 I have now spoken of lime and sand, with their varieties and points of excellence. This 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 Rosa, Palla, Fidenei and of the Alban Hills. In others it is medium, as at Tivoli, Amiturnum and Mount Surakte, and in quarries of the 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, Paisinum and Venetia, white tufa, which can be cut with a tooth saw, like wood. 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 sea coast too the salt eats away and desalts them, nor can they stand great heat either. But Travertine, an old 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 of 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. There are also several quarries called Anisian in the territory of Tarquinai, the stone being of the color of Peperino. The principal workshops lie around the lake of Bolsina in the prefecture of Statenia. 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 force of fire. 4. This may best be seen from monuments in the neighborhood 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 accountants' leaves gracefully carved. Oldest these are, they look as fresh as if they were only just finished. Bronze workers also make molds 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 Rosa, Pala 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. But 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 unheard, has passed the test of nature and will endure those parts of the building which are above ground. This precaution should be observed not only with dimension stone, but also with a rubble which is used in walls. 8. Methods of building walls. One. There are two styles of walls. Opus reticulatum, now used by everybody, and the ancient style called opus insertum. Of these, the reticulatum looks better, but its construction makes it likely to crack, because it speds and builds spread out in every direction. On the other hand, in the opus insertum, the rubble lying in courses and imbricated makes a wall, though not beautiful, is stronger than reticulatum. 2. Both kinds should be constructed of the smaller 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, before 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 environments 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 facing 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 more 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 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 Psevdysodomum. 6. A wall is called Isodomum when all the courses are of equal height. Psevdysodomum 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 which they call Implecton used also among us in the country. In this the facings are finished but the other stones left in their natural stage 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 lying their stones level and building every other stone lengthwise 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 stone which run through the entire thickness of the wall. These stones which show at each end are called diatonoi and by their bonding powers they add very greatly to the solidity of the walls. 8. One who in accordance with these notes will take pain since 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 can last more than 80 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 Mount Hometus 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 Tralis 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 Commitium to adorn the Edel ship of Varro and Marina. 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 Gerocia for the build of the Elder Men. At Halle Canersus the house of that most potent king Mausulus though decorated throughout with Proconesian 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 property but he was chock full of revenues being ruler of all Caria. 11. As for his skill and ingenuity as a builder they may be seen from what falls. He was born at Malassa but recognizing the natural advantages of Halle Canersus as a fortress and seeing that it was suitable as a trading center and that it had a good harbor he fixed his residence there. The place had a curvature like that of a seat in a theater. On the lowest tier along the harbor was built the forum. About half way up the curving slope at the point where the curved cross-ail is in a theater a broad white street was laid out in the middle of which was built the Mausoleum a work so remarkable that it was classed among the seven wonders of the world. At the top of the hill in the center is the Fein of Mars containing a colossal acrolithic statue by the famous hand of Leocorus. That is something that this statue is by Leocorus others by Timotheus. At the extreme right of the summit is the Fein of Venus and Mercury close to the spring of Salmasis. 12. There is a mistaken idea that this spring affects those who drink of it with 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 flavor. The fact is that when Melas and Arevanjas came there from Argus and Trotsun and founded a colony together they drove out the Carrians 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 the rough and savage way for the delights of Greek customs. Hence this water acquired its peculiar reputation not because it really induced unchestity but because those barbarians were softened by the charm of civilization. 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 fame 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 Harbor and the entire line of fortifications. While just below it to the left there is a concealed harbor 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 horsemen and soldiers without the knowledge of anybody else. 14. After the death of Mausolus his wife Artemisia became queen and the Rodians regarding it as an outrage that a woman should be ruler of the states of all Caria fitted out a fleet and sailed forth to cease up in the kingdom. When use of this reach Artemisia she gave orders that her fleet should be hidden away in that harbor with horsemen and marines mustered and concealed but that the rest of the citizens should take their places on the city wall. After the Rodians had landed at the larger harbor 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 subtly made a canal which led to the sea brought her fleet thus out of the smaller harbor and so sailed into the larger. Disembarking her soldiers she towed the empty fleet of the Rodians out to sea so the Rodians were surrounded without means of retreat and were slain in the very forum. 15. So Artemisia embarked her own soldiers and horsemen in the ships of the Rodians and set forth for Rhodes. The Rodians, 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 Rodians the other herself. Herself she fashioned in the act of branding the state of the Rodians. In later times the Rodians laboring under the religious group which makes it a sin to remove trophies once they are dedicated constructed a building to surround the place and thus be the erection of the Grecian station covered it so that nobody could see it and ordered that the building be called 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 brickwork 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 emitting 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. 18. 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 floor should 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 pierces of stone walls of burnt brick and partitions of rubble work and provided with floor after floor the upper stores 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 tiles and projecting like a coping. Thus the defects usually in these walls can be avoided. For when the tiles on the roof are broken or thrown down by the wind so that rainwater can leak through this burnt brick coating will prevent the crude brick from being damaged and the cornice like projection will throw off the drops beyond the vertical phase thus the walls though a crude brick structure will be preserved intact. 19. With regard to burnt brick nobody can tell of hand whether it is of the best or unfit to use in a wall because its strength can be tested only after it has been used on a roof and exposed to bad weather and time. Then if it is good it is accepted. If not made of good clay or if not baked sufficiently it shows itself defective there when exposed to frost and rhyme. Brick that will not stand exposure on roofs can never be strong enough to carry its load in a wall. Hence the strongest burnt brick walls are those which are constructed out of old roofing tiles. 20. As for Wattlin Dobb I could wish that it had never been invented the more it saves in time and gains in space the greater and the more general is the disaster that it may cause for it is made to catch fire like torches. It seems better therefore to spend on walls of burnt brick and be at expense than to save with Wattlin Dobb and be in danger and in the stucco covering too it makes cracks from the inside by the arrangement of its studs and skirts. For these swell with moisture as they are dubbed and then contract as they are dry and by their shrinking caused solid stucco to split. But since some are obliged to use it either to save time or money or for petitions on an unsupported span the proper method of construction is as follows. Give it a high foundation so that it may nowhere come in contact with the broken stonework composing the floor. For if it is sunk in this it rots in course of time then settles and sacks forward and so breaks through the surface of the stucco covering. I have now explained to the best of my ability the subject of walls and the preparation of the different kinds of material employed with their advantages and disadvantages. Next following the guidance of nature I shall treat of the framework and the kinds of good used in it showing how they may be procured of a sort that will not give way as time goes on. End of book 2 Chapter 8 Book 2 chapters 9 to 10 of 10 books on architecture This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Fredrik Carlson 10 books on architecture by Vitruvius translated by Morris Hickey Morgan Chapter 9 Timber 1 Timber should be felt between early autumn and the time when Favonius begins to blow. For in spring all trees become pregnant and they are all employing their natural vigor in the production of leaves in the fruits that return every year. The requirements of that season render them empty and swollen and so they are weak and feeble because of their looseness of texture. This is also the case with women who have conceived. Their bodies are not considered perfectly healthy until the child is born. Hence pregnant slaves when offered for sale are not warranted sound because the fetus as it grows within the body takes to itself as nourishment all the best qualities of the mother's food and so the stronger it becomes as the full time for birth approaches the less compact it allows the body to be from which it is produced. After the birth of the child what was heretofore taken to promote the growth of another creature is now set free by the delivery of the newborn and the channels being now empty and open the body take it in by lapping up its juices and thus becomes compact and returns to the natural strength which it had before. 