Vitruvius: DE ARCHITECTVRA

[1] Maiores cum sapienter tum etiam utiliter instituerunt, per commentariorum relationes cogitata tradere posteris, ut ea non interirent, sed singulis aetatibus crescentia voluminibus edita gradatim pervenirent vetustatibus ad summam doctrinarum subtilitatem. Itaque non mediocres sed infinitae sunt his agendae gratiae, quod non invidiose silentes praetermiserunt, sed omnium generum sensus conscriptionibus memoriae tradendos curaverunt.

[1] The elders instituted both wisely and also usefully to hand down to posterity their cogitations through the relations of commentaries, so that they might not perish, but that, in each age, being published in volumes that grow, they might gradually, as the ages grew ancient, arrive at the highest subtlety of doctrines. And so not moderate but infinite thanks are to be rendered to them, because they did not invidiously pass things over in silence, but took care that the senses of every kind be consigned to memory by writings.

[2] Namque si non ita fecissent, non potuissemus scire, quae res in Troia fuissent gestae, nec quid Thales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes reliquique physici sensissent de rerum natura, quasque Socrates, Platon, Aristoteles, Zenon, Epicurus aliique philosophi hominibus agendae vitae terminationes finissent, seu Croesus, Alexander, Darius ceterique reges quas res aut quibus rationibus gessissent, fuissent notae, nisi maiores praeceptorum conparationibus omnium memoriae ad posteritatem commentariis extulissent.

[2] For if they had not done so, we could not have known what things had been done in Troy, nor what Thales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, and the rest of the physicists had sensed concerning the nature of things, and what terminations for a life to be pursued by men Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, and the other philosophers had defined; nor would it have been known what things Croesus, Alexander, Darius, and the other kings had done, or by what reasons they had conducted them, unless the elders had brought forth to the memory of all, for posterity, by commentaries, arrangements of precepts.

[3] Itaque quemadmodum his gratiae sunt agendae, contra, qui eorum scripta furantes pro suis praedicant, sunt vituperandi, quique non propriis cogitationibus scriptorum nituntur, sed invidis moribus aliena violantes gloriantur, non modo sunt reprehendendi, sed etiam, qui impio more vixerunt, poena condemnandi. Nec tamen hae res non vindicatae curiosius ab antiquis esse memorantur. Quorum exitus iudiciorum qui fuerint, non est alienum, quemadmodum sint nobis traditi, explicare.

[3] And so, just as thanks are to be rendered to these men, conversely, those who, stealing their writings, proclaim them as their own are to be vituperated; and those who do not rely on writings from their own cogitations, but, with envious manners, boasting while violating what is another’s, are not only to be reprehended, but even, as having lived by an impious custom, to be condemned with punishment. Nor, however, are these matters remembered by the ancients as having been left unvindicated with less-than-careful attention. What the outcomes of those judgments were, it is not out of place to explicate, in the manner in which they have been handed down to us.

[4] Regis Attalici magnis philologiae dulcedinibus inducti cum egregiam bybliothecam Pergami ad communem delectationem instituissent, tunc item Ptolmaeus infinito zelo cupiditatisque incitatus studio non minoribus industriis ad eundem modum contenderat Alexandriae comparare. Cum autem summa diligentia perfecisset, non putavit id satis esse, nisi propagationibus inseminando curaret augendam. Itaque Musis et Apollini ludos dedicavit et, quemadmodum athletarum, sic communium scriptorum victoribus praemia et honores constituit.

[4] When the men of King Attalus, induced by the great sweetnesses of philology, had established an excellent library at Pergamum for common delectation, then likewise Ptolemy, incited with infinite zeal and by cupidity, strove with no lesser industries to procure one at Alexandria in the same manner. But when he had completed it with the highest diligence, he did not think that sufficient, unless, by inseminating propagations, he took care for its augmentation. And so he dedicated games to the Muses and to Apollo, and, just as for athletes, so he established prizes and honors for the victors among common writers.

[5] His ita institutis, cum ludi adessent, iudices litterati, qui ea probarent, erant legendi. Rex, cum iam sex civitatis lectos habuisset nec tam cito septumum idoneum inveniret, retulit ad eos, qui supra bybliothecam fuerunt, et quaesiit, si quem novissent ad id expeditum. Tunc ei dixerunt esse quendam Aristophanen, qui summo studio summaque diligentia cotidie omnes libros ex ordine perlegeret.

[5] With these arrangements thus established, when the games were at hand, learned judges, who might approve them, had to be chosen. The king, when he already had six chosen men of the city and could not so quickly find a seventh suitable, referred the matter to those who were set over the library, and asked whether they knew anyone ready for that task. Then they told him there was a certain Aristophanes, who with the highest zeal and the highest diligence read through all the books in order day by day.

Itaque conventu ludorum, cum secretae sedes iudicibus essent distributae, cum ceteris Aristophanes citatus, quemadmodum fuerat locus ei designatus, sedit.

And so, at the assembly of the games, when secret seats had been distributed to the judges, Aristophanes, summoned with the others, sat in the place just as it had been designated for him.

[6] Primo poetarum ordine ad certationem inducto cum recitarentur scripta, populus cunctus significando monebat iudices, quod probarent. Itaque, cum ab singulis sententiae sunt rogatae, sex una dixerunt, et, quem maxime animadverterunt multitudini placuisse, ei primum praemium, insequenti secundum tribuerunt. Aristophanes vero, cum ab eo sententia rogaretur, eum primum renuntiari iussit, qui minime populo placuisset.

[6] With the first order of the poets brought into the competition, when the writings were being recited, the whole populace, by signaling, was advising the judges what they should approve. Therefore, when opinions were asked from each, the six spoke as one, and the one whom they had especially observed to have pleased the multitude, to him they awarded the first prize, to the next the second. Aristophanes, however, when his opinion was asked, ordered that he be proclaimed first who had least pleased the people.

[7] Cum autem rex et universi vehementer indignarentur, surrexit et rogando impetravit, ut paterentur se dicere. Itaque silentio facto docuit unum ex his eum esse poetam, ceteros aliena recitavisse; oportere autem iudicantes non furta sed scripta probare. Admirante populo et rege dubitante, fretus memoriae certis armariis infinita volumina eduxit et ea cum recitatis conferendo coegit ipsos furatos de se confiteri.

[7] But when the king and all were vehemently indignant, he rose and by entreaty obtained that they allow him to speak. And so, silence having been made, he demonstrated that one of these was the poet, the rest had recited alien works; moreover, that those judging ought to approve not thefts but writings. With the people marveling and the king wavering, relying on memory he drew forth from certain armaria innumerable volumes, and by comparing them with the recited pieces he compelled the very thieves to confess that they had stolen from him.

Itaque rex iussit cum his agi furti condemnatosque cum ignominia dimisit, Aristophanen vero amplissimis muneribus ornavit et supra bybliothecam constituit.

Therefore the king ordered action to be taken against them and, condemned for theft, dismissed them with ignominy; but Aristophanes he adorned with most ample gifts and appointed over the library.

[8] Insequentibus annis a Macedonia Zoilus, qui adoptavit cognomen, ut Homeromastix vocitaretur, Alexandriam venit suaque scripta contra Iliadem et Odyssean comparata regi recitavit. Ptolomaeus vero, cum animadvertisset poetarum parentem philologiaeque omnis ducem absentem vexari et, cuius ab cunctis gentibus scripta suspicerentur, ab eo vituperari, indignans nullum ei dedit responsum. Zoilus autem, cum diutius in regno fuisset, inopia pressum summisit ad regem postulans, ut aliquid sibi tribueretur.

[8] In the following years, from Macedonia, Zoilus—who adopted a cognomen, so that he might be called “Homeromastix”—came to Alexandria and recited to the king his own writings prepared against the Iliad and the Odyssey. But Ptolemy, when he had observed that the parent of poets and the leader of all philology, though absent, was being vexed, and that he whose writings were venerated by all nations was being vituperated by him, indignant, gave him no answer. Zoilus, however, when he had been rather long in the realm, pressed by want, submitted to the king requesting that something be granted to him.

[9] Rex vero respondisse dicitur Homerum, qui ante annos mille decessisset, aevo perpetuo multa milia hominum pascere, item debere, qui meliore ingenio se profiteretur, non modo unum sed etiam plures alere posse. Et ad summam mors eius ut parricidii damnati varie memoratur. Alii enim scripserunt a Philadelpho esse in crucem fixum, nonnulli Chii lapides esse coniectos, alii Zmyrnae vivom in pyram coniectum.

