Vitruvius: DE ARCHITECTVRA

[1] Aristippus philosophus Socraticus, naufragio cum eiectus ad Rhodiensium litus animadvertisset geometrica schemata descripta, exclamavisse ad comites ita dicitur: 'bene speremus! hominum enim vestigia video.' Statimque in oppidum Rhodum contendit et recta gymnasium devenit, ibique de philosophia disputans muneribus est donatus, ut non tantum se ornaret, sed etiam eis, qui una fuerunt, et vestitum et cetera, quae opus essent ad victum, praestaret. Cum autem eius comites in patriam reverti voluissent interrogarentque eum, quidnam vellet domum renuntiari, tunc ita mandavit dicere: eiusmodi possessiones et viatica liberis oportere parari, quae etiam e naufragio una possent enare.

[1] Aristippus, a Socratic philosopher, when, having been cast ashore by a shipwreck, he had noticed geometrical schemata drawn on the shore of the Rhodians, is said to have exclaimed thus to his companions: 'let us hope well! for I see the footprints of men.' And straightway he hastened into the town of Rhodes and went directly to the gymnasium, and there, discoursing about philosophy, he was endowed with gifts, so that he might not only adorn himself, but also provide for those who had been together with him both clothing and the other things which were needful for sustenance. But when his companions wished to return to their fatherland and asked him what he wanted to be reported home, then he gave orders to say thus: that possessions and viatic provisions of such a kind ought to be prepared for children as could even, together with their owner, swim out from a shipwreck.

[2] Namque ea vera praesidia sunt vitae, quibus neque fortunae tempestas iniqua neque publicarum rerum mutatio neque belli vastatio potest nocere. Non minus eam sententiam augendo Theophrastus, hortando doctos potius esse quam pecuniae confidentes, ita ponit: doctum ex omnibus solum neque in alienis locis peregrinum neque amissis familiaribus et necessariis inopem amicorum, sed in omni civitate esse civem difficilesque fortunae sine timore posse despicere casus; at qui non doctrinarum sed felicitatis praesidiis putaret se esse vallatum, labidis itineribus vadentem non stabili sed infirma conflictari vita.

[2] For those are the true protections of life, by which neither the unjust storm of fortune nor the mutation of public affairs nor the devastation of war can harm. No less, augmenting that sentiment, Theophrastus, by exhorting that men be learned rather than confident in money, thus sets it forth: the learned man alone of all is neither in alien places a peregrine nor, his relatives and necessary connections lost, destitute of friends; but in every civitas he is a citizen, and he is able without fear to despise the difficult chances of fortune; but he who would think himself fortified not by the protections of doctrines but of felicity, going by slippery paths, is buffeted by a life not stable but infirm.

[3] Epicurus vero non dissimiliter ait: pauca sapientibus fortunam tribuere, quae autem maxima et necessaria sunt, animi mentisque cogitationibus gubernari. Haec ita etiam plures philosophi dixerunt. Non minus poetae, qui antiquas comoedias graece scripserunt, easdem sententias versibus in scaena pronuntiaverunt, ut Crates, Chionides, Aristophanes, maxime etiam cum his Alexis, qui Athenienses ait oportere ideo laudari, quod omnium Graecorum leges cogunt parentes a liberis, Atheniensium non omnes nisi eos, qui liberos artibus erudissent.

[3] Epicurus, indeed, not dissimilarly says: that Fortune grants few things to the wise, but the things that are greatest and necessary are governed by the cogitations of spirit and mind. Thus also many philosophers have said. No less the poets, who wrote ancient comedies in Greek, pronounced the same sententiae in verses on the stage, as Crates, Chionides, Aristophanes, and most of all with these Alexis, who says the Athenians ought for this reason to be praised: because the laws of all the Greeks compel parents to be supported by their children, but those of the Athenians not all, only those who had instructed their children in the arts.

Omnia enim munera fortunae cum dantur, ab ea faciliter adimuntur; disciplinae vero coniunctae cum animis nullo tempore deficiunt, sed permanent stabiliter ad summum exitum vitae.

For all the gifts of Fortune, when they are given, are easily taken away by her; but the disciplines joined with the mind fail at no time, but remain steadfastly to the ultimate end of life.

[4] Itaque ego maximas infinitasque parentibus ago atque habeo gratias, quod Atheniensium legem probantes me arte erudiendum curaverunt, et ea, quae non potest esse probata sine litteraturae encyclioque doctrinarum omnium disciplina. Cum ergo et parentium cura et praeceptorum doctrinis auctas haberem copias disciplinarum, philologis et philotechnis rebus commentariorumque scribturis me delectans eas possessiones animo paravi, e quibus haec est fructuum summa: nullas plus habendi esse necessitates eamque esse proprietatem, divitiarum maxime, nihil desiderare. Sed forte nonnulli haec levia iudicantes putant eo esse sapientes, qui pecunia sunt copiosi.

[4] And so I render and hold the greatest and infinite thanks to my parents, because, approving the law of the Athenians, they took care that I be trained in art, and in those things which cannot be approved without the discipline of literature and the encyclic discipline of all doctrines. Since therefore by my parents’ care and by the teachings of my preceptors I had my supplies of disciplines augmented, taking delight in philological and philotechnic matters and in the writings of commentaries, I prepared those possessions in my mind, from which this is the sum of the fruits: that there are no necessities of having more, and that the property—most of all of riches—is to desire nothing. But perhaps some, judging these things trivial, think those to be wise who are copious in money.

Itaque plerique ad id propositum contendentes audacia adhibita cum divitiis etiam notitiam sunt consecuti.

And so most, contending toward that purpose, with audacity applied, have attained, along with riches, even notoriety.

[5] Ego autem, Caesar, non ad pecuniam parandam ex arte dedi studium, sed potius tenuitatem cum bona fama quam abundantiam cum infamia sequendam probavi. Ideo notities parum est adsecuta. Sed tamen his voluminibus editis, ut spero, etiam posteris ero notus.

[5] But I, Caesar, did not devote zeal to the art for the procuring of pecuniary gain, but rather I approved that tenuity with good fame was to be pursued rather than abundance with infamy. Therefore recognition has followed me but little. Yet with these volumes published, as I hope, I shall be known even to posterity.

Neque est mirandum, quid ita pluribus sim ignotus. Ceteri architecti rogant et ambigunt, ut architectent; mihi autem a praeceptoribus est traditum: rogatum, non rogantem oportere suscipere curam, quod ingenius color movetur pudore petendo rem suspiciosam. Nam beneficium dantes, non accipientes ambiuntur.

Nor is it a wonder why I am unknown to more people. The other architects ask and canvass, in order that they may practice architecture; but to me it was handed down by my preceptors that one ought to undertake the charge when asked, not when asking, because the color of one’s character is moved to blush by petitioning for a suspicious thing. For those who give a beneficium are courted, not those who receive it.

Quid enim putemus suspicari, qui rogetur de patrimonio sumptus faciendos committere gratiae petentis, nisi praedae conpendiique eius causa iudicet faciundum?

For what, indeed, are we to think a man suspects, who is asked to commit expenditures from his patrimony to the favor of the petitioner, unless he judges it must be done for the sake of that man’s prey and profit?

[6] Itaque maiores primum a genere probatis operam tradebant architectis, deinde quaerebant, si honeste essent educati, ingenuo pudori, non audaciae protervitatis permittendum iudicantes. Ipsi autem artifices non erudiebant nisi suos liberos aut cognatos et eos viros bonos instituebant, quibus tantarum rerum fidei pecuniae sine dubitatione permitterentur.

[6] And so the elders first entrusted the work to architects approved by lineage; then they inquired whether they had been honorably educated, judging that it ought to be committed to ingenuous modesty, not to the audacity of protervity. But the craftsmen themselves would educate only their own children or kinsmen, and they would train them as good men, to whom the trust of such great affairs and of money would, without hesitation, be permitted.

Cum autem animadverto ab indoctis et inperitis tantae disciplinae magnitudinem iactari et ab is, qui non modo architecturae sed omnimo ne fabricae quidem notitiam habent, non possum non laudare patres familiarum eos, qui litteraturae fiducia confirmati per se aedificantes ita iudicant: si inperitis sit committendum, ipsos potius digniores esse ad suam voluntatem quam ad alienam pecuniae consumere summam.

But when I observe the magnitude of so great a discipline being vaunted by the unlearned and the inexpert, and by those who have knowledge neither of architecture nor, altogether, even of craftsmanship, I cannot but praise those fathers of families who, confirmed by confidence in letters, building on their own, judge thus: if it is to be entrusted to the unskilled, they themselves are rather more worthy to consume the sum of money according to their own will than according to another’s.

[7] Itaque nemo artem ullam aliam conatur domi facere, uti sutrinam, fullonicam aut ex ceteris, quae sunt faciliores, nisi architecturam, ideo quod, qui profitentur, non arte vera sed falso nominantur architecti. Quas ob res corpus architecturae rationesque eius putavi diligentissime conscribendas, opinans in munus omnibus gentibus non ingratum futurum. Igitur, quoniam in quinto de opportunitate communium operum perscribsi, in hoc volumine privatorum aedificiorum ratiocinationes et commensus symmetriarum explicabo.

