trophy of her victory, including two bronze
statues, one representing the state of the Rhodians, the other herself.
Herself she fashioned in the act of branding the state of the Rhodians.
In later times the Rhodians, labouring under the religious scruple which
makes it a sin to remove trophies once they are dedicated, constructed a
building to surround the place, and thus by the erection of the "Grecian
Station" covered it so that nobody could see it, and ordered that the
building be called "[Greek: abaton]."
16. Since such very powerful kings have not disdained walls built of
brick, although with their revenues and from booty they might often have
had them not only of masonry or dimension stone but even of marble, I
think that one ought not to reject buildings made of brick-work,
provided that they are properly "topped." But I shall explain why this
kind of structure should not be used by the Roman people within the
city, not omitting the reasons and the grounds for them.
17. The laws of the state forbid that walls abutting on public property
should be more than a foot and a half thick. The other walls are built
of the same thickness in order to save space. Now brick walls, unless
two or three bricks thick, cannot support more than one story; certainly
not if they are only a foot and a half in thickness. But with the
present importance of the city and the unlimited numbers of its
population, it is necessary to increase the number of dwelling-places
indefinitely. Consequently, as the ground floors could not admit of so
great a number living in the city, the nature of the case has made it
necessary to find relief by making the buildings high. In these tall
piles reared with piers of stone, walls of burnt brick, and partitions
of rubble work, and provided with floor after floor, the upper stories
can be partitioned off into rooms to very great advantage. The
accommodations within the city walls being thus multiplied as a result
of the many floors high in the air, the Roman people easily find
excellent places in which to live.
18. It has now been explained how limitations of building space
necessarily forbid the employment of brick walls within the city. When
it becomes necessary to use them outside the city, they should be
constructed as follows in order to be perfect and durable. On the top of
the wall lay a structure of burnt brick, about a foot and a half in
height, under the til