[9] The king, however, is said to have replied that Homer, who had died a thousand years before, feeds many thousands of men for an everlasting age; likewise, that he who professed himself of a better genius ought to be able to support not only one but even several. And in sum, his death is variously recorded as that of one condemned for parricide. For some have written that he was fastened to the cross by Philadelphus, some that stones were cast by the Chians, others that at Smyrna he was thrown alive onto a pyre.

Quorum utrum ei acciderit, merenti digna constitit poena; non enim aliter videtur promereri, qui citat eos, quorum responsum, quid senserint scribentes, non potest coram indicari.

Whichever of them befell him, a penalty worthy of the deserving was constituted; for he does not seem to merit otherwise, who cites those whose response, as to what they meant when writing, cannot be indicated face to face.

[10] Ego vero, Caesar, neque alienis indicibus mutatis interposito nomine meo id profero corpus neque ullius cogitata vituperans institui ex eo me adprobare, sed omnibus scriptioribus infinitas ago gratias, quod egregiis ingeniorum sollertiis ex aevo conlatis abundantes alius alio genere copias praeparaverunt, unde nos uti fontibus haurientes aquam et ad propria proposita traducentes facundiores et expeditiores habemus ad scribendum facultates talibusque confidentes auctoribus audemus, institutiones novas comparare.

[10] But I, Caesar, neither bring forward that corpus under my own name, others’ indices having been altered and my name interposed, nor, by censuring anyone’s cogitations, have I undertaken thereby to approve myself; but to all writers I render infinite thanks, because, by the excellent skills of their ingenia gathered from the ages, abounding, they have prepared copious resources, one in one kind, another in another, whence we, using them as fountains, drawing water and transferring it to our own purposes, have more eloquent and more expeditious faculties for writing; and, confident in such authors, we dare to prepare new institutions.

[11] Igitur tales ingressus eorum quia ad propositi mei rationes animadverti praeparatos, inde sumendo progredi coepi. Namque primum Agatharchus Athenis Aeschylo docente tragoediam ad scaenam fecit, et de ea commentarium reliquit. Ex eo moniti Democritus et Anaxagoras de eadem re scripserunt, quemadmodum oporteat, ad aciem oculorum radiorumque extentionem certo loco centro constituto, ad lineas ratione naturali respondere, uti de incerta re incertae imagines aedificiorum in scaenarum picturis redderent speciem et, quae in directis planisque frontibus sint figurata, alia abscedentia, alia prominentia esse videantur.

[11] Therefore, since I observed that such approaches of theirs had been prepared to suit the rationales of my purpose, I began to proceed, taking my start from there. For first Agatharchus at Athens, while Aeschylus was teaching a tragedy, made a scene for the stage and left behind a commentary on it. From this admonished, Democritus and Anaxagoras wrote on the same matter: how it is proper that, to the visual axis of the eyes and the extension of the rays, with a center established in a fixed place, the lines should correspond according to a natural rationale, so that from an uncertain thing the uncertain images of buildings in scene-paintings might render an appearance, and that the things which are figured on straight and flat fronts should seem—some receding, others projecting.

[12] Postea Silenus de symmetriis doricorum edidit volumen; de aede ionica Iunionis quae est Sami Rhoecus et Theodorus; ionice Ephesi quae est Dianae, Chersiphron et Metagenes; de fano Minervae, quod est Prienae ionicum, Pytheos; item de aede Minervae, dorice quae est Athenis in arce, Ictinos et Carpion; Theodorus Phocaeus de tholo, qui est Delphis; Philo de aedium sacrarum symmetriis et de armamentario, quod fuerat Piraei portu; Hermogenes de aede Dianae, ionice quae est Magnesia pseudodipteros, et Liberi Patris Teo monopteros; item Arcesius de symmetriis corinthiis et ionico Trallibus Aesculapio, quod etiam ipse sua manu dicitur fecisse; de Mausoleo Satyrus et Pytheos.

[12] Afterwards Silenus published a volume on the symmetries of the Doric; on the Ionic temple of Juno which is at Samos, Rhoecus and Theodorus; on the Ionic at Ephesus which is Diana’s, Chersiphron and Metagenes; on the shrine of Minerva, which is Ionic at Priene, Pytheos; likewise on the temple of Minerva, Doric, which is at Athens on the citadel, Ictinus and Carpion; Theodorus the Phocaean on the tholos which is at Delphi; Philo on the symmetries of sacred buildings and on the arsenal which had been in the harbor of the Piraeus; Hermogenes on the temple of Diana, Ionic, which is at Magnesia, a pseudodipteros, and of Liber Pater at Teos, a monopteros; likewise Arcesius on Corinthian symmetries and on the Ionic at Tralles for Aesculapius, which he himself also is said to have made with his own hand; on the Mausoleum, Satyrus and Pytheos.

[13] Quibus vero felicitas maximum summumque contulit munus; quorum enim artes aevo perpetuo nobillisimas laudes et sempiterno florentes habere iudicantur, et cogitatis egregias operas praestiterunt. Namque singulis frontibus singuli artifices sumpserunt certatim partes ad ornandum et probandum Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas, Praxiteles, nonnulli etiam putant Timotheum, quorum artis eminens excellentia coegit ad septem spectaculorum eius operis pervenire famam.

[13] To whom indeed Fortune bestowed the greatest and highest gift; for their arts are judged to have the most noble praises through perpetual age and to be flourishing everlastingly, and by their cogitations they furnished outstanding works. For on each façade individual craftsmen, vying with one another, took their parts for adorning and for proving—Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas, Praxiteles; some also think Timotheus—whose art’s eminent excellence brought it about that the fame of that work reached the Seven Wonders.

[14] Praeterea minus nobiles multi praecepta symmetriarum conscripserunt, uti Nexaris, Theocydes, Demophilos, Pollis, Leonidas, Silanion, Melampus, Sarnacus, Euphranor. Non minus de machinationibus, uti Diades, Archytas, Archimedes, Ctesibios, Nymphodorus, Philo Byzantius, Diphilos, Democles, Charias, Polyidos, Pyrrhos, Agesistratos. Quorum ex commentariis, quae utilia esse his rebus animadverti, [collecta in unum coegi corpus, et ideo maxime, quod animadverti] in ea re ab Graecis volumina plura edita, ab nostris oppido quam pauca.

[14] Moreover, many less-renowned men wrote precepts of symmetries, such as Nexaris, Theocydes, Demophilus, Pollis, Leonidas, Silanion, Melampus, Sarnacus, Euphranor. No less on machines, such as Diades, Archytas, Archimedes, Ctesibius, Nymphodorus, Philo the Byzantine, Diphilus, Democles, Charias, Polyidus, Pyrrhus, Agesistratus. From whose commentaries I have observed the things that are useful for these matters, [collected into one I have brought together a corpus, and especially for this reason, because I noticed] that in this field many volumes have been published by the Greeks, by our own very few indeed.

Fufidius enim mirum de his rebus primus instituit edere volumen, item Terentius Varro de novem disciplinis unum de architectura, P. Septimius duo.

For Fufidius, indeed, was the first to set about publishing a volume on these matters; likewise Terentius Varro, of the nine disciplines, one on architecture; P. Septimius, two.

[15] Amplius vero in id genus scripturae adhuc nemo incubuisse videtur, cum fuissent et antiqui cives magni architecti, qui potuissent non minus eleganter scripta comparare. Namque Athenis Antistates et Callaschros et Antimachides et Porinos architecti Pisistrato aedem Iovi Olympio facienti fundamenta constituerunt, post mortem autem eius propter interpellationem reipublicae incepta reliquerunt. Itaque circiter annis quadragentis post Antiochus rex, cum in id opus inpensam esset pollicitus, cellae magnitudinem et columnarum circa dipteron conlocationem epistyliorumque et ceterorum ornamentorum ad symmetriam distributionem magna sollertia scientiaque summa civis Romanus Quossutius nobiliter est architectatus.

[15] Moreover, in this kind of scriptura no one up to now seems to have applied himself, although there were ancient citizens, great architects, who could have composed writings no less elegantly. For at Athens the architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides, and Porinos laid the foundations for Peisistratus as he was having the temple of Zeus Olympius made; but after his death, on account of an interruption of the res publica, they left the undertaking unfinished. And so, about four hundred years later, King Antiochus, since he had promised expenditure for that work, had, with great skill and utmost scientia, by the Roman citizen Quossutius, nobly architected the size of the cella and the placement of the columns around as a dipteron, and the distribution according to symmetry of the epistyles and the other ornaments.