2 On the same principle with the ripening of the fruits in autumn the leaves begin to wither and the trees taking up their sap from the earth through the roots themselves and are restored to their former solid texture but the strong air of winter compresses and solidifies them during the time above mentioned consequently if the timber is felled on the principle and at the time above mentioned it will be felled at the proper season. 3 In felling a tree we should cut into the trunk of it to the very heart and then leave it standing so that the sap may drain out throughout the whole of it. In this way the useless liquid which is within will run out through the sapwood instead of having to die in a mass of decay that spoiling the quality of the timber. Then and not till then the tree being drained dry in the sap no longer dripping let it be felled and it will be in the highest state of usefulness. 4 That this is so may be seen in the case of fruit trees. When these are tapped at the base each at the proper time they pour out from the heart through the tapholes all the superfluous and corrupting fluid which they contain and thus the draining process makes them durable. But when the juices of trees have no means of escape they clot and rot in them making the trees hollow and good for nothing. Therefore if the draining process does not exhaust them while they are still alive there is no doubt that if the same principle is followed in felling them for timber they will last a long time and be very useful in buildings. 5 Trees vary and are unlike one another in their qualities. Thus it is with the oak, elm, poplar, cypress, fur and the others which are most suitable to use in buildings. The oak for instance has not the efficacy of the fur nor the cypress that of the elm nor in the case of other trees is it natural that it should be alike but the individual kinds are effective in building some in one way, some in another owing to the different properties of their elements. 6 To begin with fur it contains a great deal of air and fire with very little moisture and the earthy so that as its natural properties are of the lighter class it is not heavy. Hence its consistency being naturally stiff it does not easily bend under the load and keeps its straightness when used in the framework but it contains so much heat that it generates an encourager's decay which spoils it and it also kindles fire quickly because of the air in its body which is so open that it takes in fire and so gives out a great flame. 7 The part which is nearest to the earth before the tree is cut down takes up moisture through the roots from the immediate neighborhood and hence is without knots and is clear. The upper part on account of the great heat in it throws up branches into the air through the knots and this when it is cut off about 20 feet from the ground and then you is called nut wood because of its hardness and nuttiness. The lowest part after the tree is cut down and the sap wood of the same thrown away is split into four pieces and prepared for joiners work and so is called clear stock. 8 Oak on the other hand having enough and to spare of the earth among its elements and containing but little moisture air and fire lasts for an unlimited period when buried in underground structures. It follows that when exposed to moisture as its texture is not loose and porous it cannot take in liquid on account of its compactness but withdrawing from the moisture it resists it and warps thus making cracks in the structures in which it is used. 9 The turkey oak being composed of a moderate amount of all the elements is very useful in buildings but when in moist place it takes in water to its center through its pores its air and fire being expelled by the influence of the moisture and so it rots. The turkey oak and the beach both containing a mixture of moisture, fire and the earthy with a great deal of air through this loose texture taking moisture to the center and soon decay white and black poplar as well as willow, linden and the agnus castus containing an abundance of fire and air a moderate amount of moisture and only a small amount of the earthy are composed of a mixture which is proportionately rather light and so they are of great service from the stiffness. Although on account of the mixture of the earthy in them they are not hard yet their loose texture makes them gleaming white and they are a convenient material to use in carving. The alder which is produced close by river banks and which seems to be altogether useless as building material has really excellent qualities. It is composed of a very large proportion of air and fire and not much of the earthy and only a little moisture hence in swampy places alder piles driven close together beneath the foundations of buildings take in the water which their own consistent slacks and remain perishable forever supporting structures of enormous weight and keeping them from decay. Thus a material which cannot last even a little while above ground endures for a long time when covered with moisture. 11. One can see this at its best in Ravenna for there all the buildings both public and private have piles of this sort beneath their foundations. The elm and the ash contain a very great amount of moisture a minimum of fire and air and the moderate mixture of the earthy in their composition. When put in shape for use in buildings they are tough and having no stiffness on account of the weight of moisture in them soon bend. But when they become dry with age and are allowed to lose their sap and die standing in the open they get harder and from their toughness supply a strong material for dowels to be used in joints or articulations. 12. The horn beam which has a very small amount of fire and of the earthy in its composition but a very great proportion of air and moisture is not a wood that breaks easily and is very convenient to handle. Hence the Greeks call it zygia because they make of it yolks for their draught animals and their word for yolk is zygia. Cypress and pine are also just as admirable for although they contain an abundance of moisture mixed with an equivalent composed of all the other elements and so are apt to warp when used in buildings on account of this superfluity of moisture yet they can be kept to a great age without rotting because the liquid contained within their substances has a bitter taste which by its pungency prevents the entrance of decay or of those little creatures which are destructive. 13. The cedar and the juniper tree have the same uses and good qualities but while the cypress and pine yield resin from the cedar is produced an oil called cedar oil books as well as other things smeared with this are not hurt by worms or decaying. The foliage of this tree is like that of the cypress but the grain of the wood is straight. The banana in the temple of Ephesus is made of it and so are the coffered ceilings both there and in all other famous feints because that wood is everlasting. The tree grows chiefly in Crete Africa and in some districts of Syria. 14. The larch known only to the people of the towns on the banks of the river Po and the shores of the Adriatic is not only preserved from decay and the worm by the great tap but also it cannot be kindled with fire nor ignite of itself unless like stones in a lime kiln it is burned with other wood. And even then it does not take fire nor produce burning coals but after a long time it slowly consumes away. This is because there is a very small proportion of the elements of fire and air in this composition which is a dense and solid mass of moisture and the earthy that it has no open pores through which fire can find its way but it repels the force of fire and does not let itself be harmed by it quickly. Further its weight will not let it float in water so that when transported it is loaded on shipboard or on rafts made of fur. 15. It is worthwhile to know how this wood was discovered. The divine Caesar being with his army in the neighborhood of the Alps and having ordered the towns to furnish supplies the inhabitants of a fortified stronghold there called the Larygnum trusting in the natural strength of their defenses refused to obey his command so the general ordered his forces to the assault. In front of the gate of this stronghold there was a tower made of beams of this wood laid in alternating directions at right angles to each other like a funeral pyre and built high so that they could drive off an attacking party by throwing stakes and stones from the top. When it was observed that they had no other missiles and stakes that these could not be hurled very far from the wall on account of the weight orders were given to approach and throw bundles of brushwood and lighted torches at this outwork. These the soldiers soon got together. 