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Marcus Vitruvius Pollio:
de Architectura,
Book I
Preface
1. Whilst, O Cæsar, your god-like mind and genius were engaged in
acquiring the dominion of the world, your enemies having been all subdued by
your unconquerable valour; whilst the citizens were extolling your victories,
and the conquered nations were awaiting your nod; whilst the Roman senate and
people, freed from alarm, were enjoying the benefit of your opinions and
counsel for their governance; I did not presume, at so unfit a period, to
trouble you, thus engaged, with my writings on Architecture, lest I should
have incurred your displeasure.
2. When, however, I found that your attention, not exclusively devoted to
state affairs, was bestowed on the state of the public buildings, so that the
republic was not more indebted to you for its extended empire, in the addition
of so many provinces, than for your numerous public buildings by which its
grandeur is amply manifested, I considered it right that no time should be
lost in laying these precepts before you. My reverence for the memory of your
virtuous father, to whom I was well known, and from whom, now a
participator in council with the gods, the empire descended to you, has been
the cause of your good will towards me. Hence, together with M. Aurelius,
P. Numisius, and Cn. Cornelius, I have been appointed to, and receive
the emoluments arising from the care of, the various engines of war which you
assigned to me on the recommendation of your sister.
3. As, through your kindness, I have been thus placed beyond the reach of
poverty, I think it right to address this treatise to you; and I feel
the more induced to do so from your having built, and being still engaged in
the erection of, many edifices. It is proper to deliver down to posterity, as a
memorial, some account of these your magnificent works. I have therefore
given such definite directions for the conduct of works, that those already
executed, as well as those hereafter to be constructed, may be by you well
known and understood. In the following pages I have developed all the
principles of the art.
Chapter 1
1. Architecture is a science arising out of many other sciences, and adorned
with much and varied learning; by the help of which a judgment is formed of
those works which are the result of other arts. Practice and theory are its
parents. Practice is the frequent and continued contemplation of the mode of
executing any given work, or of the mere operation of the hands, for the
conversion of the material in the best and readiest way. Theory is the result
of that reasoning which demonstrates and explains that the material wrought has
been so converted as to answer the end proposed.
2. Wherefore the mere practical architect is not able to assign sufficient
reasons for the forms he adopts; and the theoretic architect also fails,
grasping the shadow instead of the substance. He who is theoretic as well as
practical, is therefore doubly armed; able not only to prove the propriety of
his design, but equally so to carry it into execution.
3. In architecture, as in other arts, two considerations must be constantly
kept in view; namely, the intention, and the matter used to express that
intention: but the intention is founded on a conviction that the matter wrought
will fully suit the purpose; he, therefore, who is not familiar with both
branches of the art, has no pretension to the title of the architect. An
architect should be ingenious, and apt in the acquisition of knowledge.
Deficient in either of these qualities, he cannot be a perfect master. He
should be a good writer, a skilful draftsman, versed in geometry and optics,
expert at figures, acquainted with history, informed on the principles of
natural and moral philosophy, somewhat of a musician, not ignorant of the
sciences both of law and physic,
nor of the motions, laws, and relations to each other, of the heavenly bodies.
4. By means of the first named acquirement, he is to commit to writing his
observations and experience, in order to assist his memory. Drawing is employed
in representing the forms of his designs. Geometry affords much aid to the
architect: to it he owes the use of the right line and circle, the level and
the square; whereby his delineations of buildings on plane surfaces are greatly
facilitated. The science of optics enables him to introduce with judgment the
requisite quantity of light, according to the aspect. Arithmetic estimates the
cost, and aids in the measurement of the works; this, assisted by the laws of
geometry, determines those abstruse questions, wherein the different proportions
of some parts to others are involved.
5. Unless acquainted with history, he will be unable to account for the use of
many ornaments which he may have occasion to introduce. For instance; should
any one wish for information on the origin of those draped matronal figures
crowned with a mutulus and cornice, called Caryatides, he
will explain it by the following history. Carya, a city of Peloponnesus, joined
the Persians in their war against the Greeks. These in return for the
treachery, after having freed themselves by a most glorious victory from the
intended Persian yoke, unanimously resolved to levy war against the Caryans.
Carya was, in consequence, taken and destroyed, its male population
extinguished, and its matrons carried into slavery. That these circumstances
might be better remembered, and the nature of the triumph perpetuated, the
victors represented them draped, and apparently suffering under the burthen
with which they were loaded, to expiate the crime of their native city. Thus,
in their edifices, did the antient architects, by the use
of these statues, hand down to posterity a memorial of the crime of the
Caryans.
6. Again; a small number of Lacedæmonians, under the command of Pausanias, the
son of Cleombrotus, overthrew the prodigious army of the Persians at the battle
of Platea. After a triumphal exhibition of the spoil and booty, the proceeds of
the valour and devotion of the victors were applied by the government in the erection
of the Persian portico; and, as an appropriate monument of the victory, and a
trophy for the admiration of posterity, its roof was supported by statues of
the barbarians, in their magnificent costume; indicating, at the same time the
merited contempt due to their haughty projects, intimidating their enemies by
fear of their courage, and acting as a stimulus to their fellow countrymen to
be always in readiness for the defence of the nation. This is the origin of the
Persian order for the support of an entablature; an invention which has
enriched many a design with the singular variety it exhibits. Many other
matters of history have a connexion with architecture, and prove the necessity
of its professors being well versed in it.