Id autem opus non modo volgo, sed etiam in paucis a magnificentia nominatur.

That work, however, is named for its magnificence not only by the multitude, but even among the select few.

[16] Nam quattuor locis sunt aedium sacrarum marmoreis operibus ornatae dispositiones, e quibus propriae de his nominationes clarissima fama nominantur quorum excellentiae prudentesque cogitationum apparatus suspectus habent in deorumsesemasmenois. Primumque aedes Ephesi Dianae ionico genere ab Chersiphrone Gnosio et filio eius Metagene est instituta, quam postea Demetrius, ipsius Dianae servos, et Paeonius Ephesius dicuntur perfecisse. Mileti Apollini item ionicis symmetriis idem Paeonius Daphnisque Milesius instituerunt. Eleusine Cereris et Proserpinae cellam inmani magnitudine Ictinos dorico more sine exterioribus columnis ad laxamentum usus sacrificiorum pertexit.

[16] For in four places there are dispositions of sacred buildings adorned with marble works, from which their proper appellations are named by most illustrious renown, and prudent men hold the preparations of their conceptions about their excellence as attested among the gods’sesemasmenois. And first, the temple at Ephesus of Diana, in the Ionic kind, was set up by Chersiphron the Cnossian and his son Metagenes, which afterward Demetrius, a slave of Diana herself, and Paeonius of Ephesus are said to have completed. At Miletus, for Apollo likewise with Ionic symmetries, the same Paeonius and Daphnis of Miletus established it. At Eleusis, Ictinus, in the Doric manner, without exterior columns, completed the cella of Ceres and Proserpina of immense magnitude, for a loosening of space for the use of sacrifices.

[17] Eam autem postea, cum Demetrius Phalereus Athenis rerum potiretur, Philo ante templum in fronte columnis constitutis prostylon fecit; ita aucto vestibula laxamentum initiantibus operique summam adfecit auctoritatem. In asty vero ad Olympium amplo modulorum comparatu corinthiis symmetriis et proportionibus, uti s s est, architectandum Quossutius suscepisse memoratur, cuius commentarium nullum est inventum. Nec tamen a Cossutio solum de his rebus scripta sunt desideranda sed etiam a G. Mucio, qui magna scientia confisus aedes Honoris et Virtutis Marianae, cellae columnarumque et epistyliorum symmetrias legitimis artis institutis perfecit.

[17] But later, when Demetrius of Phalerum held control of affairs at Athens, Philo made a prostylon by setting up columns in front of the temple; thus, with the vestibule enlarged he provided spaciousness for those being initiated and conferred the highest authority upon the work. In the asty, moreover, at the Olympieion, with an ample array of modules and with Corinthian symmetries and proportions, as is written s s, Quossutius is recorded to have undertaken the architecting; of whom no commentary has been found. Nor, however, are writings on these matters to be desired from Cossutius alone, but also from G. Mucius, who, relying on great scientia, completed the symmetries of the Marian Temple of Honor and Virtue—the cella, the columns, and the epistylia—according to the legitimate institutes of the art.

Id vero si marmoreum fuisset, ut haberet, quemadmodum ab arte subtilitatem, sic ab magnificentia et inpensis auctoritatem, in primis et summis operibus nominaretur.

Indeed, if it had been of marble, so that it might have, just as from art subtlety, so from magnificence and expenditures authority, it would be named among the foremost and highest works.

[18] Cum ergo et antiqui nostri inveniantur non minus quam Graeci fuisse magni architecti et nostra memoria satis multi, et ex his pauci praecepta edidissent, non putavi silendum, sed disposite singulis voluminibus de singulis exponeremus. Itaque, quoniam sexto volumine privatorum aedificiorum rationes perscripsi, in hoc, qui septimum tenet numerum, de expolitionibus, quibus rationibus et venustatem et firmitatem habere possint, exponam.

[18] Since, then, our ancients are found to have been great architects no less than the Greeks, and in our own memory there have been quite many, and of these few have published precepts, I did not think it should be kept silent, but that, in orderly fashion, we should set forth, in individual volumes, on individual subjects. Therefore, since in the 6th volume I have written out the principles of private buildings, in this one, which holds the number 7, I will set forth about finishings, by what methods they can possess both charm and firmness.

Caput Primum

Chapter One

[1] Primumque incipiam de ruderatione, quae principia tenet expolitionum, uti curiosius summaque providentia solidationis ratio habeatur. Et si plano pede erit eruderandum, quaeratur, solum si sit perpetuo solidum, et ita exaequetur, et inducatur cum statumine rudus. Sin autem omnis aut ex parte congesticius locus fuerit, fistucationibus cum magna cura solidetur.

[1] First, I will begin with ruderation, which holds the beginnings of expolitions, so that, with the most careful and most provident attention, account be taken of the method of solidation. And if it is to be excavated with a level foot, let it be inquired whether the soil is solid throughout, and thus let it be made level, and let the rudus be laid on together with the statumen. But if the place is wholly or in part made-up fill, let it be solidated by fistucations (rammings) with great care.

In contignationibus vero diligenter est animadvertendum, ne qui paries, qui non exeat ad summum, sit extructus sub pavimentum, sed potius relaxatus supra se pendentem habeat coaxationem. Cum enim solidus exit, contignationibus arescentibus aut pandatione sidentibus, permanens structurae soliditate dextra ac sinistra secundum se facit in pavimentis necessario rimas.

But in the matter of floor-framings, it must be carefully noted that no wall which does not go up to the top be built under the pavement, but rather, being relieved, let it have above it a hanging coaxation. For when such a wall runs solid, as the floor-framings dry out or settle by spreading, the structure remaining solid, by its solidity, necessarily makes cracks in the pavements on the right and on the left along its own line.

[2] Item danda est opera, ne commisceantur axes aesculini querco, quod quercei, simul umorem perceperunt, se torquentes rimas faciunt in pavimentis. Sin autem aesculus non erit et necessitas coegerit propter inopiam, querceis sic videtur esse faciundum, ut secentur tenuiores; quo minus enim valuerint, eo facilius clavis fixi continebuntur. Deinde in singulis tignis extremis partibus axis bini clavi figantur, uti nulla ex parte possint se torquendo anguli excitare.

[2] Likewise care must be taken that aesculus planks not be mixed with quercine ones, because quercine, as soon as they have taken on moisture, twisting themselves make fissures in the pavements. But if aesculus is not available and necessity has compelled on account of scarcity, with quercine it seems this should be done: that they be cut thinner; for the less they shall have strength, by so much the more easily, fixed with nails, they will be held. Then in each joist, at the extreme parts of the plank, pairs of nails should be driven, so that the corners cannot, by twisting, heave up in any part.

Namque de cerro aut fago seu farno nullus ad vestutatem potest permanere. Coaxationibus factis, si erit, filex, si non, palea substernatur, uti materies ab calcis vitiis defendatur.

For of cerrus (Turkey oak) or beech or farnus none can endure to long-lasting age. With the coagmentations made, let there be laid beneath—if there is, fern; if not, straw—so that the timber may be defended from the faults of lime.

[3] Tunc insuper statuminetur ne minore saxo, quam qui possit manum implere. Statuminationibus inductis, rudus si novum erit ad tres partes una calcis misceatur, si redivivum fuerit, quinque ad duum mixtiones habeant responsum. Deinde rudus inducatur et vectibus ligneis, decuriis inductis, crebriter pinsatione solidetur, et id non minus pinsum absolutum crassitudine sit dodrantis.

[3] Then, moreover, let the base-course be statumened with no smaller stone than one that can fill the hand. With the statuminations laid in, if the rudus is new, let one part of lime be mixed to three parts; if it is re-used, let the mixtures have a ratio of five to two. Then let the rudus be spread and, with wooden bars, decuries brought in, let it be frequently compacted by ramming, and, when fully rammed, let it be of a thickness not less than a dodrans (three-quarters of a foot).

Insuper ex testa nucleus inducatur mixtionem habens ad tres partes unam calcis, ne minore crassitudine pavimentum digitorum senûm. Supra nucleum ad regulam et libellam exacta pavimenta struantur sive sectilia seu tesseris.

Moreover, let the nucleus be laid from potsherd, having a mixture with one part of lime to three parts, so that the pavement be not of lesser thickness than six fingers. Above the nucleus, pavements made exact to the rule and the level are to be set, whether sectile or with tesserae.