16. They soon kindled the brushwood which lay about the wooden structure and rising towards heaven made everybody think that the whole pile had fallen but when the fire had burned itself out and subsided and the tower appeared to view entirely uninjured Caesar in amazement gave orders that they should be surrounded with a palisade built beyond the range of missiles so the townspeople were frightened into surrendering and were then asked where that wood came from which was not harmed by fire they pointed to trees of the kind under discussion of which there were a very great nub in that vicinity and so as that stronghold was called La Regnum the wood was called Larch. It is transported by way of the Poe to Ravenna and is to be had in Fano, Pesaro, Ancona and the other towns in that neighborhood If there were only a ready method of carrying this material it would be of the greatest use in buildings if not for general purposes yet at least if the boards used in the eaves running around blocks of houses were made of it the buildings would be free from the danger of fire spreading across to them because such boards can neither take fire from flames or from burning coals nor ignite spontaneously 17 The leaves of these trees are like those of the pine timber from them comes in long lengths is as easily wrought in joiner's work as is the clear wood of fur and contains a liquid resin of the color of attic honey which is good for consumptives With regard to the different kinds of timber, I have now explained of what natural properties they appear to be composed and how they were produced it remains to consider the question why the highland fur as it is called in Rome is inferior while the lowland fur is extremely useful in building so far as durability is concerned and further to explain how it is that their bad or good qualities seem to be due to the peculiarities of their neighborhood so that this subject may be clear to those who examine it Chapter 10 Highland and Lowland Fur 1 The first spurs of the Apenines arise from the Tuscan sea between the Alps and the most distant waters of Tuscany The mountain range itself bends round and almost touching the shores of the Atriatic in the middle of the Cur completes its circuit by extending to the strait on the other shore hence this side of the Cur sloping towards the districts of Tuscany and Campania lies basking in the sun being constantly exposed to the full force of its rays all day but the further side sloping towards the Apeci in having a northern exposure constantly shrouded in shadowy darkness hence the trees which grows on that side being nourished by the moisture not only themselves attain to a very large size but their fiber too filled full of moisture is swollen and distended with abundance of liquid when they lose their vitality after being felled and ewn the fiber retains its stiffness and the trees as they dry become hollow and frail on the count of their porosity cannot last when used in buildings too but trees which grow in places facing the courses of the sun are not of porous fiber but are solid being drained by the dryness for the sun absorbs moisture and draws it out of trees as well as out of the earth the trees and sunny neighborhoods therefore being solidified by the compact texture of their fiber and not being porous from moisture are very useful so far as their durability goes when they are ewn into timber hence the lowland furs being conveyed from sunny places are better than those of highland furs which are brought here from shady places 3 to the best of my mature consideration I have now treated the materials which are necessary in the construction of buildings the proportionate amount of the elements which are seen to be contained in the natural composition of these lands and defects of each kind so that they may be not unknown to those who are engaged in building thus those who can follow the directions contained in these treaties will be better informed in advance and able to select among the different kinds those which will be of use in their works therefore since the preliminaries have been explained the buildings themselves will be treated in the remaining books and first as due order requires I shall in the next book write of the temples of the immortal gods and their symmetrical proportions end of book 2 book 3 introduction and chapters 1 to 2 of 10 books on architecture this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Fredrik Karlsson 10 books on architecture by Vitruvius translated by Morris Hickey Morgan book 3 introduction 1 at Delphi through the oracular utterance of his priestess pronounced Socrates the wisest of men of him it is related that he said with sagacity in great learning that the human breast should have been furnished with open windows so that men might not keep their feelings concealed but have them open to the view all that nature following his idea had constructed them thus unfolded and obvious to the view for if it had been so not merely the virtues and vices of the mind would be easily visible but also its knowledge of branches of study displayed to the contemplation of the eyes would not need testing by untrustworthy powers of judgment but a singular and lasting influence would thus be lent to the learned and wise however since they are not so constructed but are as nature will them to be it is impossible for men while natural abilities are concealed in the breast to form a judgment on the quality of the knowledge of the arts which is thus deeply hidden and if artists themselves testify to their own skill they can never unless they are wealthy or famous from the age of their studios or unless they are also possessed of the public favor and of eloquence have an influence commensurate with their devotion to their pursuits so that people may believe them to have the knowledge with they profess to have to in particular we can learn this from the case of the sculptors and painters of antiquity those among them who were marked by high station or favorably recommended have come down to posterity with a name that will last forever for instance Myron, Polycletus, Phidias, Lysipus and the others who have attained to fame by their art for they acquired it by the executioner works for great states or for kings or for citizens of rank by those who being men of no less enthusiasm natural ability and dexterity than those famous artists and who executed no less perfectly finished works for citizens of low station are unremembered not because they lacked diligence or dexterity in their art but because fortune failed them for instance Telyas of Athens Cyan of Corinth Maiger the Fusenian Pharex of Ephesus Byzantium and many others then there were painters like Aristomenes of Thasus, Polyclus and Andron of Ephesus Theo of Magnesia and others who were not deficient in diligence or enthusiasm for their art or in dexterity but whose narrow means or ill-luck or the higher position of their rivals in the struggle for honor stood in the way of their attaining distinction 3. Of course we need not be surprised if artistic excellence goes unrecognized on account of being unknown but there should be the greatest indignation when as often good judges are flattered by charm of social entertainments into an approbation which is a mere pretense Now if, as Socrates wished our feelings, opinions and knowledge gained by study had been manifest and clear to see popularity and adulation would have no influence but men who had reached the height of knowledge by means of correct and definite courses of study would be given commissions without any effort on their part However, since such thing are not plain and apparent to the view as we think they should have been and since I observe that the uneducated rather than the educated are in higher favor thinking it beneath me to engage me with the uneducated in the struggle for honor I prefer to show the excellence of our department of knowledge by the publication of this treatise Four In my first book Emperor I described to you the art with its points of excellence the different kinds of training with which the architect ought to be equipped adding the reasons why he ought to be skillful in them and I divided up the subject of architecture as a whole among its departments duly defining the limits of each Next, as was preeminent and necessary I explained on scientific principles the method of selecting healthy sites for fortified towns pointed out by geometrical figures the different winds and the quarters from which they blow and show the proper way to lay out the lines of streets and rows of houses within the walls Here I fixed the end of my first book In the second on building materials I treated their various advantages and structures and the natural properties of which they are composed In this third book I shall speak of the temples of the immortal gods describing and explaining them in the proper manner Chapter 1 On symmetry In temples and in the human body One The design of a temple depends on symmetry the principles of which must be most carefully observed by the architect They are due to proportion in Greek analogia Proportion is a correspondence among the measures of the members of an entire work and of the whole to a certain part selected as standard From this result the principles of symmetry Without symmetry and proportion there can be no principles in the design of any temple, that is if there is no precise relation between its members as in the case of those of a well-shaped man 2 For the human body is so designed by nature that the face from the chin to the top of the forehead and the lowest roots of the hair is a tenth part of the whole height The open hand from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger is just the same the head from the chin to the crown is an eighth and with a neck and shoulder from the top of the breast to the lowest roots of the hair is a sixth from the middle of the breast to the summit of the crown is a fourth If we take the height of the face itself the distance from the bottom of the chin to the underside of the nostrils is one third of it the nose from the underside of the nostrils to a line between the eyebrows is the same From there the lowest roots of the hair is also a third comprising the forehead The length of the foot is one sixth of the height of the body of the forearm one fourth and the breadth of the breast is also one fourth The other members too have their own symmetrical proportion and it was by employing them that the famous painters and sculptors of antiquity attained to great and endless renown Three Similarly in the members of a temple there ought to be the greatest harmony in the symmetrical relations of the different parts of the general magnitude of the whole Then again in the human body the central point is naturally the navel the man be placed flat on his back with his hands and feet extended and a pair of compasses centered at his navel the fingers and toes of his two hands and feet will touch the circumference of a circle described therefrom And just as the human body yields a circular outline so too a square figure may be found from it For if we measure the distance from the soles of the feet to the top of the head and then apply that measure of the large stretch arms the breadth will be found to be the same as the height as in the case of plain surfaces which are perfectly square Four Therefore, since nature has designed the human body so that its members are duly proportioned to the frame as a whole it appears that the ancients had good reasons for their rule that in perfect buildings the different members must be in exact symmetrical relations to the whole general scheme Hence, while transmitting to us the proper arrangements for buildings of all kinds they were particularly careful to do so in the case of temples of the gods buildings in which merits and faults usually last forever Five Further, it was from the members of the body that they derived the fundamental ideas of the measures which are obviously necessary in all works as the finger, palm, foot and cubit