7. Moral philosophy will teach the architect to be above meanness in his
dealings, and to avoid arrogance: it will make him just, compliant and faithful
to his employer; and what is of the highest importance, it will prevent avarice
gaining an ascendancy over him: for he should not be occupied with the thoughts
of filling his coffers, nor with the desire of grasping every thing in the
shape of gain, but, by the gravity of his manners, and a good character, should
be careful to preserve his dignity. In these respects we see the importance of
moral philosophy; for such are her precepts. That branch of philosophy which
the Greeks call fusiologi/a, or the doctrine of physics, is necessary to him in the solution of
various problems; as for instance, in the conduct, whose natural force, in its
meandering and expansion over flat countries, is often such as to require
restraints, which none know how to apply, but those who are acquainted with the
laws of nature: nor, indeed, unless grounded in the first principles of physic,
can
he study with profit the works of Ctesibius, Archimedes, and many other authors
who have written on the subject.
8. Music assists him in the use of harmonic and mathematical proportion. It
is, moreover, absolutely necessary in adjusting the force of the balistæ, catapultæ, and scorpions, in
whose frames are holes for the passage of the homotona, which are strained by gut-ropes attached to windlasses worked by
hand-spikes. Unless these ropes are equally extended, which only a nice ear can
discover by their sound when struck, the bent arms of the engine do not give an
equal impetus when disengaged, and the strings, therefore, not being in equal
states of tension, prevent the direct flight of the weapon.
9. So the vessels called h)xei=a by the Greeks, which are placed in certain recesses under the seats of
theatres, are fixed and arranged with a due regard to the laws of harmony and
physics, their tones being fourths, fifths, and octaves; so that when the voice
of the actor is in unison with the pitch of these instruments, its power is
increased and mellowed by impinging thereon. He would, moreover, be at a loss
in constructing hydraulic and other engines, if ignorant of music.
10. Skill in physic enables him to ascertain the salubrity of different tracts
of country, and to determine the variation of climates, which the Greeks call kli/mata: for the air and water
of different situations, being matters of the highest importance, no building
will be healthy without attention to those points. Law should be an object of
his study, especially those parts of it which relate to party-walls, to the
free course and discharge of the eaves' waters, the regulations of sesspools
and sewage, and those relating to window lights. The laws of sewage require his
particular attention, that he may prevent his employers being involved in
law-suits when the building is finished. Contracts, also, for the execution of
the works, should be drawn with care and precision: because, when without legal
flaws, neither party will be able to take advantage of the other. Astronomy
instructs him in the points of the heavens, the laws of the celestial bodies,
the equinoxes, solstices, and courses of the stars; all of which should be well
understood, in the construction and proportions of clocks.
11. Since, therefore, this art is founded upon and adorned with so many
different sciences, I am of opinion that those who have not, from their
early youth, gradually climbed up to the summit, cannot, without presumption,
call themselves masters of it.
12. Perhaps, to the uninformed, it may appear unaccountable that a man should
be able to retain in his memory such a variety of learning; but the close
alliance with each other, of the different branches of science, will explain
the difficulty. For as a body is composed of various concordant members, so
does the whole circle of learning consist in one harmonious system. Wherefore
those, who from an early age are initiated in the different branches of
learning, have a facility in acquiring some knowledge of all, from their common
connexion with each other. On this account Pythius, one of the antients,
architect of the noble temple of Minerva at Priene, says, in his commentaries,
that an architect should have that perfect knowledge of each art and science
which is not even acquired by the professors of any one in particular, who have
had every opportunity of improving themselves in it. This, however, cannot be
necessary;
13. for how can it be expected that an architect should equal Aristarchus as a
grammarian, yet should he not be ignorant of grammar. In music, though it be
evident he need not equal Aristoxenus, yet he should know something of it.
Though he need not excel, as Apelles, in painting, nor as Myron or Polycletus, in
sculpture, yet he should have attained some proficiency in these arts. So, in
the science of medicine, it is not required that he should equal Hippocrates.
Thus also, in other sciences, it is not important that pre-eminence in each be
gained, but he must not, however, be ignorant of the general principles of
each. For in such a variety of matters, it cannot be supposed that the same
person can arrive at excellence in each, since to be aware of their several
niceties and bearings, cannot fall within his power.
14. We see how few of those who profess a particular art arrive at perfection
in it, so as to distinguish themselves: hence, if but few of those practising
an individual art, obtain lasting fame, how should the architect, who is
required to have a knowledge of so many, be deficient in none of them, and even
excel those who have professed any one exclusively.