[4] Cum ea exstructa fuerint et fastigia sua exstructionem habuerint, ita fricentur, uti, si sectilia sint, nulli gradus Ìn scutulis aut trigonis aut quadratis seu favis extent, sed coagmentorum conpositio planam habeat inter se derectionem, si tesseris structum erit, ut eae omnes angulos habeant aequales; cum enim anguli non fuerint omnes aequaliter pleni, non erit exacta, ut oportet, fricatura. Item testacea spicata tiburtina sunt diligenter exigenda, ut ne habeant lacunas nec extantes tumulos, sed extenta et ad regulam perfricata. Super fricaturam levigationibus et polituris cum fuerint perfecta, incernatur marmor, et supra loricae ex calce et harena inducantur.

[4] When these have been constructed and their pitches have received their construction, then they should be rubbed, so that, if they are sectile pavements, no steps stand out in the lozenges or triangles or squares or honeycombs, but the arrangement of the joints has a level alignment among themselves; if it is built with tesserae, that all of them have equal angles; for when the angles have not all been filled equally, the rubbing will not be exact, as is proper. Likewise Tiburtine herringbone brickworks must be carefully trued, so that they have neither hollows nor protruding hummocks, but are stretched flat and rubbed down to the rule. When, over the rubbing, by levigations and polishes they have been perfected, let marble (dust) be sifted in, and above let coats (loricae) of lime and sand be applied.

[5] Subdiu vero maxime idonea faciunda sunt pavimenta, quod contignationes umore crescentes aut siccitate decrescentes seu pandationibus sidentes movendo se faciunt vitia pavimentis; praeterea gelicidia et proinae non patiuntur integra permanere. Itaque si necessitas coegerit, ut minime vitiosa fiant, sic erit faciundum. Cum coaxatum fuerit, super altera coaxatio transversa sternatur clavisque fixa duplicem praebeat contignationi loricationem.

[5] Out in the open air, indeed, pavements must be made as suitably as possible, because story-floors (contignations), swelling with moisture or shrinking with dryness, or settling by spreadings, by their movement produce defects in pavements; moreover freezings and driving rains do not allow them to remain intact. Therefore, if necessity compels, so that they may be as little faulty as possible, it will be done thus. When one planking has been laid, another planking should be spread crosswise above it, and, with nails fixed, let it furnish the contignation with a double lorication.

Deinde ruderi novo tertia pars testae tunsae admisceatur, calcisque duae partes ad quinque mortarii mixtionibus praestent responsum.

Then let a third part of pounded potsherd be admixed to the new rubble, and let two parts of lime answer to five of the mortar mixtures.

[6] Statuminatione facta rudus inducatur, idque pistum absolutum ne minus pede sit crassum. Tunc autem nucleo inducto, uti, s s est, pavimentum e tessera grandi circiter binûm digitûm caesa struatur fastigium habens in pedes denos digitos binos; quod si bene temperabitur et recte fricatum fuerit, ab omnibus vitiis erit tutum. Uti autem inter coagmenta materies ab gelicidiis ne laboret, fracibus quotannis ante hiemem saturetur; ita non patietur in se recipere gelicidi pruinam.

[6] With the statumen having been made, let the rudus be laid on, and when this has been rammed to completion, let it be not less than a foot thick. Then, with the nucleus laid on, as is s s est, let the pavement be built of large tesserae, cut to about two digits, having a fastigium (slope) of two digits to ten feet; and if it is well tempered and has been properly polished, it will be safe from all defects. And so that the material between the coagmenta may not suffer from frosts, let it be saturated each year before winter with lees; thus it will not allow the hoarfrost of freezing to be taken into itself.

[7] Sin autem curiosius videbitur fieri oportere, tegulae bipedales inter se coagmentatae supra rudus substrata materia conlocentur habentes singulis coagmentorum frontibus excelsos canaliculos digitales. Quibus iunctis inpletur calx ex oleo subacta, confricenturque inter se coagmenta compressa. Ita calx, quae erit haerens in canalibus, durescendo [contestateque solidescendo] non patietur aquam neque aliam rem per coagmenta transire.

[7] But if it shall seem that it ought to be made more carefully, two‑foot tiles, joined together among themselves, are to be placed above the rubble with bedding material spread beneath, having on the faces of each joint little raised channels a digit high. When these are joined, lime kneaded with oil is poured in, and the joints, compressed, are rubbed together. Thus the lime, which will be adhering in the channels, by hardening [and by becoming compact and solid] will not allow water nor any other thing to pass through the joints.

Cum ergo fuerit hoc ita perstratum, supra nucleus inducatur et virgis caedendo subigatur. Supra autem sive ex tessera grandi sive ex spica testacea struantur fastigiis, quibus est supra scriptum, et cum sic erunt facta, non cito vitiabuntur.

Therefore, when this has been overlaid thus, let the nucleus be applied above and, by beating with rods, be compacted. Above, moreover, let there be set either with large tesserae or with a testaceous spica, arranged with the fastigia as has been written above; and when they have been made thus, they will not quickly be vitiated.

Caput Secundum

Second Chapter

[1] Cum a pavimentorum cura discessum fuerit, tunc de albariis operibus est explicandum. Id autem erit recte, si glaebae calcis optimae ante multo tempore, quam opus fuerit, macerabuntur, uti, si qua glaeba parum fuerit in fornace cocta, in maceratione diuturne liquore defervere coacta uno tenore conquoquatur. Namque cum non penitus macerata sed recens sumitur, cum fuerit inducta habens latentes crudos calculos, pustulas emittit.

[1] When the care of pavements has been left off, then an explanation must be made about albarium works. And this will be done rightly, if clods of the best lime are macerated long before the time when there is need, so that, if any clod has been insufficiently cooked in the furnace, being forced in maceration to seethe down for a long time in liquid, it may be concocted to a single uniform consistency. For when it is taken not thoroughly macerated but fresh, when it has been laid on, having hidden raw pebbles, it emits blisters.

Qui caiculi, in opere uno tenore cum permacerantur, dissolvunt et dissipant tectorii politiones.

These small stones, when in the work they are thoroughly soaked with a single tenor, dissolve and dissipate the polishings of the plaster-coating.

[2] Cum autem habita erit ratio macerationis et id curiosius opere praeparatum erit, sumatur ascia et, quemadmodum materia dolatur, sic calx in lacu macerata ascietur. Si ad eam offenderint calculi, non erit temperata; cumque siccum et purum ferrum educetur, indicabit eam evanidam et siticulosam; cum vero pinguis fuerit et recte macerata, circa id ferramentum uti glutinum haerens omni ratione probabit esse temperatam. Tunc autem machinis comparatis camerarum dispositiones in conclavibus expediantur, nisi lacunariis ea fuerint ornata.

[2] However, when consideration has been had of the maceration and it has been more carefully prepared for the work, let an adze be taken, and, just as timber is hewn, so the lime soaked in the pit will be adzed. If pebbles strike against it, it will not be tempered; and when the iron is drawn out dry and clean, it will indicate it to be wan and thirsting; but when it is fat and rightly macerated, clinging around that piece of iron like glue, it will in every respect prove itself to be tempered. Then, with the machines made ready, let the dispositions of the vaults in the rooms be carried out, unless they have been adorned with coffered ceilings.

Caput Tertium

Chapter Three

[1] Cum ergo camerarum postulabitur ratio, sic erit faciunda. Asseres directi disponantur inter se ne plus spatium habentes pedes binos, et hi maxime cupressei, quod abiegnei ab carie et ab vetustate celeriter vitiantur. Hique asseres, cum ad formam circinationis fuerint distributi, catenis dispositis ad contignationes, sive tecta erunt, crebriter clavis ferreis fixi religentur.

[1] Therefore, when the method of vaults will be required, it must be made thus. Straight beams are to be laid out, not having among themselves a spacing of more than two feet, and these preferably of cypress, since fir-wood ones are quickly vitiated by caries and by age. And these beams, when they have been distributed to the form of circination (curvature), with chains arranged for the joistings, whether they are floors or roofs, are to be bound fast, frequently fixed with iron nails.

Eaeque catenae ex ea materia comparentur, cui nec caries nec vetustas nec umor possit nocere, id est e buxo, iunipero, olea, robore, cupresso ceterisque similibus praeter quercum, cum ea se torquendo rimas faciat quibus inest operibus.

And let those chains be procured from such material as neither decay, nor age, nor moisture can harm, that is, of boxwood, juniper, olive, robur (hard oak), cypress, and other similar kinds, except oak (quercus), since it, by twisting itself, makes cracks in the works in which it is set.