[7] And so no one attempts to practice any other art at home, such as a cobbler’s shop, a fuller’s, or, among the rest which are easier, except architecture, for the reason that those who profess are called architects not by true art but are misnamed. For which reasons I have thought that the corpus of architecture and its rationes should be written down most diligently, thinking it would prove a service not ungrateful to all nations. Therefore, since in the fifth I wrote in full about the opportunitas of public works, in this volume I shall explain the reasonings of private buildings and the commensurations of symmetries.

Caput Primum

Chapter One

[1] Haec autem ita erunt recte disposita, si primo animadversum fuerit, quibus regionibus aut quibus inclinationibus mundi constituantur. Namque aliter Aegypto, aliter Hispania, non eodem modo Ponto, dissimiliter Romae, item ceteris terrarum et regionum proprietatibus oportere videntur constitui genera aedificiorum quod alia parte solis cursu premitur tellus, alia longe ab eo distat, alia per medium temperatur. Igitur, uti constitutio mundi ad terrae spatium in inclinatione signiferi circuli et solis cursu disparibus qualitatibus naturaliter est conlocata, ad eundem modum etiam ad regionum rationes caelique varietates videntur aedificiorum debere dirigi conlocationes.

[1] These things, however, will be rightly disposed thus, if first it has been observed in what regions or in what inclinations of the world they are established. For one way in Egypt, another in Spain, not in the same manner in Pontus, differently at Rome, likewise, on account of the other properties of lands and regions, the kinds of buildings seem to need to be constituted, since one part of the earth is pressed on one side by the course of the sun, another is far distant from it, another is tempered through the middle. Therefore, just as the constitution of the world, in relation to the earth’s expanse, in the inclination of the circle of the zodiac and the course of the sun, is naturally placed with unequal qualities, in the same way the placements of buildings seem to have to be directed according to the conditions of regions and the varieties of the sky.

[2] Sub septentrione aedificia testudinata et maxime conclusa et non patentia, sed conversa ad calidas partes oportere fieri videntur. Contra autem sub inpetu solis meridianis regionibus, quod premuntur a calore, patentiora conversaque ad septentrionem et aquilonem sunt faciunda. Ita, quod ultra natura laedit, arte erit emendandum.

[2] In the north, buildings ought to be vaulted, very enclosed, and not open, but turned toward the warm quarters. Conversely, under the onrush of the sun in meridional regions, because they are pressed by heat, they must be more open and turned toward the north and the north wind. Thus, what nature injures in excess will be emended by art.

Item reliquis regionibus ad eundem modum temperari, quemadmodum caelum est ad inclinationem mundi conlocatum.

Likewise, in the remaining regions things are to be tempered in the same manner, just as the heaven is placed according to the inclination of the world.

[3] Haec autem ex natura rerum sunt animadvertenda et consideranda atque etiam ex membris corporibusque gentium observanda. Namque sol quibus locis mediocriter profundit vapores, in his conservat corpora temperata; quaeque proxime currendo deflagrant, eripit exurendo temperaturam umoris; contra vero refrigeratis regionibus, quod absunt a meridie longe, non exhauritur a coloribus umor, sed ex caelo roscidus aer in corpora fundens umorem efficit ampliores corporaturas vocisque sonitus graviores. Ex eo quoque, sub septentrionibus nutriuntur gentes, inmanibus corporibus, candidis coloribus, derecto capillo et rufo, oculis caesis, sanguine multo ab umoris plenitate caelique refrigerationibus sunt conformati;

[3] These things, moreover, must be noticed and considered from the nature of things, and also observed from the limbs and bodies of the nations. For the sun, in those places where it moderately pours forth vapors, preserves temperate bodies; but the places which, as it runs close by, blaze forth, it, by burning, snatches away the tempering of moisture; contrariwise, in refrigerated regions, because they are far from the south, the moisture is not drained from the colors (complexions), but the dewy air from the sky, pouring moisture into bodies, makes larger body-builds and graver sounds of the voice. From this also, the peoples are nourished under the North are fashioned with huge bodies, fair colors, straight and reddish hair, caesi (gray-blue) eyes, and much blood, from the fullness of moisture and the coolings of the sky;

[4] qui autem sunt proximi ad axem meridianum subiectique solis cursui, brevioribus corporibus, colore fusco, crispo capillo, oculis nigris, cruribus validis, sanguine exiguo solis impetu perficiuntur. Itaque etiam propter sanguinis exiguitatem timidiores sunt ferro resistere, sed ardores ac febres subferunt sine timore, quod nutrita sunt eorum membra cum fervore; itaque corpora, quae nascuntur sub septentrione, a febri sunt timidiora et inbecilla, sanguinis autem abundantia ferro resistunt sine timore.

[4] but those who are nearest to the meridian axis and subjected to the course of the sun are fashioned, by the sun’s onrush, with shorter bodies, fuscous in color, crisp hair, black eyes, strong legs, and scant blood. And thus also, on account of the scantness of blood, they are timider to resist iron, but they bear ardors and fevers without fear, because their limbs are nourished with heat; and so the bodies that are born under the Septentrion are timider and weaker with respect to fever, but by an abundance of blood they resist iron without fear.

[5] Non minus sonus vocis in generibus gentium dispares et varias habet qualitates, ideo quod terminatio orientis et occidentis circa terrae librationem, qua dividitur pars superior et inferior mundi, habere videtur libratam naturali modo circumitionem, quam etiam mathematiciorizonta dicunt. Igitur cum id habemus certum animo sustinentes, ab labro, quod est in regione septentrionali, linea traiecta ad id, quod est supra meridianum axem, ab eoque altera obliqua in altitudinem ad summum cardinem, qui est post stellas septentrionum, sine dubitatione animadvertemus ex eo esse schema trigonii mundo, uti organi, quam sambucen Graeci dicunt.

[5] No less does the sound of the voice among the kinds of nations have disparate and various qualities, for the reason that the termination of east and west, around the earth’s libration—by which the upper and lower part of the world is divided—seems to have a balanced circumition in a natural manner, which even the mathematicians call theorizonta. Therefore, when we hold this as certain in mind, with a line drawn from the rim that is in the northern region to that which is above the meridian axis, and from that another, oblique, upward to the highest cardine, which is beyond the northern stars, we shall without doubt observe from this that there is in the world a trigonal schema, like that of an instrument, which the Greeks call a sambucen.

[6] Itaque quod est spatium proximum imo cardini ab axis linea in meridianis finibus, sub eo loco quae sunt nationes, propter brevitatem altitudinis ad mundum sonitum vocis faciunt tenuem et acutissimum, uti in organo chorda, quae est proxima angulo. Secundum eam autem reliquae ad mediam Graeciam remissionibus efficiunt in nationibus sonorum cantiones. Item a medio in ordinem crescendo ad extremos septentriones sub altitudines caeli nationum spiritus sonitibus gravioribus a natura rerum exprimuntur.

[6] Thus the space nearest to the lowest pivot from the line of the axis at the meridian bounds—under which place the nations lie—on account of the shortness of their altitude toward the world, make the sound of the voice thin and most acute, as on an organ the string which is nearest to the angle. Next to it, however, the rest, toward mid Greece, by relaxations produce among the nations melodies of tones. Likewise, from the middle, in order increasing toward the far North, under the altitudes of the sky, the breaths of the nations are expressed, by the nature of things, with heavier sounds.

Ita videtur mundi conceptio tota propter inclinationem consonantissime per solis temperaturam ad harmoniam esse conposita.

Thus the whole conception of the world seems, on account of the inclination, to be most consonantly composed toward harmony through the sun’s temperature.

[7] Igitur quae nationes sunt inter axis meridiani cardinem ab septentrionalis medio positae, uti in diagrammate musico medianae vocis habent sonitum in sermone; quaeque progredientibus ad septentrionem sunt nationes, quod altiores habent distantias mundi, spiritus vocis habentes umore repulsos ad hypatas et proslambanomenos, a natura rerum sonitu graviore coguntur uti; eadem ratione medio progredientibus ad meridiem gentes paranetarum

[7] Therefore the nations which are set between the pivot of the meridian axis and the middle of the septentrional one, as in the musical diagram, have in speech the sound of the median voice; and the nations which, as you advance toward the north, because they have higher distances of the world, having the breath of the voice driven back by damp toward the hypatai and the proslambanomenos, are compelled by the nature of things to use a graver sound; by the same reasoning, for those advancing from the middle toward the south, the peoples of the paranetai

[8] que acutissimam sonitus vocis perficiunt tenuitatem. Hoc autem verum esse, ex umidis naturae locis graviora fieri et ex fervidis acutiora, licet ita experiendo animadvertere. Calices duo in una fornace aeque cocti aequoque pondere ad crepitumque uno sonitu sumantur.

[8] que bring to perfection the most acute tenuity of the sound of the voice. That this is true—that from places moist by nature things become graver and from fervid ones acuter—one may thus, by experimenting, take notice. Let two chalices, baked equally in one furnace and of equal weight, be taken to rattle with one and the same sound.

Ex his unus in aquam demittatur, postea ex aqua eximatur; tunc utrique tangantur. Cum enim ita factum fuerit, largiter inter eos sonitus discrepabit, aequoque pondere non poterunt esse. Ita et hominum corpora uno genere figurationis et una mundi coniunctione concepta alia propter regionis ardorem acutum spiritum aeris exprimunt tactu, alia propter umoris abundantiam gravissimas effundunt sonorum qualitates.