15. Wherefore Pythius seems to have been in error, forgetting that art consists
in practice and theory. Theory is common to, and may be known by all, but the
result of practice occurs to the artist in his own art only. The physician and
musician are each obliged to have some regard to the beating of the pulses, and
the motion of the feet, but who would apply to the latter to heal a wound or
cure a malady? so, without the aid of the former, the musician affects the ears
of his audience by modulations upon his instrument.
16. The astronomer and musician delight in similar proportions, for the
positions of the stars, which are quartile and trine, answer to a fourth and
fifth in harmony. The same analogy holds in that branch of geometry which the
Greeks call lo/goj o)ptiko\j: indeed, throughout the whole range of art, there are many incidents common
to all. Practice alone can lead to excellence in any one: that architect,
therefore, is sufficiently educated, whose general knowledge enables him to
give his opinion on any branch when required to do so.
17. Those unto whom nature has been so bountiful that they are at once
geometricians, astronomers, musicians, and skilled in many other arts, go
beyond what is required of the architect, and may be properly called
mathematicians, in the extended sense of that word. Men so gifted, discriminate
acutely, and are rarely met with. Such, however, was Aristarchus of Samos,
Philolaus and Archytas of Tarentum, Apollonius of Perga, Eratosthenes of
Cyrene, Archimedes and Scopinas of Syracuse: each of whom wrote on all the
sciences.
18. Since, therefore, few men are thus gifted, and yet it is required of the
architect to be generally well informed, and it is manifest he cannot hope to
excel in each art, I beseech you, O Cæsar, and those who read this my
work, to pardon and overlook grammatical errors; for I write neither as an
accomplished philosopher, an eloquent rhetorician, nor an expert grammarian,
but as an architect: in respect, however, of my art and its principles,
I will lay down rules which may serve as an authority to those who build,
as well as to those who are already somewhat acquainted with the science.
Chapter 2
1. Architecture depends on fitness (ordinatio) and arrangement (dispositio), the former being called ta/cij, in Greek, and the latter dia/qesij; it also depends on proportion, uniformity, consistency, and economy,
which the Greeks call oi)konomi/a.
2. Fitness is the adjustment of size of the several parts to their several
uses, and required due regard to the general proportions of the fabric: it
arises out of dimension (quantitas), which the Greeks call poso/thj. Dimension regulated the general scale of the work, so that the parts may
all tell and be effective. Arrangement is the disposition in their just and
proper places of all the parts of the building, and the pleasing effect of the
same; keeping in view its appropriate character. It is divisible into three
heads, which, considered together, constitute design: these, by the Greeks, are
named i)de/ai: they are called ichnography, orthography, and scenography. The first is
the representation on a plane of the ground-plan of the work, drawn by rule and
compasses. The second is the elevation of the front, slightly shadowed, and
shewing the forms of the intended building. The last exhibits the front and a
receding side properly shadowed, the lines being drawn to their proper
vanishing points. These three are the result of thought and invention. Thought
is an effort of the mind, ever incited by the pleasure attendant on success in
compassing an object. Invention is the effect of this effort; which throws a
new light on things the most recondite, and produces them to answer the
intended purpose. These are the ends of arrangement.
3. Proportion is that agreeable harmony between the several parts of a
building, which is the result of a just and regular agreement of them with each
other; the height to the width, this to the length, and each of these to the
whole.
4. Uniformity is the parity of the parts to one another; each corresponding
with its opposite, as in the human figure. The arms, feet, hands, fingers, are
similar to, and symmetrical with, one another; so should the respective parts
of a building correspond. In the balista, by the size of the hole which the
Greeks call peri/trhton; in ships, by the space between the thowls, which space in Greek is called
diphxaikh\, we have a measure, by the knowledge of which the whole of the
construction of a vessel may be developed.
5. Consistency is found in that work whose whole and detail are suitable to
the occasion. It arises from circumstance, custom, and nature. From
circumstance, which the Greeks call qematismo\j, when temples are built, hypæthral and uninclosed, to
Jupiter, Thunderer, Coelus, the Sun and Moon; because these divinities are
continually known to us by their presence night and day, and throughout all
space. For a similar reason, temples of the Doric order are erected to Minerva,
Mars, and Hercules; on account of whose valour, their temples should be of
masculine proportions, and without delicate ornament. The character of the
Corinthian order seems more appropriate to Venus, Flora, Proserpine, and Nymphs
of Fountains; because its slenderness, elegance and richness, and its
ornamental leaves surmounted by volutes, seem to bear an analogy to their
dispositions. A medium between these two is chosen for temples to Juno,
Diana, Bacchus, and other similar deities, which should be of the Ionic order,
tempered between the severity of the Doric and the slenderness and delicacy of the
Corinthian order.
6. In respect of custom, consistency is preserved when the vestibules of
magnificent edifices are conveniently contrived and richly finished: for those
buildings cannot be said to be consistent, to whose splendid interiors you pass
through poor and mean entrances. So also, if dentilled cornices are used in the
Doric order, or triglyphs applied above the voluted Ionic, thus transferring
parts to one order which properly belong to another, the eye will be offended,
because custom otherwise applies these peculiarities.