[2] Asseribus dispoitis tum tomice ex sparto hispanico harundines graeca tunsae ad eos, uti forma postulat, religentur. Item supra cameram materies ex calce et harena mixta subinde inducitur, ut, si quae stillae ex contignationibus aut tectis ceciderint, sustineantur. Sin autem harundinis graecae copia non erit, de paludibus tenues colligantur et mataxae tomice ad iustam longitudinem una crassitudine alligationibus temperentur, dum ne plus inter duos nodos alligationibus binos pedes distent, et hae ad asseres, uti supra scriptum est, tomice religentur cultellique lignei in eas configantur.

[2] With the spars arranged, then with tomix from Spanish esparto the Greek reeds, beaten, are tied to them, as the formwork requires. Likewise above the vault/ceiling material mixed from lime and sand is applied repeatedly, so that, if any drops should have fallen from the floors or the roofs, they may be held back. But if there will not be a supply of Greek reed, let slender ones be gathered from the marshes, and the mats by tomix be adjusted to the proper length with a single uniform thickness by ligatures, provided that between two nodes the ligatures are not more than two feet apart; and these are tied to the spars, as written above, with tomix, and small wooden pegs are driven into them.

[3] Cetera omnia, uti supra scriptum est, expediantur. Cameris dispositis et intextis imum caelum earum trullissetur, deinde harena derigatur, postea autem creca aut marmore poliatur.

[3] Let all the other things be expedited, as written above. With the ceilings disposed and interwoven, let their lowest “heaven” be troweled, then let it be leveled with sand, and afterwards let it be polished with chalk or marble.

Cum camerae politae fuerint, sub eas coronae sunt subiciendae quam maxime tenues et subtilis oportere fieri videbitur; cum enim grandes sunt, pondere deducuntur nec possunt se sustinere. In hisque minime gypsum debet admisceri, sed excepto marmore uno tenore perduci, uti ne praecipiendo non patiatur uno tenore opus inarescere. Etiamque cavendae sunt in cameris priscorum dispositiones, quod earum planitiae coronarum gravi pondere inpendentes sunt periculosae.

When the vaults have been polished, beneath them cornices are to be placed, made as much as possible thin and delicate as will seem proper; for when they are large, they are drawn down by their weight and cannot support themselves. And into these gypsum ought by no means to be mixed, but, marble excepted, they should be carried through with one uniform consistency, so that by precipitating it does not prevent the work from drying with one and the same even tenor. Also the arrangements of the ancients in vaults are to be avoided, because their flat surfaces, overhanging under the heavy weight of the cornices, are dangerous.

[4] Coronarum autem sunt figurae aliae caelatae. Conclavibus autem, ubi ignis aut plura lumina sunt ponenda, pura fieri debent, ut ea facilius extergeantur; in aestivis et exhedris, ubi minime fumus est nec fuligo potest nocere, ibi caelatae sunt faciendae. Semper enim album opus propter superbiam candoris non modo ex propriis sed etiam alienis aedifÌciis concipit fumum.

[4] As for the cornices, some have other carved profiles. But in chambers where fire or several lights are to be set, they ought to be made plain, so that they may be more easily wiped; in summer rooms and in exedrae, where there is the least smoke and soot cannot do harm, there the carved ones should be made. For white work, on account of the proud candor of its whiteness, takes up smoke not only from its own but even from others’ buildings.

[5] Coronis explicatis parietes quam asperrime trullissentur, postea autem supra, trullissatione subarescente, deformenter derectiones harenati, uti longitudines ad regulam et ad lineam, altitudines ad perpendiculum, anguli ad normam respondentes exigantur; namque sic emendata tectoriorum in picturis erit species. Subarscente iterum et tertio inducatur; ita cum fundatior erit ex harenato derectura, eo firmior erit ad vetustatem soliditas tectorii.

[5] With the coronas (crowning-moldings) laid out, let the walls be troweled as rough as possible; afterwards, as the troweling is somewhat drying, let the alignments of the sand-mortar be made roughly, so that the lengths are tested to the rule and to the line, the heights to the plumb, the angles answering to the square; for thus corrected, the appearance of the plaster-coats will be in the paintings. As it is drying, let it be applied a second and a third time; thus, when the leveling is more well-founded from the sand-coat, by so much the solidity of the plaster will be firmer for longevity.

[6] Cum ab harena praeter tullisationem non minus tribus coriis fuerit deformatum, tunc e marmore graneo derectiones sunt subigendae, dum ita materies temperetur, uti, cum subigatur, non haereat ad rutrum, sed purum ferrum e mortario liberetur. Grandi inducto et inarescente alterum corium mediocre dirigatur; id cum subactum fuerit et bene fricatum, subtilius inducatur. Ita cum tribus coriis harenae et item marmoris solidati parietes fuerint, neque rimas neque aliud vitium in se recipere poterunt.

[6] When, in addition to the trullisation, it has been built up from the sand with not less than three coats, then the levelings are to be worked from granular marble, while the material is tempered in such a way that, when it is worked, it does not stick to the shovel, but the bare iron is released clean from the mortar. With the coarse layer applied and drying, let a second, medium coat be leveled; when that has been worked and well rubbed, let a finer one be applied. Thus, when the walls have been solidified with three coats of sand and likewise of marble, they will be able to admit neither cracks nor any other flaw.

[7] Sed et liaculorum subactionibus fundata soliditate marmorisque candore firmo levigata, coloribus cum politionibus inductis nitidos expriment splendores. Colores autem, udo tectorio cum diligenter sunt inducti, ideo non remittunt sed sunt perpetuo permanentes, quod calx, in fornacibus excocto liquore facta raritatibus et evanida, ieiunitate coacta corripit in se quae res forte contigerunt, mixtionibusque ex aliis potestatibus conlatis seminibus seu principîs una solidescendo, in quibuscumque membris est formata cum fit arida, redigitur, uti sui generis proprias videatur habere qualitates.

[7] But also, with the subactions of the trowels, the solidity having been founded and with the firm candor of marble having been smoothed, with colors applied together with polishes they will express gleaming splendors. Moreover, colors, when they have been carefully laid on a wet tectorium, for that reason do not remit, but remain perpetually, because lime, having been made into a liquor by being baked in furnaces, rarefied and evanescent, constrained by leanness, seizes into itself whatever things may chance to meet it, and, by mixtures with seeds or principles gathered from other potencies, by solidifying together, into whatever parts it has been formed, when it becomes dry, is reduced, so that it seems to have the proper qualities of its own kind.

[8] Itaque tectoria, quae recte sunt facta, neque vetustatibus fiunt horrida neque, cum extergentur, remittunt colores, nisi si parum diligenter et in arido fuerint inducti. Cum ergo itaque in parietibus tectoria facta fuerint, uti supra scriptum est, et firmitatem et splendorem et ad vetustatem permanentem virtutem potêrunt habere. Cum vero unum corium harenae et unum minuti marmoris erit inductum, tenuitas eius minus valendo faciliter rumpitur nec splendorem politionibus propter inbecillitatem crassitudinis proprium optinebit.

[8] Thus the plasterworks (tectoriae), which are rightly made, neither become horrid with ages nor, when they are wiped, do they let go their colors, unless they have been applied with too little diligence and on a dry surface. When, therefore, on walls the plasterworks have been made, as written above, they can have both firmness and splendor and a virtue remaining to old age. But when only one “skin” of sand and one of fine marble has been laid on, its thinness, being less strong, is easily broken, nor will it obtain its proper splendor by polishings, on account of the weakness of the thickness.

[9] Quemadmodum enim speculum argenteum tenui lamella ductum incertas et sine viribus habet remissiores splendores, quod autem e solida temperatura fuerit factum, recipiens in se firmis viribus politionem fulgentes in aspectu certasque considerantibus imagines reddet, sic tectoria, quae ex tenui sunt ducta, non modo sunt rimosa, sed etiam celeriter evanescunt, quae autem fundata harenationis et marmoris soliditate sunt crassitudine spissa, cum sunt politionibus crebris subacta, non modo sunt nitentia, sed etiam imagines expressas aspicientibus ex eo opere remittunt.

[9] For just as a silver mirror drawn out in a thin lamella has uncertain and strengthless, more remiss gleams, but one that has been made from a solid temper, receiving within itself a polish with firm force, will render to those who look closely shining appearances and sure images, so plasters that are drawn thin are not only cracked, but also quickly vanish; whereas those that are founded on the solidity of a sand-bedding and of marble, with dense thickness, when they have been worked by frequent polishes, are not only lustrous, but even send back to viewers, from that workmanship, the images impressed.