Of these, let one be plunged into water, then afterwards taken out; then let both be struck. For when this has been done, their sound will differ greatly between them, and they will not be able to be of equal weight. Thus too human bodies, of one kind of figuration and conceived in a single conjunction of the world, some, because of the region’s ardor, express an acute spirit of the air at a touch, others, because of an abundance of humor, pour forth the most grave qualities of sounds.

[9] Item propter tenuitatem caeli meridianae nationes ex acuta fervore mente expeditius celeriusque moventur ad consiliorum cogitationes; septentrionalis autem gentes infusae crassitudine caeli, propter obstantiam aeris umore refrigeratae stupentes habent mentes. Hoc autem ita esse a serpentibus licet aspicere, quae, per calorem cum exhaustam habent umoris refrigerationem tunc acerrime moventur, per brumalia autem et hiberna tempora ab mutatione caeli refrigerata, inmota sunt stupore. Ita non est mirandum, si acutiores efficit calidus aer hominum mentes, refrigeratus autem contra tardiores.

[9] Likewise, on account of the tenuity of the sky, the southern nations, by the sharpness of mind from heat, are moved more readily and more swiftly to the cogitations of counsels; but the northern peoples, infused with the thickness of the sky, cooled by moisture because of the opposition of the air, have minds in a stupor. That this is so may be seen from serpents, which, during heat, when they have the cooling of moisture exhausted, then move most keenly; but during brumal and hibernal times, cooled by the change of the sky, they are motionless from stupor. Thus it is not to be wondered at, if warm air makes the minds of men more acute, but cooled, on the contrary, more tardy.

[10] Cum sint autem meridianae nationes animis acutissimis infinitaque sollertia consiliorum, simul ad fortitudinem ingrediuntur, ibi succumbunt, quod habent exuctas ab sole animorum virtutes; qui vero refrigeratis nascuntur regionibus, ad armorum vehementiam paratiores sunt; magnis virtutibus sunt sine timore, sed tarditate animi sine considerantia inruentes sine sollertia suis consiliis refragantur. Cum ergo haec ita sint ab natura rerum in mundo conlocata et omnes nationes inmoderatis mixtionibus disparatae, vero inter spatium totius orbis terrarum regionisque medio mundi populus Romanus possidet fines.

[10] But since the meridional nations have minds most acute and an infinite sollertness of counsels, as soon as they enter upon fortitude, there they succumb, because they have the virtues of their spirits sucked out by the sun; whereas those who are born in refrigerated regions are more prepared for the vehemence of arms; they are of great virtues without fear, but by slowness of mind, rushing in without consideration, without shrewdness they thwart their own counsels. Since therefore these things are thus placed by the nature of things in the world, and all nations are made disparate by immoderate mixtures, indeed, within the span of the whole orb of lands and in the middle region of the world, the Roman people possesses its boundaries.

[11] Namque temperatissimae ad utramque partem et corporum membris animorumque vigoribus pro fortitudine sunt in Italia gentes. Quemadmodum enim Iovis stella inter Martis ferventissimam et Saturni frigidissimam media currens temperatur, eadem ratione Italia inter septentrionalem meridianamque ab utraque parte mixtionibus temperatas et invictas habet laudes. Itaque consiliis refringit barbarorum virtutes, forti manu meridianorum cogitationes.

[11] For the peoples in Italy are most temperate toward either side, and, in the members of their bodies and in the vigors of their spirits, are in proportion to fortitude. For just as the star of Jove, running in the middle between the most fervent of Mars and the most frigid of Saturn, is tempered, by the same reasoning Italy, between the northern and the southern, has praises—tempered by mixtures from both sides and unconquered. And so by counsels it breaks the virtues of the barbarians, by a strong hand the cogitations of the southerners.

Ita divina mens civitatem populi Romani egregiam temperatamque regionem conlocavit, uti orbis terrarum imperii potiretur.

Thus the divine mind positioned the commonwealth of the Roman people and a distinguished, well-tempered region, so that it might gain possession of the dominion of the whole orb of lands.

[12] Quodsi ita est, uti dissimiles regiones ab inclinationibus caeli variis generibus sint comparatae, ut etiam naturae gentium disparibus animis et corporum figuris qualitatibusque nascerentur, non dubitemus aedificiorum quoque rationes ad nationum gentiumque proprietates apte distribuere, cum habeamus ab ipsa rerum natura sollertem et expeditam monstrationem.

[12] But if this is so, that dissimilar regions, from the inclinations of the sky, are constituted with various kinds, so that even the natures of peoples are born with disparate minds and with the forms and qualities of bodies, let us not hesitate also to distribute the systems of buildings aptly to the properties of nations and peoples, since we have from nature of things herself a skillful and expeditious demonstration.

Quoad potui summa ratione proprietates locorum ab natura rerum dispositas animadvertere, exposui, et quemadmodum ad solis cursum et inclinationes caeli oporteat ad gentium figuras constituere aedificiorum qualitates, dixi; itaque nunc singulorum generum in aedificiis conmensus symmetriarum et universos et separatos breviter explicabo.

Insofar as I was able, with the highest method, to observe the properties of places arranged by the nature of things, I have set forth; and I have said how, according to the sun’s course and the inclinations of the sky, one ought to establish the qualities of buildings in accord with the figures of the nations. And so now I will briefly explain, for each kind, the commensuration of symmetries in buildings, both universal and separate.

Caput Secundum

Chapter Two

[1] Nulla architecto maior cura esse debet, nisi uti proportionibus ratae partis habeant aedificia rationum exactiones. Cum ergo constituta symmetriarum ratio fuerit et conmensus ratiocinationibus explicati, tum etiam acuminis est proprium providere ad naturam loci aut usum aut speciem, adiectionibus temperaturas efficere, cum de symmetria sit detractum aut adiectum, uti id videatur recte esse formatum in aspectuque nihil desideretur.

[1] No greater care ought to be for the architect than that, by proportions from a fixed part, the buildings should have the exactness of calculations. Therefore, when the scheme of symmetries has been established and the commensurations unfolded by ratiocinations, then it is the proper office of acumen to provide, according to the nature of the site, either for use or for appearance, to effect temperings by additions, when from the symmetry something has been detracted or added, so that it may seem to be rightly formed and that nothing be lacking in aspect.

[2] Alia enim ad manum species videtur, alia in excelso, non eadem in concluso, dissimilis in aperto, in quibus magni iudicii est opera, quid tandem sit faciundum. Non enim veros videtur habere visus effectus, sed fallitur saepius iudicio ab eo mens. Quemadmodum etiam in scenis pictis videntur columnarum proiecturae, mutulorum ecphorae, signorum figurae prominentes, cum sit tabula sine dubio ad regulam plana.

[2] For one appearance seems at hand, another aloft; it is not the same in an enclosed place, dissimilar in the open—in which matters it is the work of great judgment what, in fine, ought to be done. For the visual effect does not seem to be true, but the mind is more often deceived in its judgment by it. Just as, too, in painted stage-scenes the projections of columns, the overhangs of mutules, the figures of statues seem to be jutting forth, although the panel is without doubt flat to the rule.

Similiter in navibus remi, cum sint sub aqua directi, tamen oculis infracti videntur; et quatenus eorum partes tangunt summam planitiem liquoris, apparent, uti sunt, directi, cum vero sub aqua sunt dimissi, per naturae perlucidam raritatem remittunt enatantes ab suis corporibus fluentes imagines ad summam aquae planitiem, atque eae ibi commotae efficere videntur infractum remorum oculis aspectum.

Similarly, on ships the oars, although they are straight beneath the water, nevertheless seem broken to the eyes; and insofar as their parts touch the top plane of the liquid, they appear, as they are, straight; but when they are let down under the water, through nature’s translucent rarefaction they send back, swimming forth from their bodies, flowing images to the top plane of the water, and those, stirred there, seem to produce for the eyes the broken aspect of the oars.

[3] Hoc autem sive simulacrorum inpulsu seu radiorum ex oculis effusionibus, uti physicis placet, videmus, utramque rationem videtur ita esse, uti falsa iudicia oculorum habeat aspectus.

[3] As to this, whether by the impulse of simulacra or by effusions of rays from the eyes, as it pleases the physicists, we see; each account seems to be such that the gaze has false judgments of the eyes.

[4] Cum ergo, quae sunt vera, falsa videantur et nonnulla aliter quam sunt oculis probentur, non puto oportere esse dubium, quin ad locorum naturas aut necessitates detractiones aut adiectiones fieri debeant, sed ita, uti nihil in his operibus desideretur. Haec autem etiam ingeniorum acuminibus, non solum doctrinis efficiuntur.

[4] Since, therefore, the things which are true seem false, and some things are approved by the eyes otherwise than they are, I do not think it ought to be doubtful that, according to the natures or necessities of the places, detractions or additions ought to be made, but in such a way that nothing be lacking in these works. These things, moreover, are effected also by the acumen of wits, not only by doctrines.

[5] Igitur statuenda est primum ratio symmetriarum a qua sumatur sine dubitatione commutatio, deinde explicetur operis futuri locorum unum spatium longitudinis, cuius semel constituta fuerit magnitudo, sequatur eam proportionis ad decorem apparatio, uti non sit considerantibus aspectus eurythmiae dubius. De qua, quibus rationibus efficiatur, est mihi pronuntiandum, primumque de cavis aedium, uti fieri debeant, dicam.