7. Natural consistency arises from the choice of such situations for temples
as possess the advantages of salubrious air and water; more especially in the
case of temples erected to Æsculapius, to the Goddess of Health, and such other
divinities as possess the power of curing diseases. For thus the sick, changing
the unwholesome air and water to which they have been accustomed for those that
are healthy, sooner convalesce; and a reliance upon the divinity will be
therefore increased by proper choice of situation. Natural consistency also
requires that chambers should be lighted from the east; baths and winter
apartments from the south-west; picture and other galleries which require a
steady light, from the north, because from that quarter the light is not
sometimes brilliant and at other times obscured, but is nearly the same
throughout the day.
8. Economy consists in a due and proper application of the means afforded
according to the ability of the employer and the situation chosen; care being
taken that the expenditure is prudently conducted. In this respect the
architect is to avoid the use of materials which are not easily procured and
prepared on the spot. For it cannot be expected that good pit-sand, stone, fir
of either sort, or marble, can be procured every where in plenty, but they
must, in some instances, be brought from a distance, with much trouble and at
great expense. In such cases, river or sea-sand may be substituted for
pit-sand; cypress, poplar, elm, and pine, for the different sorts of fir; and
the like of the rest, according to circumstances.
9. The other branch of economy consists in suiting the building to the use
which is to be made of it, the money to be expended, and the elegance
appropriate thereto; because, as one or other of these circumstances prevails,
the design should be varied. That which would answer very well as a town house,
would ill suit as a country house, in which store-rooms must be provided for
the produce of the farm. So the houses of men of business must be differently
designed from those which are built for men of taste. Mansions for men of
consequence in the governement must be adapted to their particular habits. In
short, economy must ever depend on the circumstances of the case.
Chapter 3
1. Architecture consists of three branches; namely, building, dialling, and
mechanics. Building is divided into two parts. The first regulates the general
plan of the walls of a city and its public buildings; the other relates to
private buildings. Public buildings are for three purposes; defence, religion,
and the security of the public. Buildings for defence are those walls, towers,
and gates of a town, necessary for the continual shelter of its inhabitants
against the attacks of an enemy. Those for the purposes of religion are the
fanes and temples of the immortal gods. Those for public convenience are gates,
fora or squares for market-places, baths, theatres, walks, and the like; which,
being for public use, are placed in public situations, and should be arranged
to as best to meet the convenience of the public.
2. All these should possess strength, utility, and beauty. Strength arises
from carrying down the foundations to a good solid bottom, and from making a
proper choice of materials without parsimony. Utility arises from a judicious
distribution of the parts, so that their purposes be duly answered, and that
each have its proper situation. Beauty is produced by the pleasing appearance
and good taste of the whole, and by the dimensions of all the parts being duly
proportioned to each other.
Chapter 4
1. In setting out the walls of a city the choice of a healthy situation is of
the first importance: it should be on high ground, neither subject to fogs nor
rains; its aspects should be neither violently of the nor intensely cold, but
temperate in both respects. The neighbourhood of a marshy place must be
avoided; for in such a site the morning air, uniting with the fogs that rise in
the neighbourhood, will reach the city with the rising sun; and these fogs and
mists, charged with the exhalation of the fenny animals, will diffuse an
unwholesome effluvia over the bodies of the inhabitants, and render the place
pestilent. A city on the sea side, exposed to the south or west, will be
insalubrious; for in summer mornings, a city thus placed would be hot, at noon
it would be scorched. A city, also, with a western aspect, would even at
sunrise be warm, at noon hot, and in the evening of a burning temperature.
2. Hence the constitutions of the inhabitants of such places, from such
continual and excessive changes of the air, would be much vitiated. This effect
is likewise produced on inanimate bodies: nobody would think of lighting his
wine-cellar from the south or the west, but from the north, an aspect not
liable to these violent changes. In granaries whose aspects are south of the
east or west, the stores are soon ruined; and provisions, as well as fruits,
cannot be long preserved unless kept in apartments whose aspects are north of
the east or west.
3. For heat, which acts as an alterative, by drying up the natural moisture of
any body, destroys and rots those substances on which it acts. Iron, for
instance, naturally of a hard texture, becomes so soft when heated in a forge
as to be easily wrought into any form; but if, when heated, it is suddenly
immersed in cold water, it immediately regains its original quality.
4. Thus, not only in unwholesome, but also in salubrious districts, the summer
heats produce languor and relaxation of body; and in winter, even the most
pestilential situations become wholesome, inasmuch as the cold strengthens and
restores the constitution of the inhabitants. Hence, those who change a cold
for a hot climate, rarely escape sickness, but are soon carried off; whereas,
on the other hand, those who pass from a hot to a cold climate, far from being
injured by the change, are thereby generally strengthened.