were mostly apportioned so as to form the perfect number called in Greek Telaion and as the perfect number the ancients fixed upon ten For it is from the number of the fingers of the hand that the palm is found and the foot from the palm Again, while ten is naturally perfect as being made up by the fingers of the two palms Plato also held that this number was perfect because ten is composed of the individual units called monads But as soon as eleven or twelve is reached the numbers being excessive cannot be perfect until they come to ten for second time for the component part of that number of the individual units Six The mathematicians, however, maintaining a different view have said that the perfect number is six because this number is composed of integral parts which are suited numerically to their method of reckoning One is one sixth Two is one third Three is one half Four is two thirds or demoisros as they call it Five is five sixths called pentamoiros and six is the perfect number As the number goes on growing larger the addition of a unit above six is the effectus eight formed by the addition of a third part of six the integer and the third called epitritos The addition of one half makes nine the integer and a half termed hemiolios The addition of two thirds making the number ten is the integer and two thirds which they call epidimoiros In the number eleven where five are added we have the five sixths called epipemptos Finally twelve being composed of the two simple integers called diplasios Seven and further as the foot is one sixth of a man's height the height of the body as expressed in number of feet being limited to six they held that this was the perfect number and observed that the qubit consisted of six palms or of 24 fingers This principle seems to have been followed by the states of Greece As the qubit consisted of six palms they made the drachma The unit consists in the same way of six bronze coins like our assets which they call obels and to correspond to the fingers divided the drachma into 24 quarter obels which some call the chalza others tree chalza Eight But our countermen at first fixed upon the ancient number and made ten bronze pieces go to the denarius and this is the origin of the name which is applied to the denarius and the fourth part of it consisting of two assets and half of a third they called cisterse but later observing the six and ten were both of them perfect numbers they combined the two and thus made the most perfect number 16 they found their authority for this in the foot for if we take two palms from the qubit there remains the foot of four palms but the palm contains four fingers hence the foot contains 16 fingers and the denarius the same number of bronze assets nine therefore if it is agreed that number was found out from the human fingers and that there is a symmetrical correspondence between the members separately and the entire form of the body in accordance with a certain part selected at standard we can have nothing but respect for those who in constructing temples of the immortal gods have so arranged the members of the works that both the separate parts and the whole design may harmonize in their proportions and symmetry chapter two classification of temples one there are certain elementary forms on which the general aspect of a temple depends first there is the temple in Antis or Naos and Parastasin as it is called in Greek then the pro-style amphipro-style Peripteral Psevdodipteral Dipteral and Hypethral these different forms may be described as follows two it will be a temple in Antis when it has Antae carried out in front of the walls which enclose the cellar and in the middle between the Antae two columns and over them the pediment constructed in the symmetrical proportions to be described later in this work an example will be found at the three fortune in that one of the three which is nearest the colline gate three the pro-style is in all respects like the temple in Antis except that at the corners opposite the Antae it has two columns and that it has architraves not only in front as in the case of the temple in Antis but also one to the right and one to the left in the wings an example of this is the temple of Jovi and Faunus in the island of the Taiba four the Amphi pro-style is in all other respects like the pro-style but has besides in the rear the same arrangement of columns and pediment five a temple will be peripteral that has six columns in front and six in the rear with eleven on each side including the corner columns so placed as to leave a space the width of an inter-columniation all round between the walls and the rows of columns on the outside that's forming a walk round the cellar of the temple as in the cases of the temple of Jupiter stator by Hermodorus in the portico of Metellus and the Marian temple of honor and valor constructed by Musius which has no portico in the rear six the pseudodipteral is so constructed that in front and in the rear there are in each case eight columns with fifteen on each side including the corner columns the walls of the cellar in front and in the rear should be directly over against the four middle columns thus there will be a space the width of two inter-columniations plus the thickness of the lower diameter of a column all round between the walls and the rows of columns on the outside there's no example of this in Rome but at Magnesia there is the temple of Diana by Hermogenes and that of Apollo at Alabanda by Menesnes seven the dipteral also is octa-style in both front and rear portico but it has two rows of columns all round the temple like the temple of Kirinus which is Doric and the temple of Diana at Ephesus planned by Cersifron Ionic eight the hypetrol is deca-style in both front and rear portico in everything else it is the same as the dipteral but inside it has two tiers of columns set out from the wall all around like the colonnade of the peristyle the central part is open to the sky without a roof folding doors leading to it at each end in the portico in front and in the rear there is no example of this sort in Rome but in Athens there is the octa-style in the precinct of the Olympian end of book 3 chapter 2 book 3 chapters 3 and 4 of 10 books on architecture this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Fredrik Karlsson 10 books on architecture by Vitruvius translated by Morris Hickey Morgan chapter 3 the proportions of inter-columnations and of columns 1 there are 5 classes of temples designated as follows pycno-style with the columns close together sys-style with the inter-columnations a little wider dia-style more open still areo-style farther apart than they ought to be ev-style with the intervals apportioned just right 2 the pycno-style is a temple in an inter-columnation of which the thickness of a column and a half can be inserted for example the temple of the divine Caesar that of Venus in Caesar's forum and others constructed like them the sys-style is a temple in which the thickness of the two columns can be placed in an inter-columnation and in which the plinths of the bases are equivalent to the distance between the two plinths for example the temple of equestrian fortune near the stone theater and the others which are constructed on the same principles 3 these two kinds have practical disadvantages when the matrons mount the steps for public prayer or thanksgiving they cannot pass through the inter-columnations with their arms about one another but must form single file then again the effect of the folding doors is thrust out of sight by the crowding of the columns and likewise the statues are thrown into shadow the narrow space interferes also with walks around the temple 4 the construction will be dia-style when we can insert the thickness of the three columns into an inter-columnation as in the case of the temple of Apollo and Diana this arrangement involves the danger that the architraves break on account of the great width of the intervals in dia-styles we cannot employ stone or marble for the architraves but must have a series of wooden beams laid upon the columns and moreover in appearance these temples are clumsy-roofed low, broad, and their pediments are adorned in the Tuscan fashion with statues of terracotta or gilt bronze for example near the Circus Maximus the temple of Ceres and Pompeii's temple of Hercules also the temple on the capital 6 an account must now be given of the ev-style which is the most approved class and is arranged on principles developed with a view to convenience, beauty, and strength the intervals should be made as wide as the thickness of the two columns and a quarter but the middle inter-columnations one in front and the other in the rear should be of the thickness of three columns thus built the effect of the design will be beautiful, there will be no obstructions at the entrance and the walk around the cell will be dignified 7 the rule of this arrangement may be set forth as follows if a tetrastyle is to be built let the width of the front which shall have already been determined for the temple be divided into 11 parts and a half and the structures and the projections of the bases if it is to be of 6 columns into 18 parts if an octastyle is to be constructed let the front be divided in 24 parts and a half then whether the temple is to be tetrastyle, hexastyle or octastyle let one of these parts be taken and it will be the module the thickness of the columns will be equal to one module each of the inter-columnations except those in the middle will measure two modules and a quarter the middle inter-columniation in front and in rear will each measure three modules the columns themselves will be nine modules and a half in height as a result of this division the inter-columniations and the heights of the columns will be in due proportions 8 we have no example of this in Rome but at Teos in Asia Minor there is one wishes hexastyle to Tha the Bacchus these rules for symmetry were established by Hermogenes who was also the first to devise the principle of the Pseudo dipteral octastyle he did so by dispensing with the inner rows of the 38 columns which belonged to the symmetry of the dipteral temple and in this he made a saving in expense and labour he thus provided a much wider space for the walk around the cellar between it and the columns interacting at all from the general effect of making one feel the loss of what had been really superfluous he preserved the dignity of the whole work by his new treatment of it 9 for the idea of the pteroma and the arrangement of the columns around the temple were devised in order that the inter-columniation might give the imposing effect of high relief and also in case a multitude