[5] Therefore the principle of symmetries must first be established, from which commutation (adjustment) may be taken without hesitation; then let there be set out for the future work the single interval of length of the spaces, and once its magnitude has been fixed, let there follow its preparation of proportion toward decor, so that for those considering it the aspect of eurythmy is not in doubt. About which, by what rationales it is effected, I must pronounce; and first I shall speak about the cavaedia of houses (interior courts), how they ought to be made.

Caput Tertium

Chapter Three

[1] Cava aedium quinque generibus sunt distincta, quorum ita figurae nominantur: tuscanicum, corinthium, tetrastylon, displuviatum, testudinatam. Tuscanica sunt, in quibus trabes in atrii latitudine traiectae habeant interpensiva et collicias ab angulis parietum ad angulos tignorum incurrentes, item asseribus stillicidiorum in medium conpluvium deiectus. In corinthiis isdem rationibus trabes et conpluvia conlocantur, sed a parietibus trabes recedentes in circuitione circa columnas componuntur.

[1] The cavaedia of houses are distinguished into five kinds, whose forms are thus named: Tuscanic, Corinthian, tetrastyle, displuviate, testudinate. Tuscanic are those in which beams cast across the width of the atrium have interpensives and colliciae running from the corners of the walls to the corners of the beams, and likewise the slope for the drip of the eaves (stillicidia), by means of planks, is directed into the central compluvium. In Corinthian ones the beams and compluvia are set on the same principles, but the beams, receding from the walls, are arranged in a circuit around columns.

Tetrastyla sunt, quae subiectis sub trabibus angularibus columnis et utilitatem trabibus et firmitatem praestant, quod neque ipsae magnum impetum coguntur habere neque ab interpensivis onerantur.

Tetrastyles are those which, with columns set beneath under the angular beams, provide both utility to the beams and firmness, because neither are they themselves compelled to have a great thrust, nor are they burdened by the interpensives.

[2] Displuviata autem sunt, in quibus deliquiae aream sustinentes stillicidia reiciunt. Haec hibernaculis maxime praestant utilitates, quod compluvia eorum erecta non obstant luminibus tricliniorum. Sed ea habent in refectionibus molestiam magnam, quod circa parietes stillicidia defluentia, continent fistulae, quae non celeriter recipiunt ex canalibus aquam defluentem itaque redundantes restagnant, et intestinum et parietes in eis generibus aedificiorum corrumpunt.

[2] Displuviate ones, moreover, are those in which the drain-offs, the area being sustained, cast back the drip-waters. These furnish advantages especially for winter-quarters, because their compluvia, being raised, do not obstruct the lights of the triclinia. But they have in refections a great annoyance, because the drip-waters flowing down around the walls are confined by pipes, which do not quickly receive the water flowing down from the canals; and so, overflowing, they pond up again, and they damage the interior and the walls in those kinds of buildings.

Testudinata vero ibi fiunt, ubi non sunt impetus magni et in contignationibus supra spatiosae redduntur habitationes.

But vaulted (testudinate) structures are made in those places where there are not great onrushes, and on the upper stories the habitations are rendered spacious.

[3] Atriorum vero latitudines ac longitudines tribus generibus formantur. Et primum genus distribuitur, uti, longitudo cum in quinque partes divisa fuerit, tres partes latitudini dentur; alterum, cum in tres partes dividatur, duae partes latitudini tribuantur; tertium, uti latitudo in quadrato paribus lateribus describatur inque eo quadrato diagonius linea ducatur, et quantum spatium habuerit ea linea diagonii, tanta longitudo atrio detur.

[3] But the widths and lengths of atria are formed in three kinds. And the first kind is apportioned thus: when the length has been divided into five parts, three parts are given to the width; the second, when it is divided into three parts, two parts are assigned to the width; the third, that the width be set out in a square with equal sides and in that square a diagonal line be drawn, and whatever span that diagonal line has, a length of just so much is given to the atrium.

[4] Altitudo eorum, quanta longitudo fuerit quarta dempta, sub trabes extollatur; reliquum lacunariorum et arcae supra trabes ratio habeatur.

[4] Let their height be raised under the beams to as much as the length with a fourth subtracted; let the remainder be provided for the coffers (lacunaria) and the arca above the beams.

Alis dextra ac sinistra latitudinis, cum sit atrii longitudo ab XXX pedibus ad pedes XL, ex tertia parte eius constituatur. Ab XL ad pedes L longitudo dividatur in partes tres s<emissemque>, ex his una pars alis detur. Cum autem erit longitudo ab quinquaginta pedibus ad sexaginta, quarta pars longitudinis alis tribuatur.

For the widths of the right and left wings: when the length of the atrium is from 30 feet to 40 feet, let it be set from its third part. From 40 to 50 feet, let the length be divided into three and a half parts, and of these one part be given to the wings. But when the length is from 50 feet to 60, let a fourth part of the length be assigned to the wings.

A pedibus LX ad LXXX longitudo dividatur in partes quattuor et dimidiam, ex his una pars fiat alarum latitudo. A pedibus octoginta ad pedes centum in quinque partes divisa longitudo iustam constituerit latitudinem alarum. Trabes earum liminares ita altae ponantur, ut altitudine latitudinibus sint aequales.

From 60 feet to 80 feet, let the length be divided into four and a half parts, and of these one part should make the latitude of the wings. From eighty feet to one hundred feet, the length divided into five parts will constitute the just latitude of the wings. Let their lintel beams be set so high that in height they are equal to the latitudes.

[5] Tablinum, si latitudo atrii erit pedum viginti, dempta tertia eius spatio reliquum tribuatur. Si erit ab pedibus XXX ad XL, ex atrii latitudine tablino dimidium tribuatur. Cum autem ab XL ad LX, latitudo dividantur in partes quinque, ex his duo tablino constituantur.

[5] The tablinum: if the width of the atrium is 20 feet, with a third of its space subtracted, let the remainder be allotted. If it is from 30 to 40 feet, from the atrium’s width let one half be allotted to the tablinum. But when it is from 40 to 60, let the width be divided into five parts, and of these let two be constituted for the tablinum.

Non enim atria minora ab maioribus easdem possunt habere symmetriarum rationes. Si enim maioribus symmetriis utemur in minoribus, neque tablino neque alae utilitatem poterunt habere, sin autem minorun in maioribus utemur, vasta et inmania in his ea erunt membra. Itaque generatim magnitudinum rationes exquisitas et utilitati et aspectui conscribendas putavi.

For smaller atria cannot have the same ratios of symmetries as larger ones. For if we shall use the larger symmetries in the smaller, neither the tablinum nor the wings will be able to have utility; but if we shall use those of the smaller in the larger, the members in these will be vast and inordinate. Therefore I have thought that, by kinds, refined ratios of magnitudes should be set down both for utility and for aspect.

[6] Altitudo tablini ad trabem adiecta latitudinis octava constituatur Lacunaria eius tertia latitudinis ad altitudine adiecta extollantur.

[6] Let the height of the tablinum up to the beam, with the addition, be set at one-eighth of the width. Let its lacunaria be raised by adding to the height a third of the width.

Fauces minoribus atriis e tablini latitudine dempta tertia, maioribus dimidia constituantur. Imagines item alte cum suis ornamentis ad latitudinem sint constitutae.

Let the fauces in smaller atria be set with a third taken from the width of the tablinum, and in larger ones at one half. Likewise, let the images, high up with their own ornaments, be set according to the width.

Latitudines ostiorum ad altitudinem; si dorica erunt, uti dorica, si ionica erunt, uti ionica perficiantur, quemadmodum de thyromatis in quibus quarto libro rationes symmetriarum sunt expositae.

The widths of the doorways in relation to the height; if they are Doric, let them be finished as Doric, if they are Ionic, let them be finished as Ionic, just as concerning the thyromata, in which in Book Four the ratios of symmetries are set forth.

Conpluvii lumen latum laitudinis atrii ne minus quarta, ne plus tertia parte relinquatur; longitudo, uti atrii pro rata parte fiat.

Let the width of the opening of the compluvium be left at not less than a fourth, nor more than a third, of the atrium’s width; let the length be made in proportion to the atrium.

[7] Peristyla autem in transverso tertia parte longiora sint quam introssus. Columnae tam altae quam porticus latae fuerint peristyliorum; intercolumnia ne minus trium, ne plus quattuor columnarum crassitudine inter se distent. Sin autem dorico more in peristylo columnae erunt faciundae, uti in quarto libro de doricis scripsi, ita moduli sumantur, et ad eos modulos triglyphorumque rationes disponantur.

[7] Peristyles, however, should in the transverse be longer by one third than in the inward dimension. The columns should be as high as the porticoes of the peristyles are wide; the intercolumniations should be spaced from one another at not less than three, and not more than four, column-thicknesses. But if the columns in the peristyle are to be made in the Doric manner, as I wrote in the fourth book concerning Doric matters, then let the modules be taken accordingly, and let the proportions of the triglyphs be arranged to those modules.

[8] Tricliniorum quanta latitudo fuerit, bis tanta longitudo fieri debebit. Altitudines omnium conclaviorum, quae oblonga fuerint, sic habere debent rationem, uti longitudinis et latitudinis mensura componatur et ex ea sumnma dimidium sumatur, et quantum fuerit, tantum altitudini detur. Sin autem exhedrae aut oeci quadrati fuerint, latitudinis dimidia addita altitudines educantur.