5. Much care, then, should be taken so to set out the walls of a city, that it
may not be obnoxious to the pestilential blasts of the hot winds. For as,
according to those principles which the Greeks call stoixei=a, all bodies are
compounded of fire, water, earth, and air, by whose union and varying
proportions the different qualities of animals are engendered;
6. so, in those bodies wherein fire predominates, their temperament is
destroyed, and their strength dissipated. Such is the case in exposure to
certain aspects of the heavens whence the heat insinuates itself through the
pores in a greater degree than the temperature of the system will bear. Bodies
which contain a greater proportion of water than is necessary to balance the
other elements, are speedily corrupted, and lose their virtues and properties.
Hence bodies are much injured by damp winds and atmosphere. Lastly, the
elements of earth and air being increased or diminished more than is consistent
with the temperature of any given body, will have a tendency to destroy its
equilibrium; the earthy elements by repletion, the aërial by the weight of the
atmosphere.
7. If any one doubt this, let him study the different natures of birds,
fishes, and animals of the land, and he will easily perceive the truth of these
principles, from the variety existing among them. For there is one flesh of
birds, another of fishes, and another, very different, of land animals. Birds
have a small proportion of earth and water in their nature, a moderate quantity
of heat, and a considerable portion of air; whence, being light by nature, from
their component elements, they more easily raise themselves in the air. Fishes,
by nature adapted to the watery element, are compounded of but a moderate
degree of heat, a considerable proportion of air and earth, and a very small
portion of water, the element in which they live; and hence, easier exist in
it. Wherefore, when removed from it, they soon die. Terrestrial animals, being
constituted with much air, heat, and water, and but little earth, cannot live
in the water, on account of the quantity of that element naturally
preponderating in their composition.
8. Since, then, we are thus constantly thus reminded, by our senses, that the
bodies of animals are so constituted, and we have mentioned that they suffer
and die from the want or superabundance of any one element not suitable to
their temperament, surely much circumspection should be used in the choice of a
temperate and healthy site for a city.
9. The precepts of the ancients, in this respect, should ever be observed.
They always, after sacrifice, carefully inspected the livers of those animals
fed on that spot whereon the city was to be built, or whereon a stative
encampment was intended. If the livers were diseased and livid, they tried
others, in order to ascertain whether accident or disease was the cause of the
imperfection; but if the greater part of the experiments proved, by the sound
and healthy appearance of the livers, that the water and food of the spot were
wholesome, they selected it for the garrison. If the reverse, they inferred, as
in the case of cattle, so in that of the human body, the water and food of such
a place would become pestiferous; and they therefore abandoned it, in search of
another, valuing health above all other considerations.
10. That the salubrity of a tract of land is discovered by the pastures or food
which it furnishes, is sufficiently clear, from certain qualities of the lands
in Crete, situate in the vicinity of the river Pothereus, which lie between the
two states of Gnosus
and Gortyna. There are pasturages on each side of this river: the cattle,
however, pastured on the Gnossian side, when opened, are found with their
spleens perfect; whilst those on the opposite side, nearer to Gortyna, retain
no appearance of a spleen. Physicians, in their endeavours to account for this
singular circumstance, discovered a species of herb eaten by the cattle, whose
property was that of diminishing the spleen. Hence arose the use of the herb
which the Cretans call a)splhnoj, as a cure for those affected with enlarged spleen.
11. When, therefore, a city is built in a marshy situation near the sea-coast,
with a northern, north-eastern, or eastern aspect, on a marsh whose level is
higher than the shore of the sea, the site is not altogether improper; for by
means of sewers the waters may be discharged into the sea: and at those times,
when violently agitated by storms, the sea swells and runs up the sewers, it
mixes with the water of the marsh, and prevents the generation of marshy
insects; it also soon destroys such as are passing from the higher level, by
the saltness of its water to which they are unaccustomed. An instance of this
kind occurs in the Gallic marshes about Altinum, Ravenna, and Aquileia, and
other places in Cisalpine Gaul, near marshes which, for the reasons above
named, are remarkably healthy.
12. When the marshes are stagnant, and have no drainage by means of rivers or
drains, as is the case with the Pontine marshes, they become putrid, and emit
vapours of a heavy and pestilent nature. Thus the old city of Salapia, in
Apulia, built, as some say, by Diomedes on his return from Troy, or, as others
write, by Elphias the Rhodian, was so placed that the inhabitants were
continually out of health. At length they applied to Marcus Hostilius, and
publicly petitioned him, and obtained his consent, to be allowed to seek and
select a more wholesome spot to which the city might be removed. Without delay,
and with much judgment, he bought an estate on a healthy spot close to the sea,
and requested the Roman senate and people to permit the removal of the city. He
then set out the walls, and assigned a portion of the soil to each citizen at a
moderate valuation. After which, opening a communication between the lake and
the sea, he converted the former into an excellent harbour for the city. Thus
the Salapians now inhabit a healthy situation, four miles from their
ancient city.
Chapter 5
1. When we are satisfied with the spot fixed on for the site of the city, as
well as in respect of the goodness of the air as of the abundant supply of
provisions for the support of the population, the communications by good roads,
and river or sea navigation for the transport of merchandise, we should take
into consideration the method of constructing the walls and towers of the city.