of people should be caught in a heavy shower and detained having the temple around the cellar a wide free space in which to wait these ideas are developed as I have described in the Pseudo dipteral arrangement of a temple it appears therefore that Hermogenes produced results which exhibit much acute ingenuity and that he left sources from which those who came after him could derive instructive principles 10 in areo style temples the columns should be constructed so that their thickness is one eighth part of their height in the Daya style the height of a column should be measured off into 8 and a half parts and the thickness of the column fixed at one of these parts in the Sys style let the height be divided into 9 and a half parts and one of these given to the thickness of the column in the Picno style the height should be divided into 10 parts and one of these used for the thickness of the column in the F style temple let the height of the column be divided as in the Sys style into 9 and a half parts and let one part be taken for the thickness at the bottom of the shaft with these dimensions we shall be taking into account the proportions of the intercolumniation 11 for the thickness of the shafts must be enlarged in proportion to the increase of the distance between the columns in the areo style for instance if only a 9th or 10th part is given to the thickness the column will look thin and mean because the width of the intercolumniations is such that the air seems to eat away and diminish the thickness of such shafts on the other hand in Picno styles if an 8th part is given to the thickness it will make the shaft look swollen and ungraceful because the intercolumniations are so close to each other and so narrow we must therefore follow the rules required by each kind of building then 2, the columns at the corners should be made thicker than the others by a 50th of their own diameter because they are sharply outlined by the unobstructed air around them and seem to behold them more slender than they are hence we must counteract the ocular deception by an adjustment of proportions 12 moreover the diminution in the top of a column at the necking seems to be regulated on the following principles if a column is 15 feet or under let the thickness at the bottom be divided into 6 parts and let 5 of those parts form the thickness at the top if it is from 15 feet to 20 feet let the bottom of the shaft be divided into 6 and a half parts and let 5 and a half of those parts be the upper thickness of the column in a column of from 20 feet to 30 feet let the bottom of the shaft be divided into 7 parts and let the diminished top measure 6 of these a column of from 30 to 40 feet should be divided at the bottom into 7 and a half parts and on the principle of diminution have 6 and a half of these at the top columns of from 40 to 50 should be divided into 8 parts and diminished to 7 of these at the top of the shaft under the capital in the case of higher columns let the diminution be determined proportionally on the same principles 13 these proportionate enlargements are made in the thickness of columns on account of the different heights to which the eye has to climb for the eye is always in search of beauty and if we do not gratify its desire for pleasure by a proportionate enlargement in these measures and thus make compensation for ocular deception a clumsy awkward appearance will be presented to the beholder with regard to the enlargement made at the middle of columns which among the Greeks is called entasis at the end of the book a figure and calculation will be subjoined showing how an agreeable and appropriate effect may be produced by it 4 the foundations and substructures of temples 1 the foundations of these works should be dug out of the solid ground if it can be found and carried down into solid ground as far as the magnitude of the work shall seem to require and the whole substructure should be as solid as it can possibly be laid above ground let walls be laid under the columns thicker by one half than the columns are to be so that the lower may be stronger than the higher hence they are called stereobates for they take the load projections of the bases should not extend beyond this solid foundation the wall thickness is similarly to be preserved above ground likewise and the intervals between these walls should be vaulted over or filled with earth rammed down hard to keep the walls well apart 2 if however solid ground cannot be found but the place proves to be nothing but a heap of loose earth to the very bottom or a marsh these must be dug up and cleared out and set with piles made of charred alder or olive wood or oak and these must be driven down by machinery very closely together like bridge piles and the intervals between them filled in with car coal and finally the foundations are to be laid on them in the most solid form of construction the foundations having been brought up to the level the stereobates are next to be put in place the columns are then to be distributed over the stylobates in the manner above described close together in the pycnostyle in the cis-style diastyle or ev-style as they are described and arranged above in aria-style temples one is free to arrange them as far apart as one likes still in pedipterals the columns should be so placed that there are twice as many inter-columniations on the sides as they are in front for thus the length of the work will be twice its breadth those who make the number of columns double seem to be in error because then the length seem to be one inter-columniation longer than it ought to be four the steps in front must be arranged so that there are always be an odd number of them for thus the right foot with which one amounts the first step will also be the first to reach the level of the temple itself which steps should I think be limited to not more than ten nor less than nine inches for then the ascent will not be difficult the treads of the steps ought to be made not less than a foot and a half and not more than two feet deep if there are to be steps running all around the temple they should be built of the same size five but if a podium is to be built on three sides around the temple it should be so constructed that its basis dies cornai and simatio mare appropriate to the actual stylo bait which is to be under the basis of the columns the level of the stylo bait must be increased along the middle by the scamili impares for if it is laid perfectly level it will look to the eye as though it were hollowed a little at the end of the book a figure will be found with a description showing how the scamili may be made to suit the purpose end of book three chapter four book three chapter five of ten books on architecture this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Fredrik Karlsson ten books on architecture by Vitruvius translated by Morris Hickey Morgan chapter five proportions of the base capitals and entablature in the ionic order one finished let the basis of the columns be set in place and constructed in such proportions that their height including the plinths may be half the thickness of a column and their projection called in Greek ekfora the same thus in both lengths and birds it will be one and one half thicknesses of a column two if the basis to be in the attic style let its height be so divided that the upper part shall be one part of the thickness of the column and the rest left for the plinths then excluding the plinths let the rest be divided into four parts and of these let one fourth constitute the upper torus and let the other three be divided equally one part composing the lower torus and the other with its fillets the Scotia which the Greeks call Trotschloss three but if ionic place are to be built their proportions shall be so determined that the base may be equal in breadth to the thickness of a column plus three eighths of the thickness its height that of the attic base and so to its plinths excluding the plinths let the rest which will be the third part of the thickness of a column be divided into seven parts three of these parts constitute the torus at the top and the other four are to be divided equally one part constituting the upper Trotschloss with its astragals and overhang the other left for the lower Trotschloss but the lower will seem to be larger because it will project to the edge of the plinth the astragals must be one eighth of the Trotschloss the projection of the base will be three sixteenths of the thickness of a column four the base is being thus finished and put in place the columns are to be put in place the middle columns are the front and rear porticoes perpendicular to their own center the corner columns and those which are to extend in a line from them along the sides of the temple to the right and left are to be set so that their inner sides which face towards the cellar wall are perpendicular but their outer sides in the manner which I have described in speaking of their diminution thus in the design of the temple the lines will be adjusted with due regard to the diminution five the shafts of the column having been erected the rule for the capitals will be as follows if they are to be cushion shaped they should be so proportioned that the abacus is in the length and breadth equivalent to the thickness of the shaft at its bottom plus one eight teens thereof and the height of the capital including the volutes one half of that amount the faces of the volutes must recede from the edge of the abacus inwards by one and a half eighteenth of the same amount then the height of the capital is to be divided into nine and a half parts and down along the abacus on the four sides of the volutes down along the fillet at the edge of the abacus lines called cathity are to be let fall then of the nine and a half part let one and a half be reserved for the height of the abacus and let the other eight be used for the volutes six then let another line be drawn beginning at the point situated at a distance of one and a half parts toward the inside from the line previously let fall down along the edge of the abacus next let these lines be divided in such a way as to leave four and a half parts under the abacus then at the point which forms the division between four and a half parts in the remaining three and a half fix the center of the eye and from that center describe a circle with a diameter equal to one of the eight parts this will be the size of the eye and in it draw a diameter on the line of the catheters then in describing the quadrants let the size of each be successively less by half the diameter of the eye then that which begins under the abacus and proceed from the eye until the same