[8] For triclinia, whatever the breadth may be, the length ought to be made twice as great. The heights of all conclaves that are oblong ought to have this ratio: the measure of the length and the breadth is composed, and from that sum a half is taken, and whatever it is, just so much is given to the height. But if the exedrae or the oeci are square, the heights are drawn out by adding one half of the breadth.

Pinacothecae uti exhedrae amplis magnitudinibus sunt constituendae. Oeci corinthii tetrastylique quique aegyptii vocantur latitudinis et longitudinis, uti supra tricliniorum symmetriae scriptae sunt, ita habeant rationem, sed propter columnarum interpositiones spatiosiores constituantur.

Pinacothecae, like exedras, are to be constructed with ample dimensions. Corinthian oeci, tetrastyle, and those which are called Egyptian should have the proportion of width and length as the symmetries of triclinia have been written above; but, on account of the interposition of columns, let them be constituted more spacious.

[9] Inter corinthios autem et aegyptios hoc erit discrimen. Corinthii simplices habent columnas aut in podio positas aut in imo; supraque habeant epistylia et coronas aut ex intestino opere aut albario, praeterea supra coronas curva lacunaria ad circinum delumbata. In aegyptiis autem supra columnas epistylia et ab epistyliis ad parietes, qui sunt circa, inponenda est contignatio, supra coaxationem pavimentum, subdiu ut sit circumitus.

[9] Between the Corinthian and the Egyptian, however, this will be the distinction. The Corinthian have simple columns, either set upon a podium or at the ground; and above they have epistyles and coronas (cornices), either from internal work or in stucco, and, further, above the coronas, curved lacunars hollowed out by the compass. In the Egyptian, however, above the columns are the epistyles, and from the epistyles to the walls round about a contignation (beam-framing) is to be laid; above the coagmentation, the pavement, so that there may be a circumitus under the open sky.

Deinde supra epistylium ad perpendiculum inferiorum columnarum inponendae sunt minores quarta parte columna. Supra earum epistylia et ornamenta lacunariis ornantur, et inter columnas superiores fenestrae conlocantur; ita basilicarum ea similitudo, non corinthiorum tricliniorum videtur esse.

Then above the epistyle, in plumb with the lower columns, smaller columns, less by a fourth part of the column, must be set. Above their epistyles the ornaments are embellished with coffers, and between the upper columns windows are placed; thus the likeness appears to be that of basilicas, not of Corinthian triclinia.

[10] Fiunt autem etiam non italicae consuetudinis oeci, quos Graeci cyzicenos appellant. Hi conlocantur spectantes ad septentrionem et maxime viridia prospicientes, valvasque habent in medio. Ipsi autem sunt ita longi et lati, uti duo triclinia cum circumitionibus inter se spectantia possint esse conlocata, habentque dextra ac sinistra lumina fenestrarum valvata, uti de tectis per spatia fenestrarum viridia prospiciantur.

[10] But there are also oeci not of Italian custom, which the Greeks call Cyzicenes. These are set facing the north and especially looking out upon the greenery, and they have folding-doors in the middle. They themselves are so long and wide that two triclinia with ambulations, facing one another, can be placed within; and they have on the right and left fenestral lights with valves (folding leaves), so that from the roofs the greenery may be looked out upon through the spans of the windows.

Altitudinis eorum dimidia latitudinis addita constituuntur.

Their altitudes are established by adding one half of the width.

[11] In his aedificiorum generibus omnes sunt faciendae earum symmetriatum rationes, quae sine inpeditione loci fieri poterunt, luminaque, parietum altitudinibus si non obscurabuntur, faciliter erunt explicata: sin autem inpedientur ab angustiis aut aliis necessitatibus, tunc erit ut ingenio et acumine de symmetriis detractiones aut adiectiones fiant, uti non dissimiles veris symmetriis perficiantur venustates.

[11] In these genera of buildings, all the ratios of symmetries of them are to be made, which can be effected without impediment of the site; and the lights, if they are not obscured by the heights of the walls, will be easily unfolded. But if they are hindered by narrowness or other necessities, then it will be that, by ingenuity and acumen, subtractions or additions be made from the symmetries, so that graces may be achieved not dissimilar to the true symmetries.

Caput Quartum

Chapter Four

[1] Nunc explicabimus, quibus proprietatibus genera aedificiorum ad usum et caeli regiones apte debeant expectare. Hiberna triclinia et balnearia uti occidentem hibernum spectent, ideo quod vespertino lumine opus est uti, praeterea quod etiam sol occidens adversus habens splendorem, calorem remittens efficit vespertino tempore regionem tepidiorem. Cubicula et bybliothecae ad orientem spectare debent; usus enim matutinum postulat lumen, item in bybliothecis libri non putrescent.

[1] Now we shall explain with what properties the kinds of buildings ought aptly to face, for use and for the regions of the sky. Winter tricliniums and bathing-rooms should face the winter Occident, because there is need to have evening light; moreover, the sun also, as it sets, facing them with its brilliance and sending back heat, makes that quarter warmer in the evening time. Bedchambers and bibliothecas ought to face the Orient; for use requires morning light, and likewise in bibliothecas the books will not grow moldy.

Nam quaecumque ad meridiem et occidentem spectant, ab tiniis et umore libri vitiantur, quod venti umidi advenientes procreant eas et alunt infundentesque umidos spiritus pallore volumina conrumpunt.

For whatever things face the south and the west, the books are vitiated by moths and moisture, because the humid winds as they arrive beget them and nourish them, and, pouring in damp breaths, with pallor they corrupt the volumes ruin them.

[2] Triclinia verna et autumnalia ad orientem; tum enim praetenta luminibus adversus solis impetus progrediens ad occidentem efficit ea temperata ad id tempus, quo opus solitum est uti. Aestiva ad septentrionem, quod ea regio, non ut reliquae per solstitium propter calorem efficiuntur aestuosae, ea quod est aversa solis cursu, semper refrigerata et salubritatem et voluptatem in usu praestat. Non minus pinacothecae et plumariorum textrina pictorumque officinae, uti colores eorum in opere propter constantiam luminis inmutata permaneant qualitate.

[2] Spring and autumn triclinia toward the east; for then, with hangings stretched before the windows against the assaults of the sun as it advances toward the west, this makes them tempered for that time at which it is customary to use them. Summer rooms toward the north, because that quarter, not like the others becoming scorching at the solstice on account of the heat, since it is turned away from the sun’s course, being always cooled, affords both healthfulness and pleasure in use. No less the pinacothecae (picture-galleries) and the weaving-rooms of embroiderers and the workshops of painters, so that their colors in the work, thanks to the constancy of the light, may remain unchanged in quality.

Caput Quintum

Chapter Five

[1] Cum ad regiones caeli ita ea fuerint disposita, tunc etiam animadvertendum est, quibus rationibus privatis aedificiis propria loca patribus familiarum et quemadmodum communia cum extraneis aedificari debeant. Namque ex his quae propria sunt, in ea non est potestas omnibus intro eundi nisi invitatis, quemadmodum sunt cubicula, triclinia, balneae ceteraque, quae easdem habent usus rationes. Communia autem sunt, quibus etiam invocati suo iure de populo possunt venire, id est vestibula, cava aedium, peristylia, quaeque eundem habere possunt usum.

[1] When, with respect to the regions of the sky, these things have thus been disposed, then it must also be observed by what considerations the places proper in private buildings for the fathers of families (heads of household), and how the common ones with outsiders, ought to be constructed. For of those which are proper, there is not the power for everyone to go inside unless invited, as are bedchambers (cubicula), triclinia, baths (balneae), and the rest, which have the same principles of use. But common are those to which even persons, when called, can come by their own right from the populace, that is, vestibules (vestibula), the cava aedium (atria), peristyles (peristylia), and whatever can have the same use.

Igitur is, qui communi sunt fortuna, non necessaria magnifica vestibula nec tabulina neque atria, quod in aliis officia praestant ambiundo neque ab aliis ambiuntur.

Therefore those who are of common fortune do not need magnificent vestibules nor tablina nor atria, because at others’ houses they render their duties by going around canvassing, and they are not canvassed by others.

[2] Qui autem fructibus rusticis serviunt, in eorum vestibulis stabula, tabernae, in aedibus cryptae, horrea, apothecae ceteraque, quae ad fructus servandos magis quam ad elegantiae decorem possunt esse, ita sunt facienda. Item feneratoribus et publicanis commodiora et speciosiora et ab insidiis tuta, forensibus autem et disertis elegantiora et spatiosiora ad conventos excipiundos, nobilibus vero, qui honores magistratusque gerundo praestare debent officia civibus, faciunda sunt vestibula regalia alta, atria et peristylia amplissima, silvae ambulationesque laxiores ad decorem maiestatis perfectae; praeterea bybliothecas, basilicas non dissimili modo quam publicorum operum magnificentia comparatas, quod in domibus eorum saepius et publica consilia et privata iudicia arbitriaque conficiuntur.

[2] But those who are occupied with rustic fruits should make in their vestibules stables and shops, and in the house vaults, granaries, store-rooms, and the rest, which can be for preserving the fruits rather than for the ornament of elegance. Likewise for usurers and publicans, things more commodious, more splendid, and safe from ambushes; but for men of the forum and the eloquent, more elegant and more spacious, for receiving assemblies; for nobles, indeed, who by bearing honors and magistracies ought to render services to their fellow citizens, there should be made royal lofty vestibules, very ample atria and peristyles, groves and more expansive ambulations for the decorum of perfected majesty; moreover libraries, basilicas prepared in a manner not unlike the magnificence of public works, because in their houses very often both public counsels and private judgments and arbitrations are brought to completion.