Their foundations should be carried down to a solid bottom, if such can be
found, and should be built thereon of such thickness as may be necessary for
the proper support of that part of the wall which stands above the natural
level of the ground. They should be of the soundest workmanship and materials,
and of greater thickness than the walls above.
2. From the exterior face of the wall towers must be projected, from which an
approaching enemy may be annoyed by weapons, from the embrasures of those
towers, right and left. An easy approach to the walls must be provided against:
indeed they should be surrounded by uneven ground, and the roads leading to the
gates should be winding and turn to the left from the gates. By this
arrangement, the right sides of the attacking troops, which are not covered by
their shields, will be open to the weapons of the besieged. The plan of a city
should not be square, nor formed with acute angles, but polygonal; so that the
motions of the enemy may be open to observation. A city whose plan is
acute-angled, is with difficulty defended; for such a form protects the
attacker more than the attacked.
3. The thickness of the walls should be sufficient for two armed men to pass
each other with ease. The walls ought to be tied, from front to rear, with many
pieces of charred olive wood; by which means the two faces, thus connected,
will endure for ages. The advantage of the use of olive is, that it is neither
affected by weather, by rot, or by age. Buried in the earth, or immersed in
water, it lasts unimpaired: and for this reason, not only walls, but
foundations, and such walls as are of extraordinary thickness, tied together
therewith, are exceedingly lasting.
4. The distance between each tower should not exceed an arrow's flight; so
that if, at any point between them, an attack be made, the besiegers may be
repulsed by the scorpions and other missile engines stationed on the towers
right and left of the point in question. The walls will be intercepted by the
lower parts of the towers where they occur, leaving an interval equal to the
width of the tower; which space the tower will consequently occupy: but the
communication across the void inside the tower, must be of wood, not at all
fastened with iron: so that, if the enemy obtain possession of any part of the
walls, the wooden communication may be promptly cut away by the defenders, and
thus prevent the enemy from penetrating to the other parts of the walls without
the danger of precipitating themselves into the vacant hollows of the towers.
5. The towers should be made either round or polygonal. A square is a bad
form, on account of its being easily fractured at the quoins by the battering-ram;
whereas the circular tower has this advantage, that, when battered, the pieces
of masonry whereof it is composed being cuneiform, they cannot be driven in
towards their centre without displacing the whole mass. Nothing tends more to
the security of walls and towers, than backing them with walls or terraces: it
counteracts the effects of rams as well as of undermining.
6. It is not, however, always necessary to construct them in this manner,
except in places where the besiegers might gain high ground very near the
walls, from which, over level ground, an assault could be made. In the
construction of ramparts, very wide and deep trenches are first to be
excavated; the bottom of which must be still further dug out, for receiving the
foundation of the wall. This must be of sufficient thickness to resist the
pressure of the earth against it.
7. Then, according to the space requisite for drawing up the cohorts in
military order on the rampart, another wall is to be built within the former,
towards the city. The outer and inner walls are then to be connected by cross
walls, disposed on the plan after the manner of the teeth of a comb or of a
saw, so as to divide the pressure of the filling in earth into many and less
forces, and thus prevent the walls from being thrust out.
8. I do not think it requisite to dilate on the materials whereof the
wall should be composed; because those which are most desirable, cannot, from
the situation of a place, be always procured. We must, therefore, use what are
found on the spot; such as square stones, flint, rubble stones, burnt or
unburnt bricks; for every place is not provided, as is Babylon, with such a
substitute for lime and sand as burnt bricks and liquid bitumen; yet there is
scarcely any spot which does not furnish materials whereof a durable wall may
not be built.
Chapter 6
1. Their circuit being completed, it behoves us to consider the manner of
disposing of the area of the space enclosed within the walls, and the proper
directions and aspects of the streets and lanes. They should be so planned as
to exclude the winds: these, if cold, are unpleasant; if hot, are hurtful; if
damp, destructive. A fault in this respect must be therefore avoided, and
care taken to prevent that which occurs in so many cities. For instance; in the
island of Lesbos, the town of Mytilene is magnificently and elegantly designed,
and well built, but imprudently placed. When the south wind prevails in it, the
inhabitants fall sick; the north-west wind affects them with coughs; and the
north wind restores them to health: but the intensity of the cold therein is so
great, that no one can stand about in the streets and lanes.
2. Wind is a floating wave of air, whose undulation continually varies. It is
generated by the action of heat upon moisture, the rarefaction thereby produced
creating a continued rush of wind. That such is the case, may be satisfactorily
proved by observations on brazen æolipylæ, which clearly shew that an attentive examination of human inventions
often leads to a knowledge of the general laws of nature. Æolipylæ are hollow brazen
vessels, which have an opening or mouth of small size, by means of which they
can be filled with water. Previous to the water being heated over the fire, but
little wind is emitted, as soon, however, as the water begins to boil, a
violent wind issues forth. Thus a simple experiment enables us to ascertain and
determine the causes and effects of the great operations of the heavens and the
winds.