quadrant under the abacus is reached seven the height of the capital is to be such that of the nine and a half parts three parts are below the level of the astragull at the top of the shaft and the rest omitting the abacus in the channel belongs to its echinus the projection of the echinus beyond the fillet of the abacus should be equal to the size of the eye the projection of the bands of the cushions should be thus obtained place one leg of a pair of compasses in the center of the capital and open out the other to the edge of the echinus bring this leg around and it will touch the outer edge of the bands the axis of the volutes should not be thicker than the size of the eye and the volutes themselves should be channeled out to a depth which is one twelfth of the height these will be the symmetrical proportions for capitals of columns 25 feet high and less for higher columns the other proportions will be the same but the length and breadth of the abacus will be the thickness of the lower diameter of a column plus one ninth part thereof thus just as the higher the column the less the diminution so the projection of its capital is proportionately increased and its breadth is correspondingly enlarged 8 with regard to the method of describing volutes at the end of the book a figure will be subjoined and a calculation showing how they may be described so that their spirals may be true to the compass the capitals having been finished and set up a new proportion to the columns not exactly level on the columns however but with the same measured adjustment so that in the upper members there may be an increase corresponding to that which was made in the stylobates the rule for the architraves is to be as follows if the columns are at least 12 feet and not more than 15 feet high let the height of the architrave be equal to half the thickness of a column at the bottom if they are from 15 feet to 20 let the height of a column be measured off in 13 parts and let one of these be the height of the architrave if they are from 20 to 25 feet let this height be divided into 12 and one half part and let one of them form the height of the architrave if they are from 25 feet to 30 let it be divided into 12 parts and let one of them form the height if they are higher the heights of the architraves are to be worked out proportionately in the same manner from the height of the columns 9 for the higher that the eye has to climb the less easily can it make its way through the thicker and thicker mass of air so it fails when the height is great its strength is sucked out of it and it conveys to the mind only a confused estimate of the dimensions hence there must always be a corresponding increase in the symmetrical proportions of the members so that whether the buildings are on unusually lofty sides or are in themselves somewhat colossal the size of the parts may seem in due proportion the depth of the architrave on its underside just above the capital is to be equivalent to the thickness of the top of the column just under the capital and on its uppermost side equivalent to the foot of the shaft 10 the simatium of the architrave should be one seventh of the height of the whole architrave the same omitting the simatium the rest of the architrave is to be divided into 12 parts and 3 of these will form the lowest fascia 4 the next and 5 the highest fascia the frieze above the architrave is one fourth less high than the architrave but if there are to be reliefs upon it it is one fourth higher than the architrave so that the sculptures may be more imposing its simatium is one seventh of the whole height of the frieze and the projection of the simatium is the same as its height 11 over the frieze comes the line of dentals made of the same height as the middle fascia of the architrave and with a projection equal to their height the intersection or in greek metope is a portion so that the face of each dental is half as wide as its height and the cavity is section two thirds of this face in width the simatium here is one sixth of the whole height of this part the corona with the simatium but not including the sima has the height of the middle fascia of the architrave and the total projection of the corona and dentals should be equal to the height from the frieze to the simatium at the top of the corona and as a general rule all projecting parts have greater beauty than their height 12 the height of the tympanum which is in the pediment is to be obtained thus let the front of the corona from the two ends of its simatium be measured off into nine parts and let one of these parts be set up in the middle at the peak of the tympanum taking care that it is perpendicular to the entablature and the neckings of the columns the coroni over the tympanum should be made one eighth higher than the height of the corona the acroteria at the corners have the height of the center of the tympanum and thus in the middle a one eighth part higher than those at the corners 13 all the members which are to be above the capitals of the columns that is architraves friezes coroni tympanum which is in the middle of the traves friezes coroni, tympana gables and acroteria should be inclined to the front a 12th part of their own height for the reason that when we stand in front of them if two lines are drawn from the eye one reaching to the bottom of the building and the other to the top that which reaches to the top will be longer hence as the line of sight to the upper part is the longer it makes that part look but when the members are inclined to the front as described above they will seem to the beholder to be plumb and perpendicular 14 each column should have 24 flutes channeled out in such a way that if a carpenter's square be placed in the hollow of a flute and turned the arm will touch the corners of the fillets on the right and left and the tip of the square may keep touching some point in the concave surface as it moves through it the breadth of the flutes is to be equivalent to the enlargement in the middle of a column which will be found in the figure 15 in the semi which are over the coroni on the sides of the temple lion's heads are to be carved in a range at intervals thus first one head is marked out directly over the axis of each column and then the others are arranged at equal distances apart and so that there shall be one at the middle of every roof tiling those that are over the columns should have holes bored through them to the gutter which receives the rain water from the tiles but those between them should be solid thus the mass of water that falls by way of the tiles into the gutter will not be thrown down along the intercolumniation nor drench people who are passing through them while the lion's heads that are over the columns will appear to be vomiting as they discharge streams of water from their mouths in this book I have written as clearly as I could on the arrangements of the Ionic temples in the next I shall explain the proportions of Doric and Corinthian temples end of book 3 book 4 introduction in chapters 1 and 2 of 10 books on architecture this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Frédéric Carlson 10 books on architecture by Vitruvius translated by Morris Hickey Morgan book 4 introduction 1 I have observed emperor that many in their treatises and volumes of commentaries on architecture have not presented the subject with well-ordered completeness but have merely made a beginning and left as it were only desultory fragments and thought that it would be a worthy and very useful thing to reduce the whole of this great art to a complete and orderly form of presentation and then in different books to lay down and explain the required characteristics of different departments hence Caesar in my first book I have set forth to the function of the architect and the things in which he ought to be trained in the second I have discussed the supplies of material or which buildings are constructed the arrangements of temples and their variety of form I show the nature and number of their classes with the adjustments proper to each form according to the usage of the Ionic order one of the three which exhibit the greatest delicacy of proportion in their symmetrical measurements in the present book I shall speak of the established rules for the Doric and Corinthian order and shall explain the differences and peculiarities Chapter 1 of the three orders and the proportions of the Corinthian capital 1 Corinthian columns are accepting in their capitals of the same proportions in all respects as Ionic but the height of their capitals gives them proportionately a taller and more slender effect this is because the height of the Ionic capitals is only one third of the thickness of the column while that of the Corinthian is the entire thickness of the shaft hence as two thirds are added in the Corinthian capitals their tallness gives a more slender appearance to the columns themselves 2 the other members which are placed above the columns are for Corinthian columns composed either of the Doric proportions or according to the Ionic usages for the Corinthian order never had any scheme peculiar to itself for its cornices or other ornaments but may have mutuals in the ingotai on the architraves according to the triglyph system of the Doric style or according to Ionic practices it may be arranged with a freeze adorned with sculptures and accompanied with dentals and coroni 3 that's a third architectural order distinguished by its capital was produced out of the two other orders to the forms of their columns are due the names of three orders Doric, Ionic and Corinthian of which the Doric was the first to arise and in early times for Dorus the son of Helen and the nymph Psea was king of Acha and all the Peloponoses and he built a fain which chance to be of this order in the precinct of Juno at Argolis a very ancient city and subsequently others of the same order in the other cities of Acha all the rules of symmetry were not yet in existence for later the Athenians in obedience to oracles of the Delphic Apollo and with the general agreement of all Hellas dispatched 13 colonies at one time to Asia Minor appointing leaders for each colony and giving the commandant chief to Aion son of Xuthus and Croissa whom further Apollo at Delphi in the oracles had acknowledged as his son Aion conducted those colonies to Asia Minor took possession of the land of Caria and there founded the grand cities of Ephesus Miletus, Mios long ago engulfed by the water and its sacred rites and suffraged handed over by the Aionians to the Milesians Praene, Samos, Tios, Colofen, Caius, Eritre, Foseae, Clasomenae, Lebedos and Melite this Melite on account of the arrogance