[10] Graecorum vero tectores non solum his rationibus utendo faciunt opera firma, sed etiam mortario conlocato, calce et harena ibi confusa, decuria hominum inducta ligneis vectibus pisant materiam, et ita ad cisternam subacta tunc utuntur. Itaque veteribus parietibus nonnulli crustas excidentes pro abacis utuntur, ipsaque tectoria abacorum et speculorum divisionibus circa se prominentes habent expressiones.

[10] The plasterers of the Greeks, indeed, not only by using these methods make their works firm, but also, when the mortar has been set in place, with lime and sand mixed there, a decury of men, brought in, pound the material with wooden levers; and thus, when it has been thoroughly worked in the cistern, they then use it. Therefore, from old walls some, cutting out the crusts (veneers), use them for abaci; and the plasterworks themselves have around them projecting moldings with the divisions of abaci and of mirrors.

[11] Sin autem in craticiis tectoria erunt facienda, quibus necesse est in arrectariis et transversariis rimas fieri, ideo quod, luto cum linuntur, necessario recipiunt umorem, cum autem arescent, extenuati in tectoriis faciunt rimas, id ut non fiat, haec erit ratio. Cum paries totus luto inquinatus fuerit, tunc in eo opere cannae clavis muscariis perpetuae figantur, deinde iterum luto inducto, si priores transversariis harundinibus fixae sunt, secundae erectis figantur, et uti supra scriptum est, harenatum et marmor et omne tectorium inducatur. Ita cannarum duplex in parietibus harundinibus transversis fixa perpetuitas nec tegmina nec rimam ullam fieri patietur.

[11] But if on craticwork the plaster-coats (tectoria) must be made, in which it is necessary that fissures arise in the upright members (arrectarii) and the transverse members (transversarii), for this reason: when they are smeared with mud (lutum), they necessarily take in moisture, but when they dry, thinned out, they make fissures in the plaster-coats—so that this may not happen, this will be the method. When the wall has been entirely daubed with mud, then in that work canes are to be fastened continuously with muscarian nails; then, after mud has been laid on again, if the first have been fixed with transverse reeds, the second are to be fixed with upright ones; and, as written above, the sand-coat and the marble-dust coat and every plastering is to be applied. Thus the double course of canes in the walls, fastened continuously with crosswise reeds, will allow neither the coverings to come away nor any crack at all to form.

Caput Quartum

Chapter Four

[1] Quibus rationibus siccis locis tectoria oporteat fieri, dixi; nunc, quemadmodum umidis locis politiones expediantur, ut permanere possint sine vitiis, exponam. Et primum conclavibus, quae plano pede fuerint, in imo pavimento alte circiter pedibus tribus pro harenato testa trullissetur et dirigatur, uti eae partes tectoriorum ab umore ne vitientur. Sin autem aliqui paries perpetuos habuerit umores, paululum ab eo recedatur et struatur alter tenuis distans ab eo, quantum res patietur, et inter duos parietes canalis ducatur inferior, quam libramentum conclavis fuerit, habens nares ad locum patentem.

[1] By what methods the plasterings ought to be made in dry places, I have said; now I will set forth in what way in humid places the polishes/finishes are to be expedited, so that they may be able to remain without defects. And first, in chambers that have a level footing, in the lowest pavement let there be, deep to about three feet, a course troweled in with crushed potsherd in place of a sand-bedding and be leveled, so that those parts of the plasterworks may not be marred by moisture. But if any wall shall have perpetual dampness, let one withdraw a little from it and build another thin wall, standing off from it as far as the matter will allow, and between the two walls let a lower channel be led, with the slope which the leveling of the room shall have, having vents to an open place.

Item, cum in altitudinem perstrictus fuerit, relinquantur spirarmenta; si enim non per nares umor et in imo et in summo habuerit exitus, non minus in nova structura se dissipabit. His perfectis paries testa trullissetur et dirigatur et tunc tectorio poliatur.

Likewise, when it has been carried up to its height, let breathing-vents be left; for if the moisture does not have outlets through the “nostrils” both at the bottom and at the top, it will, none the less, disperse itself into the new structure. With these things completed, let the wall be troweled with potsherd and made true, and then be polished with plaster.

[2] Sin autem locus non patietur structuram fieri, canales fiant et nares exeant ad locum patentem. Deinde tegulae bipedales ex una parte supra marginem canalis inponantur, ex altera parte besalibus pilae substruantur, in quibus duarum tegularum anguli sedere possint, et ita a pariete eae distent, ut ne plus pateant palmum. Deinde insuper erectae hamatae tegulae ab imo ad summum ad parietem figantur, quarum interiores partes curiosius picentur, ut ab se respuant liquorem; item in imo et in summo supra camaram habeant spiramenta.

[2] But if the place will not allow a structure to be made, let channels be made and let vents go out to an open place. Then bipedal tiles (two-foot) should be set on one side above the margin of the channel; on the other side piers should be built up with besal plinths (two‑third‑foot), on which the corners of two tiles can sit; and let them be so distanced from the wall that they do not open more than a palm. Then, above, upright hooked tiles should be fastened to the wall from the bottom to the top, whose inner parts should be more carefully coated with pitch, so that they drive off liquid from themselves; likewise, at the bottom and at the top above the vault, let them have vents.

[3] Tum autem calce ex aqua liquida dealbentur, uti trullissationem testaceam non respuant; namque propter ieiunitatem quae est a fornacibus excocta non possunt recipere nec sustinere, nisi calx subiecta utrasque res inter se conglutinet et cogat coire. Trullissatione inducta pro harenato testa dirigatur, et cetera omnia, uti supra scripta sunt in tectorii rationibus, perficiantur.

[3] Then, moreover, they are whitewashed with lime slaked with liquid water, so that they do not reject the testaceous trullissation; for, on account of the leanness which has been baked out by the kilns, they cannot receive nor sustain it, unless the lime laid beneath glues the two materials together and compels them to cohere. With the trullissation applied, let a potsherd layer be leveled in place of the sanded coat, and let all the rest be completed, as has been written above in the methods of plastering.

[4] Ipsi autem politionibus eorum ornatus proprios debent habere ad decoris rationes, uti et ex locis aptas et generum discriminibus non alienas habeant dignitates. Tricliniis hibernis non est utilis compositione nec melographia nec camerarum coronario opere subtilis ornatus, quod ea et ab ignis fumo et ab luminum crebris fuliginibus conrumpuntur. In his vero supra podia abaci ex atramento sunt subigendi et poliendi cuneis silaceis seu miniaceis interpositis; explicatae camerae pure politae; etiam pavimentorum non erit displicens, si qui animadvertere voluerit Graecorum ad hibernaculorum usum.

[4] And the politions themselves must have their own adornments according to the accounts of decor, so that they may have dignities suited both to the places and not alien to the discriminations of the kinds. For winter triclinia a delicate ornament in composition, nor melography (honeycomb-work), nor the cornice-work of the vaults is useful, because these are ruined both by the smoke of the fire and by the frequent soots of lamps. In these rooms, indeed, above the podia, the abaci are to be worked up from atrament (lampblack) and polished, with siliceous or miniate wedges interposed; the unfolded vaults purely polished; nor will the pavements be displeasing either, if anyone shall have considered the practice of the Greeks for the use of winter-quarters.

Minime sumptuosus est utilis apparatus.

The useful apparatus is by no means costly.

[5] Foditur enim intra libramentum triclini altitudo circiter pedum binûm, et solo festucato inducitur aut rudus aut testaceum pavimentum ita fastigatum, ut in canali habeat nares. Deinde congestis et spisse calcatis carbonibus inducitur et sabulone et calce et favilla mixta materies crassitudine semipedali. Ad regulam et libellam summo libramento cote despumato redditur species nigri pavimenti.

[5] For within the level line of the triclinium a depth of about two feet is dug, and upon the tamped ground there is laid either rudus or a testacean pavement, so pitched that it may have outlets into a channel. Then, with coals heaped up and tightly trodden, there is laid on a material mixed of sand, lime, and ash, with a thickness of half a foot. Brought to rule and to level, with the utmost evenness, and smoothed with a scoured rubbing-stone, there is produced the appearance of a black pavement.

Ita conviviis eorum et, quod poculis et pytismatis effundetur, simul cadit siccescitque, quique versantur ibi ministrantes, etsi nudis pedibus fuerint, non recipiunt fraces ab eius modi genere pavimenti.