3. In a place sheltered from the winds, those who are in health preserve it,
those who are ill soon convalesce, though in other, even healthy places, they
would require different treatment, and this entirely on account of their
shelter from the winds. The disorders difficult to cure in exposed situations
are colds, the gout, coughs, phthisis, pleurisy, spitting of blood, and those
diseases which are treated by replenishment instead of exhaustion of the
natural forces. Such
disorders are cured with difficulty. First, because they are the effect of
cold; secondly, because the strength of the patient being greatly diminished by
the disorder, the air agitated by the action of the winds becomes poor and
exhausts the body's moisture, tending to make it low and feeble; whereas, that
air which from its soft and thick nature is not liable to great agitation,
nourishes and refreshes its strength.
4. According to some, there are but four winds, namely, Solanus, the east
wind, Auster, the south wind, Favonius, the west wind, and Septentrio, the
north wind. But those who are more curious in these matters reckon eight winds;
among such was Andronicus Cyrrhestes, who, to exemplify the theory, built at
Athens an octagonal marble tower,
on each side of which was sculptured a figure representing the wind blowing
from the quarter opposite thereto. On the top of the roof of this tower a
brazen Triton with a rod in its right hand moved on a pivot, and pointed to the
figure of the quarter in which the wind lay.
5. The other winds not above named are Eurus, the south-east wind, Africus,
the south-west wind, Caurus, by many called Corus, the north-west wind, and
Aquilo the north-east wind. Thus are expressed the number and names of the winds
and the points whence they blow. To find and lay down their situation we
proceed as follows:
6. let a marble slab be fixed level in the centre of the space enclosed by the
walls, or let the ground be smoothed and levelled, so that the slab may not be
necessary. In the centre of this plane, for the purpose of marking the shadow
correctly, a brazen gnomon must be erected. The Greeks call this gnomon skiaqh/raj. The shadow cast by
the gnomon is to be marked about the fifth ante-meridional hour,
and the extreme point of the shadow accurately determined. From the central
point of the space whereon the gnomon stands, as a centre, with a distance
equal to the length of the shadow just observed, describe a circle. After the
sun has passed the meridian, watch the shadow which the gnomon continues to
cast till the moment when its extremity again touches the circle which has been
described.
7. From the two points thus obtained in the circumference of the circle
describe two arcs intersecting each other, and through their intersection and
the centre of the circle first described draw a line to its extremity: this
line will indicate the north and south points. One-sixteenth part of the
circumference of the whole circle is to be set out to the right and left of the
north and south points, and drawing lines from the points thus obtained to the
centre of the circle, we have one-eighth part of the circumference for the
region of the north, and another eighth part for the region of the south.
Divide the remainders of the circumference on each side into three equal parts,
and the divisions or regions of the eight winds will be then obtained: then let
the directions of the streets and lanes be determined by the tendency of the
lines which separate the different regions of the winds.
8. Thus will their force be broken and turned away from the houses and public
ways; for if the directions of the streets be parallel to those of the winds,
the latter will rush through them with greater violence, since from occupying
the whole space of the surrounding country they will be forced up through a
narrow pass. Streets or public ways ought therefore to be so set out, that when
the winds blow hard their violence may be broken against the angles of the
different divisions of the city, and thus dissipated.
9. Those who are accustomed to the names of so many winds, will perhaps be
surprised at our division of them into eight only; but if they reflect that the
circuit of the earth was ascertained by Eratosthenes of Cyrene, from
mathematical calculations, founded on the sun's course, the shadow of an
equinoctial gnomon, and the obliquity of the heavens, and was discovered to be
equal to two hundred and fifty-two thousand stadia or thirty one millions and
five hundred thousand paces, an
eighth part whereof, as occupied by each wind, being three millions nine
hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred paces, their surprise will
cease, because of the number of impediments and reverberations it must
naturally be subject to in travelling though such varied space.
10. To the right and left of the south wind blow respectively Euronotus and
Altanus. On the sides of Africus, the south-west wind, Libonotus southward and
Subvesperus northward. On the southern side of Favonius, the west wind,
Argestes, and on its northern side Etesiæ. On the western side of Caurus, the
north-west wind, Circius, on its northern side Corus. On the western and
eastern sides respectively of Septentrio, the north wind, Thrascias and
Gallicus. From the northern side of Aquilo, the north-east wind, blows
Supernas, from its southern side Boreas. Solanus, the east wind, has Carbas on
its northern side, and Ornithiæ on its southern side. Eurus, the south-east
wind, has Cæcias and Vulturnus on its eastern and southern sides respectively.
Many other names, deduced from particular places, rivers, or mountain storms,
are given to the winds.