of its citizens was destroyed by the other cities in a war declared by general agreement and in its place through the kindness of King Attilus and Arsino the city of the Smyrnians was admitted among the Aionians 5. Now these cities after driving out the Carians and Lilligans called that part of the world Aionia from their leader Aion and there they set off precincts for the immortal gods and began to build feins to Panionian Apollo such as they had seen in Acia calling it Doric because they had first seen that kind of temple built in the states of the Dorians 6. Wishing to set up columns in their temple but not having rules for their symmetry and being in search of some way by which they could render them fit to bear a load and also of a satisfactory beauty of a parent they measured the imprint of a man's foot and compared this on finding that in a man the foot was one sixth of the height they applied the same principle to the column and reared the shaft including the capital to a height 6 times its thickness at its base thus the Doric column as used in buildings began to exhibit the proportions, strength and beauty of the body of a man 7. Just so afterwards when they decided to construct a temple to Diana the style of beauty they translated these footprints into terms characteristic of the slenderness of women and thus first made a column the thickness of which was only one eighth of its height so that it might have a taller look at the foot they substituted the base in place of a shoe in the capital they placed the volutes hanging down at the right and left like curly ringlets and ornamented its front with simatsia and with festoons of fruit in place of hair while they brought the flutes down the whole shaft falling like the folds in robes worn by matrons thus in the invention of the two different kinds of columns they borrowed manly beauty naked and unadorned for the one and for the other the delicacy, adornment and proportions characteristic of women 8. It is true that posterity having made progress in refinement and delicacy of feeling and finding pleasure has established seven diameters of the thickness as the height of the dory column and nine as that of the ionic the Ionians however originated the order which is therefore named Ionic. The third order called Corinthian is an imitation of the slenderness of a maiden for the outlines and limbs of maidens being more slender on account of their tender years admit of prettier effects in the way of adornment 9. It is related that the original discovery of this form of capital was as follows a free born maiden of Corinth just of a marriageable age was attacked by an illness and passed away after her burial her nurse collecting a few little things which used to give the girl pleasure while she was alive put them in a basket carried it to the tomb and laid it on top thereof covering it with a rooftop so that the things might last longer in the open air this basket happened to be placed just above the root of an acanthus the acanthus root pressed down meanwhile though it was by the weight when springtime can round put forth leaves and stalks in the middle and the stalks growing up along the sides of the basket and pressed out by the corners of the tile through the compulsion of its weight were forced to bend into volutes at the outer ages 10. Just then Callimachus whom the Romanian called cattateci tecnos for the refinement and delicacy of his artistic work passed by this tomb and observed the basket with the tender young leaves growing around it Delighted with the novel style and form he built some columns after that pattern for the Corinthians determined their symmetrical proportions and established from that time forth the rules to be followed in finished works of the Corinthian order 11. Let the height of the capital including its abacus be equivalent to the thickness of the base of a column let the breadth of the abacus be proportioned so that the diagonals drawn from one corner of it to the other shall be twice the height of the capitals which will give the proper breadth to each face of the abacus. The faces should curve inwards by one ninth of the breadth of the face from the outside edge of the corners of the abacus. At the bottom the capital should be of the thickness of the top of the column omitting the congee and astragal. The height of the abacus is one seventh of the height of the capital. 12. Omitting the height of the abacus let the rest be divided into three parts of which one should be given to the lowest leaf. Let the second leaf occupy the middle part of the height of the same height should be the stalks out of which grow leaves projected so as to support the seed from the stalks and run out to the utmost corners of the abacus. The smaller spirals between them should be carved just under the flower which is on the abacus. The flowers on the four sides are to be made as large as the height of the abacus. On these principles of proportion Corinthian capitals will be finished as they ought to be. There are other kinds of capitals set up on these columns and called by various names but they have no peculiarities of which we can speak nor can we recognize from them another order of columns. Even their very names are as we can see derived with some changes from the Corinthian, the Cushan shaped and the Doric whose symmetrical proportions have been thus transferred to delicate sculptures of novel form. 2. The Ornaments of the Orders 1. Since the origin and invention of the construct above I think it not out of place to speak in the same way about their ornaments, showing how these arose and from what original elements they were devised. The upper parts of all buildings contain timberwork to which various terms are applied and not only in its terminology but actually in its uses it exhibits variety. The main beams are those which are laid upon columns, pilasters and anti. Tie beams and rafters are found in the framing. Under the roof if the span is pretty large are the cross beams and struts if it is of moderate extent only the ridge pole, with the principal rafters extending to the outer edge of the eaves. Over the principal rafters of the Perlins and then above these and under the roof tiles come the common rafters extending so far that the walls are covered by their projection. 2. Thus each and every detail has a place, origin and order of its own. In accordance with these details and starting from Carpenters work, artists in building temples of stone and marble imitated those arrangements in their sculptures believing that they must follow those inventions. So it was that some ancient Carpenters engaged in building somewhere or other after laying the tie beams so that they're projected from the inside to the outside of the walls, closed up the space between the beams and above them ornamented the coroni and gables with infantry work of beauty greater than usual. Then they cut off the projecting ends of the beams bringing them into line and flush with the face of the walls. Next as this had an ugly look to them they fastened boards shaped as triglyphs are now made on the ends of the beams where they had been cut off in front and painted them with blue wax so that the cutting off of the ends of the beams being concealed would not offend the eye. Hence it was imitation of the arrangement of the tie beams that men began to employ in Doric buildings the device of triglyphs and the metopes between the beams. Later others in other buildings allowed the projecting principal rafters to run out till they were flush with the triglyphs and then form their projections into CMI. From that practice like the triglyphs from the arrangements of the tie beams the system of mutuals under the coroni was devised from the projections of the principal rafters. Hence generally in buildings of stone and marble the mutuals are carved with a downward slant in imitation of the principal rafters. For these necessarily have a slanting and projecting position to let the water drip down. The scheme of triglyphs and mutuals in Doric buildings was therefore the imeditive device that I have described. 4. It cannot be that the triglyphs represent windows as some have erroneously said since the triglyphs are placed at the corners and over the middle of the columns. Places where from the nature of the case there can be no windows at all. For buildings are wholly disconnected at the corners if openings for windows are left at those points. Again if we are to suppose that there were open windows where the triglyphs now stand it will follow on the same principal that the dentals of the ionic order have likewise taken the places of windows. For the term metope is used of the intervals between dentals as well as of those between triglyphs. The Greeks call the seeds of tie-beams and rafters opai while our people call these cavities columbaria dovecodes. Hence the space between the tie-beams being the space between two opai was named by them metope. 5. The system of triglyphs and mutuals was invented for the Doric order and similarly the scheme of dentals belonging to the ionic in which there are proper grounds for its use in buildings. Just as mutuals represent the projection of the principal rafters so dentals in the ionic are an imitation of the projections of the common rafters. And so in Greek works nobody ever put dentals under mutuals as it is impossible that common rafters should be underneath principal rafters. Therefore if that which in the original must be placed above the principal rafters is put in the copy below them the result will be a work constructed on false principles. Neither did the ancients approve of or employ mutuals or dentals in pediments but only play in corona for the reason that neither principal nor common rafters tail into the front of pediments. Nor can they overhang them but they are laid with a slope towards the eaves. Hence the ancients held that what could not happen in the original would have no valid reason for existence in the copy. 6. For in all their works they proceeded on definite principles of fitness and in ways derived from the truth of nature. Thus they reached perfection approving only those things which if challenged can be explained on grounds of the truth. Hence from the sources which have been described they established and left us the rules of symmetry and proportion for each order. In their steps I have spoken above on the Ionic and Corinthian style and I shall now briefly explain the theory of the Doric and its general appearance. End of Book 4, Chapter 2 Book 4, chapters 3-5 of Ten Books on Architecture This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Fredrik Carlson Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius, translated by Morris Hickey Morgan Chapter 3 Proportions of Doric Temples 1. Some of the ancient architects said that the Doric order would not be used for temples because faults and incogruities were caused by the laws of its symmetry. Arsisius and Pythius said so as well as Hermaginus. He, for instance, after getting together a supply of marble for the construction of a Doric temple, changed his mind and built an Ionic temple to father backers with the same materials. This is not because it is unlovely in appearance or origin or dignity of form, but because the arrangement of the triglyphs and metopes, Laconaria is an embarrassment in inconvenience to the work. 2. For the triglyphs ought to be placed so as to correspond to the centers of the columns, and the metopes between the triglyphs ought to be as broad as they are high. But in violation of this rule, at the corner columns, triglyphs are not corresponding to the center of the columns. Hence, the metopes next to the corner columns do not come out perfectly square, but are too broad by half the width of a triglyph. Those who would make the metopes all alike make the outermost intercolaminations narrower by half the width of a triglyph. But the result is faulty whether it is attained by broader metopes or narrower intercolaminations. For this reason the ancients appear to have avoided the scheme of the Doric order in their temples. 