Thus, at their banquets, whatever is poured out from cups and from spittings falls at once and dries, and those who move about there serving, even if they should be barefoot, do not pick up dregs from a pavement of this kind.

Caput Quintum

Chapter Five

[1] Ceteris conclavibus, id est vernis, autumnalibus, aestivis, etiam atriis et peristylis, constitutae sunt ab antiquis ex certis rebus certae rationes picturarum. Namque pictura imago fit eius, quod est seu potest esse, uti homines, aedificia, naves, reliquarumque rerum, e quibus finitis certisque corporibus figurata similitudine sumuntur exempla. Ex eo antiqui, qui initia expolitionibus instituerunt, imitati sunt primum crustarum marmorearum varietates et conlocationes, deinde coronarum, filicularum, cuneorum inter se varias distributiones.

[1] For the other chambers, that is, the spring, autumnal, summer ones, and even for atria and peristyles, fixed rules of paintings were established by the ancients from definite subjects. For a painting is an image of that which is, or can be: such as humans, buildings, ships, and the remaining things, from whose bounded and certain bodies examples are taken with a figured likeness. From this the ancients, who instituted the first beginnings for finishes, first imitated the varieties and arrangements of marble crusts (veneers), then the various distributions among themselves of crowns, little fronds, and wedges.

[2] Postea ingressi sunt, ut etiam aedificiorum figuras, columnarum et fastigiorum eminentes proiecturas imitarentur, patentibus autem locis, uti exhedris, propter amplitudines parietum scaenarum frontes tragico more aut comico seu satyrico designarent, ambulationibus vero propter spatia longitudinis varietatibus topiorum ornarent a certis locorum proprietatibus imagines exprimentes; pinguntur enim portus, promunturia, litora, flumina, fontes, euripi, fana, luci, montes, pecora, pastores. Nonnulli locis item signorum melographiam habentes deorum simulacra seu fabularum dispositas explicationes, non minus troianas pugnas seu Ulixes errationes per topia, ceteraque, quae sunt eorum similibus rationibus ab rerum natura procreata.

[2] Afterwards they proceeded so as even to imitate the figures of buildings, the eminent projections of columns and pediments; and in open places, such as exedras, on account of the amplitudes of the walls they would design the fronts of stage-sets in the tragic manner or comic or satyric; and in ambulationes, in truth, on account of the stretches of length, they would adorn with varieties of topia, expressing images from the specific properties of places; for there are painted ports, promontories, shores, rivers, founts, Euripi, fanes, groves, mountains, cattle, shepherds. Some, likewise, in places of statues, having megalography, present likenesses of gods or arranged expositions of fables, no less the Trojan battles or the wanderings of Ulysses through topia, and the rest which are brought forth by nature of things according to similar schemata.

[3] Sed haec, quae ex veris rebus exempla sumebantur, nunc iniquis moribus inprobantur. tectoriis monstra potius quam ex rebus finitis imagines certae: pro columnis enim struuntur calami striati, pro fastigiis appagineculi cum crispis foliis et volutis, item candelabra aedicularum sustinentia figuras, supra fastigia eorum surgentes ex radicibus cum volutis teneri plures habentes in se sine ratione sedentia sigilla, non minus coliculi dimidiata habentes sigilla alia humanis alia bestiarum capitibus.

[3] But these things, which were once taken as exempla from real things, are now disapproved by perverse tastes. on the plaster monsters rather than definite images from bounded things: for in place of columns fluted reeds are piled up, in place of pediments little pedimentlets with crisped leaves and volutes; likewise candelabra bearing the figures of little shrines; above their pediments there arise from roots, with volutes, many slender shoots having upon themselves little statuettes seated without rationale; no less little stalks having halved statuettes, some with human heads, others with the heads of beasts.

[4] Haec autem nec sunt nec fieri possunt nec fuerunt. Ergo ita novi mores coegerunt, uti inertiae mali iudices convincerent artium virtutes: quemadmodum enim potest calamus vere sustinere tectum aut candelabrum ornamenta fastigii, seu coliculus tam tenuis et mollis sustinere sedens sigillum, aut de radicibus et coliculis ex parte flores dimidiataque sibilla procreari? At haec falsa videntes homines non reprehendunt sed delectantur, neque animadvertunt, si quid eorum fieri potest necne.

[4] These things, however, neither are, nor can be made, nor ever were. Therefore new mores have so compelled that bad judges, through inertia, should convict the virtues of the arts: for how can a calamus (reed) truly sustain a roof, or a candelabrum the ornaments of a pediment, or can a little stalk so thin and soft support a seated little statue, or from roots and little stalks be generated partly flowers and half-figures? But men, seeing these falsehoods, do not censure them but are delighted, nor do they take note whether any of them can be done or not.

Iudiciis autem infirmis obscuratae mentes non valent probare, quod potest esse cum auctoritate et ratione decoris. Neque enim picturae probari debent, quae non sunt similes veritati, nec, si factae sunt elegantes ab arte, ideo de his statim debet 'recte' iudicari, nisi, argumentationes certas rationes habuerint sine offensionibus explicatas.

Yet minds obscured by weak judgments are not able to establish what can stand with authority and the rationale of decorum. For paintings ought not to be approved which are not similar to truth; nor, if they have been made elegant by art, should a ‘right’ judgment be passed on them at once, unless the arguments have sure reasons, set forth without flaws.

[5] Etenim etiam Trallibus cum Apaturius Alabandius eleganti manu finxisset scaenam in minusculo theatro, quod ecclesiasterion apud eos vocitatur, in eaque fecisset columnas, signa, centauros sustinentes epistylia, tholorum rotunda tecta, fastigiorum prominentes versuras, coronasque capitibus leoninis ornatas, quae omnia stillicidiorum e tectis habent rationem, praeterea supra ea nihilominus episcenium, in qua tholi, pronai, semifastigia omnisque tecti varius picturis fuerat ornatus, itaque cum aspectus eius scaenae propter asperitatem eblandiretur omnium visus et iam id opus probare fuissent parati, tum Licymnius mathematicus prodiit et ait

[5] For indeed, even at Tralles, when Apaturius of Alabanda had fashioned with an elegant hand a scaena in a very small theater, which among them is called an ecclesiasterion, and in it had made columns, statues, centaurs supporting the epistylia, the round roofs of tholoi, the projecting returns of gables, and cornices adorned with leonine heads—all of which have the function of drip-waters from roofs—moreover, above these likewise the episkenion, in which the tholoi, the pronaoi, the half-gables, and the whole roofing had been variously adorned with paintings; and so, when the aspect of that scaena, on account of its asperity, was coaxing the eyes of all and they were already prepared to approve that work, then Licymnius the mathematician came forward and said

[6] 'Alabandis satis acutos ad omnes res civiles haberi, sed propter non magnum vitium indecentiae insipientes eos esse iudicatos, quod in gymnasio eorum quae sunt statuae omnes sunt causas agentes, foro discos tenentes aut currentes seu pila ludentes. Ita indecens inter locorum proprietates status signorum publice civitati vitium existimationis adiecit. Videamus item nunc, ne a picturis scaena efficiat et nos Alabandis aut Abderitas.

[6] 'that the Alabandians are held sufficiently acute for all civic matters, but on account of a not great fault of indecency they have been judged foolish, because in their gymnasium the statues that are there are all pleading causes, and in the forum they are holding discs or running or playing ball. Thus an unseemly posture of the statues, among the proprieties of places, has publicly added a fault of estimation to the city. Let us likewise now see, lest from the paintings the stage make us also Alabandians or Abderites.

Qui enim vestrum domos supra tegularum tecta potest habere aut columnas seu fastigiorum expolitionis? Haec enim supra contignationis ponuntur, non supra tegularum tecta. Si ergo, quae non possunt in veritate rationem habere facti, in picturis probaverimus, accedimus et nos his civitatibus, quae propter haec vitia insipientes sunt iudicatae'.

For which of you can have houses above the tiled roofs, or columns, or the polishing of pediments? For these are set upon the flooring, not upon the roofs of tiles. If, therefore, we shall have approved in paintings things which cannot in truth have a rationale of fact, we too draw near to those cities which on account of these faults have been judged witless'.

[7] Itaque Apaturius contra respondere non est ausus sed sustulit scaenam et ad rationem veritatis commutatam postea correctam adprobavit. Utinam dii inmortales fecissent, uti Licymnius revivisceret et corrigeret hanc amentiam tectoriorumque errantia instituta! Sed quare vincat veritatem ratio falsa, non erit alienum exponere.