11. There are also the morning breezes, which the sun rising from his
subterranean regions, and acting violently on the humidity of the air collected
during the night, extracts from the morning vapours. These remain after
sunrise, and are classed among the east winds, and hence receive the name of eu\roj given by the Greeks to
that wind, so also from the morning breezes they called the morrow au)/rion. Some deny that
Eratosthenes was correct in his measure of the earth, whether with propriety or
otherwise, is of no consequence in tracing the regions whence the winds blow:
12. for it is clear there is a great difference between the forces with which
the several winds act. Inasmuch as the brevity with which the foregoing rules
are laid down may prevent their being clearly understood, I have thought
it right to add for the clearer understanding thereof two figures, or as the
Greeks call them sxh/mata, at end of this book. The first shews the precise regions whence the
different winds blow. The second, the method of disposing the streets in such a
manner as to dissipate the violence of the winds and render them innoxious. Let
A be the centre of a perfectly level and plane tablet whereon a gnomon is
erected. The ante-meridianal shadow of the gnomon being marked at B, from A, as
a centre with the distance AB, describe a complete circle. Then replacing the
gnomon correctly, watch its increasing shadow, which after the sun has passed
his meridian, will gradually lengthen till it become exactly equal to the
shadow made in the forenoon, then again touching the circle at the point C.
From the points B and C, as centres, describe two arcs cutting each other in D.
From the point D, through the centre of the circle, draw the line EF, which
will give the north and south points.
13. Divide the whole circle into sixteen parts. From the point E, at which the
southern end of the meridian line touches the circle, set off at G and H to the
right and left a distance equal to one of the said sixteen parts, and in the
same manner on the north side, placing one foot of the compasses on the point
F, mark on each side the points I and K, and with lines drawn through the
centre of the circle join the points GK and HI, so that the space from G to H
will be given to the south wind and its region; that from I to K to the
north wind. The remaining spaces on the right and left are each to be divided
into three equal parts; the extreme points of the dividing lines on the east
sides, to be designated by the letters L and M; those on the west by the
letters NO; from M to O and from L to N draw lines crossing each other:
and thus the whole circumference will be divided into eight equal spaces for
the winds. The figure thus described will be furnished with a letter at each
angle of the octagon. Thus, beginning at the south, between the regions of
Eurus and Auster, will be the letter G; between those of Auster and Africus, H;
between Africus and Favonius, N; between that and Caurus, O; K between Caurus
and Septentrio; between Septentrio and Aquilo, I; between Aquilo and Solanus,
L; and between that and Eurus, M. Thus adjusted, let a bevel gauge be
applied to the different angles of the octagon, to determine the directions of
the different streets and lanes.
Chapter 7
1. The lanes and streets of the city being set out, the choice of sites for
the convenience and use of the state remains to be decided on; for sacred
edifices, for the forum, and for other public buildings. If the place adjoin
the sea, the forum should be placed close to the harbour:
if inland, it should be in the centre of the town. The temples of the gods,
protectors of the city, also those of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, should be on
some eminence which commands a view of the greater part of the city. The temple
of Mercury should be either in the forum, or, as also the temple of Isis and
Serapis, in the great public square. Those of Apollo and Father Bacchus near
the theatre. If there be neither amphitheatre nor gymnasium, the temple of
Hercules should be near the circus. The temple of Mars should be out of the city,
in the neighbouring country. That of Venus near to the gate. According to the
regulations of the Hetrurian Haruspices,
the temples of Venus, Vulcan, and Mars should be so placed that those of the
first not be in the way of contaminating the matrons and youth with the
influence of lust; that those of Vulcan be away from the city, which would
consequently be freed from the danger of fire; the divinity presiding over that
element being drawn away by the rites and sacrifices performing in his temple.
The temple of Mars should be also out of the city, that no armed frays may
disturb the peace of the citizens, and that this divinity may, moreover, be
ready to preserve them from their enemies and the perils of war.
2. The temple of Ceres should be in a solitary spot out of the city, to which
the public are not necessarily led but for the purpose of sacrificing to her.
This spot is to be reverenced with religious awe and solemnity of demeanour, by
those whose affairs lead them to visit it. Appropriate situations must also be
chosen for the temples and places of sacrifice to the other divinities. For the
construction and proportions of the edifices themselves, I shall give
rules in the third and fourth books; because it appears to me, that in the
second book I ought to explain the nature of the different materials
employed in building, their qualities and use; and then, in the other books, to
give rules for the dimensions of buildings, the orders, and their proportions.
Thayer's Notes:
a Andronicus Cyrrhestes built at
Athens an octagonal marble tower: The celebrated Tower of the Winds
still exists, and is quite attractive, to boot. See these interesting webpages:
Evi
Giannimelou's page • Peter Lok's page • Hellenic
Ministry of Culture
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b fifth ante-meridional hour: since
the Roman day comprised 12 variable hours from sunrise to sunset and
12 variable hours from sunset to sunrise, what this means is
roughly 1 of our fixed hours after sunrise: more in the summer, less in
the winter. What underlies Vitruvius' recommendation of an hour from sunrise
and sunset is that at the exact times of sunrise and sunset, the shadow cast is
of course infinitely long, and too close to those times, exact measurement is
problematic for various reasons, including diffraction.
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