[3] Ergo si his rationibus ad singulorum generum personas, uti in libro primo de decore est scriptum, ita disposita erunt aedificia, non erit quod reprehendatur; habebunt enim ad omnes res commodas et emendatas explicationes. Earum autem rerum non solum erunt in urbe aedificiorum rationes, sed etiam ruri, praeterquam quod in urbe atria proxima ianuis solent esse, ruri ab pseudourbanis statim peristylia, deinde tunc atria habentia circum porticus pavimentatas spectantes ad palestras et ambulationes.

[3] Therefore, if by these reasonings for the persons of each kind, as in Book One concerning Decorum it is written, the buildings are arranged thus, there will be nothing to be rebuked; for they will have, for all matters, commodious and corrected arrangements. And the plans of these things will be not only for buildings in the city but also in the countryside, except that in the city atria are accustomed to be nearest to the doors, whereas in the countryside, among the pseudo-urbane, straightway there are peristyles, then atria having around them paved porticoes, looking toward palestrae and ambulations.

Quoad potui urbanas rationes aedificiorum summatim perscribere, proposui; nunc rusticorum expeditionum, ut sint ad usum commodae quibusque rationibus conlocare oporteat eas, dicam.

Insofar as I have been able, I have set forth in summary the urban principles of edifices; now I will speak of the rustic arrangements—how they may be commodious for use, and by what methods it is proper to locate them.

Caput Sextum

Chapter Six

[1] Primum de salubritatibus, uti in primo volumine de moenibus conlocandis scriptum est, regiones aspiciantur et ita villae conlocentur. Magnitudines earum ad modum agri copiasque fructuum conparentur. Chortes magnitudinesque earum ad pecorum numerum, atque quot iuga boum opus fuerint ibi versari, ita finiantur.

[1] First, concerning salubrity, as in the first volume it is written about locating the walls, let the regions be surveyed and thus let the villas be located. Their magnitudes should be matched to the measure of the field and the abundance of the fruits. The courts and their magnitudes should be determined according to the number of livestock, and according to how many yokes of oxen it will be necessary to be employed there.

In chorte culina quam calidissimo loco designetur. Coniuncta autem habeat bubilia, quorum praesepia ad focum et orientis caeli regionem spectent, ideo quod boves lumen et ignem spectando horridi non fiunt; item agricolae regionum inperiti non putant oportere aliam regionem caeli boves spectare nisi ortum solis.

In the courtyard let the kitchen be designated in the hottest possible place. And let it have conjoined ox-stalls, whose mangers should face toward the hearth and the region of the orient of the sky, for this reason: that oxen, by looking at light and fire, do not become rough; likewise farmers inexpert in the regions think that the oxen ought to face no other region of the sky than the rising of the sun.

[2] Bubilium autem debent esse latitudines nec minores pedum denum nec maiores V denum; longitudo, uti singula iuga ne minus pedes occupent septenos. Balnearia item coniuncta sint culinae; ita enim lavationi rusticae ministratio non erit longe. Torcular item proximum sit culinae; ita enim ad olearios fructus commoda erit ministratio.

[2] But the widths of the cattle-stalls ought to be not less than 10 feet nor greater than 50; the length, such that individual yokes occupy not less than 7 feet. Bath-rooms likewise should be joined to the kitchen; for thus the ministration for rustic bathing will not be far. The press likewise should be next to the kitchen; for thus there will be a commodious ministration for the olive-produce.

Habeatque coniunctam vinariam cellam habentem ab septentrione lumina fenestrarum; cum enim alia parte habuerit, quae sol calfacere possit, vinum, quod erit in ea cella, confusum ab calore efficietur inbecillum.

And let it have a conjoined wine-cellar having the lights of the windows from the north; for if it shall have them from another quarter, which the sun can heat, the wine which will be in that cellar, confused by the heat, will be rendered feeble.

[3] Olearia autem ita est conlocanda, ut habeat a meridie calidisque regionibus lumen; non enim debet oleum congelari, sed tempore caloris extenuari. Magnitudines autem earum ad fructuum rationem et numerum doliorum sunt faciundae, quae, cum sint cullearia, per medium occupare debent pedes quaternos. Ipsum autem torcular, si non cocleis torquetur sed vectibus et prelo premetur, ne minus longum pedes XL constituatur; ita enim erit vectiario spatium expeditum.

[3] The oil-room, moreover, is to be placed so that it has light from the south and the warm quarters; for oil ought not to congeal, but in time of heat to be attenuated. The dimensions of these, however, must be made according to the reckoning of the yield and the number of casks; and since these are culleus-sized, they ought to occupy four feet across the middle. But the press itself, if it is not turned by screws but is pressed by levers and a press-beam, should be set at not less than 40 feet in length; thus there will be an unencumbered space for the lever-work.

Latitudo eius ne minus pedum senum denum; nam sic erit ad plenum opus facientibus libera versatio et expedita. Sin autem duobus prelis loco opus fuerit, quattuor et viginti pedes latitudini dentur.

Its width not less than 16 feet; for thus there will be, to the full, for those doing the work, free and unencumbered circulation. But if, however, there should be need for two presses in the place, let 24 feet be given to the width.

[4] Ovilia et caprilia ita sunt magna facienda, uti singula pecora areae ne minus pedes quaternos et semipedem, ne plus senos possint habere. Granaria sublinita et ad septentrionem aut aquilonem spectantia disponantur; ita enim frumenta non poterint cito concalescere, sed ab flatu refrigerata diu servantur. Namque ceterae regiones procreant curculionem et reliquas bestiolas, quae frumentis solent nocere.

[4] Sheepfolds and goat-pens must be made of such a size that individual animals can have not less than four and a half feet of area and not more than six. Granaries, plastered and facing toward the North or Aquilo, should be set out; for thus the grains will not be able to heat up quickly, but, cooled by the breeze, are long preserved. For the other regions produce the weevil and the remaining little beasts which are wont to harm the grain.

Equilibus, quae maxime in villa loca calidissima fuerint, constituantur, dum ne ad focum spectent; cum enim iumenta proxime ignem stabulantur, horrida fiunt.

Let the horse-stalls be set in those places which are the warmest in the villa, provided they do not face the hearth; for when the beasts of burden are stabled nearest the fire, they become rough-coated.

[5] Item non sunt inutilia praesepia, quae conlocantur extra culinam in aperto contra orientem; cum enim in hieme anni sereno caelo in ea traducuntur matutino boves, ad solem pabulum capientes fiunt nitidiores. Horrea, fenilia, farraria, pistrina extra villam facienda videntur, ut ab ignis periculo sint villae tutiores. Si quid delicatius in villis faciendum fuerit, ex symmetriis quae in urbanis supra scripta sunt constituta, ita struantur, uti sine inpeditione rusticae utilitatis aedificentur.

[5] Likewise, mangers are not un-useful which are placed outside the kitchen, in the open, facing the east; for when in the winter of the year, with a serene sky, the oxen are led into them in the morning, taking their fodder in the sun, they become more glossy. Granaries, haylofts, spelt-stores, and bakehouses seem best made outside the villa, so that the villa may be safer from the danger of fire. If anything more delicate or refined is to be made in country houses, let them be constructed from the symmetries which have been set down above for urban ones, in such a way that they are built without hindrance to rural utility.

[6] Omniaque aedificia ut luminosa sint, oportet curari; sed quae sunt ad villas, faciliora videntur esse, ideo quod paries nullius vicini potest opstare, in urbe autem aut communium parietum altitudines aut angustiae loci inpediundo faciunt obscuritates. Itaque de ea re sic erit experiundum. Ex qua parte lumen oporteat sumere, linea tendatur ab altitudine parietis, qui videtur obstare, ad eum locum, quo oporteat inmittere, et si ab ea linea in altitudinem cum prospiciatur, poterit spatium puri caeli amplum videre, in eo loco lumen erit sine inpeditione.

[6] And all buildings must be cared for so that they may be luminous; but those which are at villas seem easier, for the reason that no neighbor’s wall can stand in the way, whereas in the city either the heights of common (party) walls or the narrownesses of the place, by hindering, produce obscurities. Therefore in this matter it will be tested thus. From the side from which it is proper to take light, a line should be stretched from the height of the wall which seems to obstruct to the place into which it is proper to admit it, and if from that line, when one looks upward, one can see a broad space of pure sky, in that place there will be light without impediment.

[7] Sin autem officient trabes seu limina aut contignationes, de superioribus partibus aperiatur et ita inmittatur. Et ad summam ita est gubernandum, ut, ex quibuscumque partibus caelum prospici poterit, per ea fenestrarum loca relinquantur; sic enim lucida erunt aedificia. Cum autem in tricliniis ceterisque conclavibus maximus est usus luminum, tum etiam itineribus, clivis, scalis, quod in his saepius alius aliis obviam venientes ferentes sarcinas solent incurrere.

[7] But if beams or lintels or floor-structures should obstruct, let an opening be made from the upper parts and so let the light be admitted. And, to sum up, it must be managed thus: from whatever quarters the sky can be looked out upon, along those places let window-openings be left; for in this way buildings will be bright. And since in dining-rooms and the other chambers there is the greatest use of light, so also in passageways, slopes/ramps, and stairs, because in these places people, meeting one another and carrying burdens, are wont to collide more often.