3. However, since our plan calls for it we set it forth as we have received it from our teachers, so that if anybody cares to set to work with attention to these laws, he may find the proportions stated by which he can construct correct and faultless examples of temples in the Doric fashion. Let the front of a Doric temple, at the place where the columns are put up, be divided to be tetrastyle into 27 parts if hexastyle into 42. One of these parts will be the module in Greek and Bathes and this module once fixed all the parts of the work are adjusted by means of calculations based upon it. 4. The thickness of the columns will be two modules and their height including the capitals 14. The height of a capital will be one module and it's breadth two and one sixth modules. Let the height of the capital be divided into three parts of which one will form the abacus with the simatium the second the echinus with its annulets and the third the necking. The diminution of the column should be the same as described for Ionic columns in the third book. The height of the architrave including tinnia and gutai is one module and of the tinnia one seventh of a module, the gutai extending as wide as the triglyphs and beneath the tinnia should hang down for one sixth of a module including the regular. The depth of the architrave on its underside should answer to the necking at the top of the column. Above the architrave the triglyphs and metopes are to be placed. The triglyphs one and a half modules high and one module wide in front. They are to be arranged that one is placed to correspond to the center of each corner column and two over each intercolaminations except the middle intercolaminations of the front and rear porticoes which have three each. The intervalls in the middle being thus extended a free passage will be afforded to those who would approach the statues of the guards. Five. The width of the triglyph should be divided into six parts and five of these marked off in the middle by means of the rule and two half parts right and left. Let one part that in the center form a femur in Greek meros. On each side of it are the channels to be cut in to fit the tip of a carpenter's square and in succession the other femura one at the right and one at the left of a channel. To the outsides are relegated the semichannels. The triglyphs having been thus arranged let the metopes between the triglyphs be as high as they are wide while at the outer corners I see my metopes inserted with the width of half a module. In these ways all defects will be corrected whether in metopes or intercolliminations or laconaria as all the arrangements have been made with uniformity. Six. The capitals of each triglyph are to measure one sixth of a module. Over the capitals of the triglyphs the corona is to be placed with a projection of two-thirds of a module and having a doric semachem at the bottom and another at the top. So the corona with its semacha is half a module in height. Set off under the underside of the corona vertically under the triglyph and over the middle of the metopes are the via in the straight lines and the guttie range in rows. Six guttie broad and three deep. The spaces left due to the fact that the metopes are broader than the triglyphs may be left unornamented or may have thunderbolts carved on them. Just at the edge of the corona a line should be cut in called the scotia. All the other parts such as the tympana and the semi of the corona are to be constructed as described above in the case of the ionic order. Seven. Such will be the scheme established for diastyl buildings. But if the building is to be sys-style and monotriglyphic let the front of the temple, if tetrastyle is added into 19.5 parts if hexastyle into 29.5 parts. One of these parts will form the module in accordance with which the adjustments are to be made as above described. Eight. Thus over each portion of the architrave two metopes and two triglyphs will be placed and in addition at the corners half a triglyph and besides the space large enough for a half triglyph. At the center vertically under the temple there should be room for three triglyphs and three metopes in order that the center inter-columniation by its greater width may give ample room for people to enter the temple and may lend an imposing effect to the view of the statues of the gods. Nine. The columns should be fluted with twenty flutes. If these are to be left plain only the twenty angles need to be marked off. But if they are to be channeled out the channeling may be determined thus. Draw a square with sides equal in length to the breadth of fluting and center a pair of compasses in the middle of the square. Then describe a circle with a circumference touching the angles of the square and let the channelings have the contour of the segment formed by the circumference and the side of the square. The fluting of the dory column will thus be finished in the style appropriate to it. Then draw a square to the enlargement to be made in the column at its middle, let the description given for Ionic temple in the third book be applied here also in the case of Doric. Since the external appearance of the Corinthian, Doric and Ionic proportions has now been described it is necessary next to explain the arrangements of the cella and the pernaus. Chapter 4. The cella and the pernaus. One. The length of a temple is adjusted so that its width may be half its length and the actual cella one fourth greater in length than in width, including the wall in which the folding doors are placed. Let the remaining three parts constituting the pernaus extend to the anti terminating the walls which anti ought to be of the same thickness as the columns. If the temple is to be more than 20 feet in width let two columns be placed between the two anti and separate the pteroma from the pernaus. The three inter-columniations between the anti and the columns should be closed by low walls made of marble or of joiner's work, endorsing them to afford passages into the pernaus. Two. If the width is to be more than 40 feet let columns be placed inside and opposite to the columns between the anti. They should have the same height as the column in front of them and should be proportionately reduced. Thus, if the columns in front are in thickness one eighth of their height these should be one tenth. If the former are one ninth or one tenth they should be reduced in the same proportion for their reduction will not be discernible as the air has not free play about them. Still in case they look too slender when the outer columns have 20 or 24 flutes these may have 28 or 32. Thus the additional number of flutes will make up proportionately for the loss in the body of the shaft preventing it from being seen and so in a different way the column will be made to look equally thick. Three. The reason for this result is that I touching thus upon a greater number of points set closer together has a larger compass to cover with its range of vision. For if two columns equally thick but one unfluted are measured by drawing lines around them one line touching the body of the columns in the hollows of the channels and on the edges of the flutes these rounding lines even through the columns are equally thick will not be equal to each other because it takes a line of greater length to compass the channels and the flutes. This being granted it is not improper in narrow quarters or where the space is enclosed to use in a building columns of somewhat slender proportions since we can help out by a duly proportionate number of flutings. Four. The walls of the cella itself should be thick in proportion to its size provided that their anti are kept of the same thickness as the columns. If the walls are to be amasonry let the rubble used be as small as possible but if they are to be of dimension stone or marble the material ought to be a very moderate in uniform size for the laying of the stones as to break joints will make the whole work stronger and their beveled edges standing above the builds and beds will give it an agreeable look somewhat like that of a picture. Chapter 5. How the temple should face One. The quarter toward which temples of the immortal guards ought to face is to be determined on the principle that if there is no reason to hinder and the choice is free the temple and the statue placed in the cella should face the western quarter of the sky. This will enable those who approach the altar with offerings and sacrifices to face the direction of the sunrise and facing the statue in the temple and thus those who are undertaking vows look toward the quarters from which the sun come forth and likewise the statues themselves appear to be coming forth out of the east to look upon them as they pray and sacrifice. Two. But if the nature of the site is such as to forbid this the principle of determining the quarter should be changed so that the widest possible view of the city may be had from the sanctuaries of the guards. Furthermore, temples start to be built beside rivers as in Egypt on both sides of the Nile Ought as it seems to face the river banks. Similarly, houses of the guards on the sides of public roads should be arranged so that the passes by can have a view of them and pay their devotions face to face. End of Book 4. 5.