Quoad potui, distributiones operum nostratium ut sint aedificatoribus non obscurae, explicui; nunc etiam, quemadmodum Graecorum consuetudinibus aedificia distribuantur, uti non sint ignota, summatim exponam.

Insofar as I was able, I have explicated the distributions of our native works, that they may not be obscure to builders; now also, in what manner, according to the customs of the Greeks, buildings are distributed, so that they may not be unknown, I will set forth summarily.

Caput Septimum

Chapter Seven

[1] Atriis Graeci quia non utuntur, neque aedificant, sed ab ianua introeuntibus itinera faciunt latitudinibus non spatiosis, et ex una parte equilia, ex altera ostiariis cellas, statimque ianuae interiores finiuntur. Hic autem locus inter duas ianuas graecethyroron appellatur. Deinde est introitus in peristylon.

[1] Since the Greeks do not make use of atria, nor do they build them, but, for those entering from the doorway, they make passageways of not-spacious widths, and on one side stables, on the other cells for ostiaries (doorkeepers), and immediately the inner doorways terminate. This place, however, between the two doors is called in Greekthyroron. Then there is an entrance into the peristyle.

Id peristylum in tribus partibus habet porticus inque parte, quae spectat ad meridiem, duas antas inter se spatio amplo distantes, in quibus trabes invehuntur, et quantum inter antas distat, ex eo tertia adempta spatium datur introrsus. Hic locus apud nonnullos prostas, apud alios pastas nominatur.

That peristyle has porticoes on three sides, and on the side which looks toward the south, two antae, far apart from one another, into which beams are brought in; and as much as the distance between the antae is, with a third taken away from it, such a space is given inward. This place is called by some a prostas, by others a pastas.

[2] In his locis introrsus constituuntur oeci magni, in quibus matres familiarum cum lanificis habent sessionem. In prostadis autem dextra ac sinistra cubicula sunt conlocata, quorum unum thalamus, alterum amphithalamus dicitur. Circum autem in porticibus triclinia cotidiana, cubicula, etiam cellae familiaricae constituuntur.

[2] In these places, inward are set great oeci, in which the mothers of families have their sitting with the wool-workers. In the prostas, moreover, on the right and left, cubicula are placed, of which the one is called the thalamus, the other the amphithalamus. And around, in the porticoes, everyday triclinia, cubicula, and even cellae of the household are established.

Haec pars aedificii gynaeconitis appellatur.

This part of the building is called the gynaeconitis.

[3] Coniunguntur autem his domus ampliores habentes lautiora peristylia, in quibus pares sunt quattuor porticus altitudinibus, aut una, quae ad meridiem spectat, excelsioribus columnis constituitur. Id autem peristylum, quod unam altiorem habet porticum, rhodiacum dicitur. Habent autem eae domus vestibula egregia et ianuas proprias cum dignitate porticusque peristyliorum albariis et tectoriis et ex intestino opere lacunariis ornatas, et in porticibus, quae ad septentrionem spectant, triclinia cyzicena et pinacothecas, ad orientem autem bybliothecas, exhedras ad occidentem, ad meridiem vero spectantes oecos quadrata ostia ampla magnitudine, uti faciliter in eo quattuor tricliniis stratis ministrationum iudorumque operis locus possit esse spatiosus.

[3] Moreover, to these are joined larger houses having more sumptuous peristyles, in which the four porticoes are equal in heights, or the one which faces toward the south is set with loftier columns. That peristyle, however, which has one portico higher, is called Rhodian. And these houses have distinguished vestibules and their own doors with dignity, and the porticoes of the peristyles adorned with whitewashes and plasters and with coffered ceilings of internal work; and in the porticoes that face toward the north, Cyzicene triclinia and pinacothecae, but toward the east libraries, exedras toward the west, while facing toward the south oeci with square doorways of ample size, so that for four triclinia laid with couches there may easily be a spacious place for the service and the conduct of entertainments.

[4] In his oecis fiunt virilia convivia; non enim fuerat institutum matris familiarum eorum moribus accumbere. Haec autem peristylia domus andronitides dicuntur, quod in his viri sine interpellationibus mulierum versantur. Praeterea dextra ac sinistra domunculae constituuntur habentes proprias ianuas, triclinia et cubicula commoda, uti hospites advenientes non in peristylia sed in ea hospitalia recipiantur.

[4] In these oeci there are held manly banquets; for by their mores it had not been instituted that the materfamilias recline. Moreover, these peristyles of the house are called andronitides, because in them men move about without interruptions by women. Besides, on the right and left little rooms are set up, having their own doors, triclinia and convenient bedchambers, so that arriving guests may be received not in the peristyles but in those guest-quarters.

Nam cum fuerunt Graeci delicatiores et fortuna opulentiores, hospitibus advenientibus instruebant triclinia, cubicula, cum penu cellas, primoque die ad cenam invitabant, postero mittebant pullos, ova, holera, poma reliquasque res agrestes. Ideo pictores ea, quae mittebantur hospitibus, picturis imitantes xenia appellaverunt. Ita patres familiarum in hospitio non videbantur esse peregre, habentes secretam in his hospitalibus liberalitatem.

For when the Greeks were more delicate and more opulent in fortune, as guests arrived they would equip triclinia, cubicula, together with pantry-cells; and on the first day they invited them to dinner, on the next they sent chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and the remaining rustic things. Therefore painters, imitating in paintings the things that were sent to guests, called them xenia. Thus the fathers of families in hospitality did not seem to be abroad, having a hidden liberality in these guest-quarters.

[5] Inter duo autem peristylia et hospitalia itinera sunt, quae mesauloe dicuntur , quod inter duas aulas media sunt interposita; nostri autem eas andronas appellant.

[5] Between the two peristyles and the guest-quarters there are passages, which are called mesauloe , because they are interposed in the middle between two halls; our people, however, call them andrones.

Sed hoc valde est mirandum, nec enim graece nec latine potest id convenire. Graeci enim andronas appellant oecus, ubi convivia virilia solent esse, quod eo mulieres non accedunt. Item aliae res sunt similes, uti xystus, prothyrum, telamones et nonnulla alia eius modi.

But this is very much to be wondered at, for neither in Greek nor in Latin can that be fitting. For the Greeks call an oecus andronas, where men’s banquets are wont to be, because women do not go there. Likewise there are other similar things, such as xystus, prothyrum, telamones, and several other things of that sort.

Xystos enim est graeca appellatione porticus ampla latitudine, in qua athletae per hiberna tempora exercentur; nostri autem hypaethrus ambulationes xysta appellant, quas Graeci paradromidas dicunt. Item prothyra graece dicuntur, quae sunt ante in ianuas vestibula, nos autem appellamus prothyra, quae graece dicuntur diathyra.

For Xystos is, in Greek appellation, a portico of ample breadth, in which athletes are exercised during the winter seasons; but our people call hypaethral promenades xysta, which the Greeks call paradromides. Likewise, prothyra are called in Greek those vestibules that are before the doors, but we call prothyra those which in Greek are called diathyra.

[6] Item si qua virili figura signa mutulos aut coronas sustinent, nostri telamones appellant, cuius rationes, quid ita aut quare dicantur, ex historiis non inveniuntur, Graeci vero eosatlantas vocitant. Atlas enim formatur historia sustinens mundum, ideo quod is primum cursum solis et lunae siderumque omnium versationum rationes vigore animi sollertiaque curavit hominibus tradenda, eaque re a pictoribus et statuariis deformatur pro eo beneficio sustinens mundum, filiaeque eius Atlantides, quas nos vergilias, Graeci autem pliadas nominant, cum sideribus in mundo sunt dedicatae.

[6] Likewise, if any figures in a manly form support mutules or coronae, our people call them Telamones, the reasons for which, why thus or why they are so called, are not found from histories, but the Greeks call themAtlantes. For Atlas is shaped in history as supporting the world, for this reason: because he first, by vigor of spirit and ingenuity, took care that the accounts of the course of the sun and the moon and the revolutions of all the stars be handed down to men; and for that reason he is fashioned by painters and sculptors, in return for that benefaction, as supporting the world; and his daughters, the Atlantides, whom we call the Vergiliae, but the Greeks name the Pleiades, have been dedicated with the stars in the world.

[7] Nec tamen ego, ut mutetur consuetudo nominationum aut sermonis, ideo haec proposui, sed uti non sint ignota philologis, exponenda iudicavi.

[7] Nor, however, did I for that reason put these things forward, that the custom of denominations or of discourse be changed, but I judged that they should be expounded, lest they be unknown to philologists.

Quibus consuetudinibus aedificia italico more et Graecorum institutis conformantur, exposui et de symmetriis singulorum generum proportiones perscripsi. Ergo quoniam de venustate decoreque ante est conscriptum, nunc exponemus de firmitate, quemadmodum ea sine vitiis permanentia ad vetustatem conlocentur.

By what usages buildings are conformed in the Italian manner and according to the institutes of the Greeks I have expounded, and I have written out the proportions of the symmetries of each kind. Therefore, since grace and decor have been written of before, we will now set forth on firmness, how these, without faults, may be set so as to endure to old age.

Caput Octavum

Chapter Eight

[1] Aedificia quae plano pede instituuntur, si fundamenta eorum facta fuerint ita, ut in prioribus libris de muro et theatris nobis est expositum, ad vetustatem ea erunt sine dubitatione firma. Sin autem hypogea concamarationesque instituentur, fundationes eorum fieri debent crassiores, quam quae in superioribus aedificiis structurae sunt futurae. Eorumque parietes, pilae, columnae ad perpendiculum inferiorum medio conlocentur, uti solido respondeant; nam si in pendentibus onera fuerint parietum aut columnarum, non poterint habere perpetuam firmitatem.

[1] Buildings which are established on a level foot, if their foundations have been made as in the former books about the wall and the theaters it has been set forth by us, will without doubt be firm for longevity. But if hypogea and concamerations are to be instituted, their foundations ought to be made thicker than those which are going to be the masonry in the upper buildings. And their walls, piles/piers, and columns should be set by the plumb over the middle of the lower ones, so that they correspond to solid bearing; for if the loads of walls or of columns are on overhanging members, they cannot have perpetual firmness.

[2] Praeterea inter lumina secundum pilas et antas postes si supponentur, erunt non vitiosae. Limina enim et trabes structuris cum sint oneratae, medio spatio pandantes frangunt sublisi structuras; cum autem subiecti fuerint et subcuneati postes, non patiuntur insidere trabes neque eas laedere.

[2] Moreover, if posts are placed beneath between the openings, alongside the piers and the antae, they will not be faulty. For lintels and beams, when they are loaded with the masonry, sagging in the middle span, break the structures that have settled; but when posts have been set under and wedged, they do not allow the beams to settle nor to injure them.

[3] Item administrandum est, uti levent onus parietum fornicationes cuneorum divisionibus et ad centrum respondentes earum conclusurae. Cum enim extra trabes aut liminum capita arcus cuneis erunt conclusae, primum non pandabit materies levata onere; deinde, si quod vetustate vitium ceperit, sine molitione fulturarum faciliter mutabitur.

[3] Likewise it must be managed that the load of the walls be lightened by vaultings through the divisions of the wedges and their closures answering to the center. For when, beyond the beams or the heads of the thresholds, arches have been closed with wedges, first the timber, relieved of the burden, will not splay; then, if any defect shall have been taken on through age, it will be changed easily without the toil of shorings.

[4] Itemque, quae pilatim aguntur aedificia et cuneorum divisionibus coagmentis ad centrum respondentibus fornices concluduntur, extremae pilae in his latiores spatio sunt faciundae, uti vires eae habentes resistere possint, cum cunei ab oneribus parietum pressi per coagmenta ad centrum se prementes extruderent incumbas. Itaque si angulares pilae erunt spatiosis magnitudinibus, continendo cuneos firmitatem operibus praestabunt.

[4] Likewise, in buildings that are carried out with piers and in which arches are concluded by wedge-divisions with coagmentations (joints) responding to the center, the endmost piers in these must be made broader in span, so that, having the strengths, they may be able to resist, when the wedges, pressed by the loads of the walls, through the coagmentations, pressing themselves toward the center, might extrude the imposts. And so, if the corner piers are of spacious magnitudes, by containing the wedges they will furnish firmness to the works.

[5] Cum in his rebus animadversum fuerit, uti ea diligentia in his adhibeatur, non minus etiam observandum est, uti omnes structurae perpendiculo respondeant neque habeant in ulla parte proclinationes. Maxima autem esse debet cura substructionum, quod in his infinita vitia solet facere terrae congestio. Ea enim non potest esse semper uno pondere, quo solet esse per aestatem, sed hibernis temporibus recipiendo ex imbribus aquae multitudinem crescens et pondere et amplitudine disrumpit et extrudit structurarum saeptiones.

[5] When in these matters it has been observed that such diligence be applied in them, it is no less also to be observed that all structures answer to the plumb-line and have in no part any inclinations. But the greatest care ought to be for the substructions, because in them the accumulation of earth is wont to produce limitless faults. For it cannot always be of one and the same weight as it is wont to be during summer; but in winter times, by receiving a multitude of water from the rains, growing both in weight and in extent, it bursts and thrusts out the retaining-walls of the structures.

[6] Itaque, ut huic vitio medeatur, sic erit faciendum, ut primum pro amplitudine congestionis crassitudo structurae constituatur. Deinde in frontibus anterides, sive erismae sunt, una struantur, eaeque inter se distent tanto spatio, quanta altitudo substructionis est futura, crassitudine eadem, qua substructio; procurrat autem ab imo, pro quam crassitudo constituta fuerit substructionis, deinde contrahatur gradatim, ita uti summam habeat prominentiam, quanta operis est crassitudo.

[6] Therefore, to remedy this defect, the doing will be thus: first, in proportion to the amplitude of the fill, let the thickness of the structure be established. Then, along the fronts let anterides, or erismata, be built together, and let them be spaced from one another by as great an interval as the altitude of the substructure is going to be, with the same thickness as the substructure; moreover, let it project from the bottom in proportion to how great the thickness of the substructure has been set; then let it be contracted step by step, so that it may have a final prominence equal to the thickness of the work.

[7] Praeterea introrsus contra terrenum coniuncta muro serratim struantur, uti singuli dentes ab muro tantum distent, quanta altitudo futura erit substructionis; crassitudines autem habeant dentium structurae uti muri. Item in extremis angulis cum recessum fuerit ab interiore angulo spatio altitudinis substructionis, in utramque partem signetur, et ab his signis diagonius structura conlocetur, et ab ea media altera coniuncta cum angulo muri. Ita dentes et diagonioe structurae non patientur tota vi premere murum, sed dissipabunt retinendum impetum congestionis.

[7] Moreover, inward, against the earthen mass, joined to the wall, let them be built in a saw-tooth pattern, so that the individual “teeth” are at just such a distance from the wall as the height of the substructure will be; and let the tooth-structures have thicknesses as the wall. Likewise, at the extreme corners, when a recess has been made from the inner angle by a space equal to the height of the substructure, let a mark be set off in each direction, and from these marks let a diagonal structure be placed, and from it another, in the middle, conjoined with the angle of the wall. Thus the teeth and the diagonal structures will not allow the wall to be pressed with the whole force, but will dissipate and hold in check the impetus of the congestion.

[8] Quemadmodum sine vitiis opera constitui oporteat et uti caveatur incipientibus, exposui. Namque de tegulis aut tignis aut asseribus mutandis non est eadem cura quemadmodum de his, quod ea, quamvis sunt vitiosa, faciliter mutantur. Ita quae nec solidi quidem putantur esse, quibus rationibus haec poterint esse firma et quemadmodum instituantur, exposui.

[8] How works ought to be constituted without faults and how caution should be taken by beginners, I have set forth. For about tiles or beams or planks to be replaced there is not the same care as about those matters, because these, although they are faulty, are easily changed. Thus, for the things which are not even thought to be sound, by what methods these can be firm and how they should be established, I have explained.

[9] Quibus autem copiarum generibus oporteat uti, non est architecti potestas, ideo quod non in omnibus locis omnia genera copiarum nascuntur, ut in proximo volumine est expositum; praeterea in domini est potestate, utrum latericio an caementicio an saxo quadrato velit aedificare. Itaque omnium operum probationes tripertito considerantur, id est fabrili subtilitate et magnificentia et dispositione. Cum magnificenter opus perfectum aspicietur, a domini potestate inpensae laudabuntur; cum subtiliter, officinatoris probabitur exactio; cum vero venuste proportionibus et symmetriis habuerit auctoritatem, tunc fuerit gloria area architecti.

[9] Which kinds of resources it is proper to employ is not in the architect’s power, because not in all places are all kinds of resources produced, as has been set forth in the preceding volume; moreover it is in the owner’s power whether he wishes to build in brickwork or in rubble-masonry or in squared stone. Therefore the probations of all works are considered threefold: that is, by fabrile subtlety, magnificence, and disposition. When the completed work is beheld as magnificent, the expenditures will be praised as arising from the owner’s authority; when as subtle, the work-contractor’s exactness will be approved; but when, gracefully, it shall have had authority by proportions and symmetries, then the glory will be the province of the architect.

[10] Haec autem recte constituuntur, cum is et a fabris et ab idiotis patiatur accipere se consilia. Namque omnes homines non solum architecti, quod est bonum, possunt probare, sed inter idiotas et eos hoc est disccrimen, quod idiota, nisi factum viderit, non potest scire, quid sit futurum, architectus autem, simul animo constituerit, antequam inceperit, et venustate et usu et decore quale sit futurum, habet definitum.

[10] These things, however, are rightly established when he allows himself to receive counsel both from craftsmen and from idiots (i.e., laymen). For all men, not only architects—which is a good thing—are able to pass judgment; but between laymen and them this is the distinction: the layman, unless he sees the thing done, cannot know what is going to be; whereas the architect, as soon as he has settled it in his mind, before he has begun, has it determined what it will be like in grace, in use, and in decorum.

Quas res privatis aedificiis utiles putavi et quemadmodum sint faciundae, quam apertissime potui, perscripsi; de expolitionibus autem eorum, uti sint elegantes et sine vitiis ad vetustatem, insequenti volumine exponam.

The things which I judged useful for private buildings, and how they are to be made, I have written out as plainly as I could; but concerning their finishes, so that they may be elegant and without defects over time, I will set forth in the following volume.