[7] And so Apaturius did not dare to respond in opposition, but he took down the scene and, changed to the rationale of truth and afterward corrected, he approved it. Would that the immortal gods had brought it about that Licymnius might revive and correct this madness and the errant practices of the plasterers! But why false reasoning should conquer truth, it will not be out of place to set forth.

Quod enim antiqui insumentes laborem ad industriam probare contendebant, artibus, id nunc coloribus et eorum alleganti specie consecuntur, et quam subtilitas artificis adiciebat operibus auctoritatem, nunc dominicus sumptus efficit, ne desideretur.

For what the ancients, expending toil, strove to prove by industry in the arts, that now they achieve by colors and their alluring appearance; and the authority which the subtlety of the artificer used to add to works, now the owner’s outlay brings about, so that it be not missed.

[8] Quis enim antiquorum non uti medicamento minio parce videtur usus esse? At nunc passim plerumque toti parietes inducuntur. Accedit huc chrysocolla, ostrum, armenium.

[8] For who among the ancients does not seem to have used minium as a medicament sparingly? But now, everywhere, for the most part, whole walls are coated. To this there is added chrysocolla, purple, armenium.

Haec vero cum inducuntur, etsi non ab arte sunt posita, fulgentes oculorum reddunt visus, et ideo quod pretiosa sunt, legibus excipiuntur, ut ab domino, non a redemptore repraesententur.

These indeed, when they are laid on, although they are not set by art, render the sight of the eyes gleaming; and therefore, because they are precious, they are excepted by the laws, so that they may be provided by the owner, not by the contractor.

Quae commune facere potui, ut ab errore discedatur in opere tectorio, satis exposui; nunc de apparitionibus, ut succurrere potuerit, dicam, et primum quoniam de calce initio est dictum, nunc de marmore ponam.

What I was able to make common, so that one may depart from error in the plasterwork, I have set forth sufficiently; now I will speak about the preparations, so that it may succor, and first, since about lime it was said at the beginning, now I will set down about marble.

Caput Sextum

Chapter Six

[1] Marmor non eodem genere omnibus regionibus procreatur, sed quibusdam locis glaebae ut salis micas perlucidas habentes nascuntur, quae contusae et molitae praestant operibus utilitatem. Quibus autem locis eae copiae non sunt, caementa marmorea, sive assulae dicuntur, quae marmorarii ex operibus deiciunt, contunduntur et moluntur, subcretum in operibus utuntur. Aliis locis, ut inter Magnesiae et Ephesi fines, sunt loca, unde foditur parata, quam nec molere nec cernere opus est, sed sic est subtilis, quemadmodum si qua est manu contusa et subcreta.

[1] Marble is not produced of the same kind in all regions, but in certain places clods are born having translucent grains like salt, which, when pounded and milled, afford usefulness for works. But in those places where such supplies are not, marble caementa, or slivers as they are called, which the marble-workers cast down from works, are crushed and ground, and are used as subcretum in works. In other places, as between the borders of Magnesia and Ephesus, there are sites whence a prepared clod is quarried, which there is no need to grind or to sift, but it is so fine as if it were something beaten by hand and sifted fine.

Colores vero alii sunt, qui per se certis locis procreantur et inde fodiuntur, nonnulli ex aliis rebus tractationibus aut mixtionum temperaturis compositi perficiuntur, uti praestent in eandem operibus utilitatem.

Colors, in truth, are of another sort: some are generated by themselves in certain places and are dug out from there; some, from other materials, are composed and perfected by treatments or by the temperings of mixtures, so that they may furnish the same utility in works.

Caput Septimum

Chapter Seven

[1] Primum autem exponemus, quae per se nascentia fodiuntur, uti sil, quod graeceochra dicitur. Haec vero multis locis, ut etiam in Italia, invenitur; sed quae fuerat optima, attica, ideo nunc non habetur, quod Athenis argentifodinae cum habuerunt familias, tunc specus sub terra fodiebantur ad argentum inveniendum. Cum ibi vena forte inveniretur, nihilominus uti argentum persequebantur; itaque antiqui egregia copia silis ad politionem operum sunt usi.

[1] First, moreover, we shall expound those things which, being produced of themselves, are dug, such as sil, which in Greek is called ochre. This indeed is found in many places, as also in Italy; but that which had been the best, the Attic, is therefore now not available, because when at Athens the silver-mines had work-gangs, then tunnels under the earth were being dug to find silver. When by chance a vein was found there, nonetheless they pursued the silver; and so the ancients used an outstanding abundance of sil for the polishing of works.

[2] Item rubricae copiosae multis locis eximuntur, sed optimae paucis, uti Ponto Sinope, et Aegypto, in Hispania Balearibus, non minus etiam Lemno, cuius insulae vectigalia Atheniensibus senatus populusque Romanus concessit fruenda.

[2] Likewise rubrics (red ochres) are extracted in abundance from many places, but the best from few, as at Sinope in Pontus, and in Egypt, in Spain on the Balearic Islands, no less also in Lemnos, the revenues of which island the Senate and People of Rome granted to the Athenians to enjoy.

[3] Paraetonium vero ex ipsis locis, unde foditur, habet nomen. Eadem ratione melinum, quod eius metallum insula cycladi Melo dicitur esse.

[3] Paraetonium indeed takes its name from the very places whence it is dug. By the same rationale, melinum is so named, since its mine is said to be the Cyclad island Melos.

[4] Creta viridis item pluribus locis nascitur, sed optima Zmyrnae; hanc autem GraeciTheodoteion vocant, quod Theodotus nomine fuerat, cuius in fundo id genus cretae primum est inventum.

[4] Green chalk likewise is produced in several places, but the best is at Smyrna; the Greeks call thisTheodoteion, because there had been a man by the name Theodotus, on whose estate that kind of chalk was first discovered.

[5] Auripigmentum, quodarsenicon graece dicitur, foditur Ponto. Sandaraca item pluribus locis, sed optima Ponto proxime flumen Hypanim habet metallum.

[5] Auripigment, which in Greek is calledarsenicon, is mined in Pontus. Sandarach likewise in several places, but the best has its mine in Pontus, near the river Hypanis.

Caput Octavum

Chapter Eight

[1] Ingrediar nunc minii rationes explicare. Id autem agris Ephesiorurm Cilbianis primum esse memoratur inventum. Cuius et res et ratio satis magnas habet admirationes.

[1] I shall now proceed to explicate the rationales of minium. It is recorded to have been first discovered in the Cilbian fields of the Ephesians. Both the thing itself and its rationale give rise to quite great admiration.

Foditur enim glaeba quae dicitur, antequam tractationibus ad minium perveniant, vena uti ferrum, magis subrufo colore, habens circa se rubrum pulverem. Cum id foditur, ex plagis ferramentorum crebras emittit laerimas argenti vivi, quae a fossoribus statim colliguntur.

For the clod, as it is called, is dug out, before the treatments attain to minium, a vein as if iron, with a somewhat rufous color, having red dust around it. When it is being mined, from the blows of the iron tools it sends forth frequent “tears” of quicksilver, which are immediately collected by the miners.

[2] Hae glaebae, cum collectae sunt in officinam, propter umoris plenitatem coiciuntur in fornacem, ut interarescant, et is qui ex his ab ignis vapore fumus suscitatur, cum resedit in solum furni, invenitur esse argentum vivum. Exemptis glaebis guttae eae, quae residebunt, propter brevitates non possunt colligi, sed in vas aquae converruntur et ibi inter se congruunt et una confunduntur. Id autem cum sint quattuor sextariorum mensurae, cum expenduntur, invenientur esse pondo centum.

[2] These clods, when they have been collected into the workshop, on account of the fullness of moisture, are thrown into the furnace so that they may dry out; and the smoke which is raised from them by the vapor of the fire, when it has settled on the floor of the furnace, is found to be quicksilver. The clods having been removed, those drops which will remain, because of their smallness, cannot be collected, but are swept into a vessel of water, and there they come together with one another and are blended into one. And when these are measures of four sextarii, when they are weighed, they will be found to be 100 pounds.

[3] Cum in aliquo vase est confusum, si supra id lapide centenarium pondus inponatur, natat in summo neque eum liquorem potest onere suo premere nec elidere nec dissipare. Centenario sublato si ibi auri scripulum ponatur, non natabit, sed ad imum per se deprimetur. Ita non amplitudine ponderis sed genere singularum rerum gravitatem esse non est negandum.

[3] When it is gathered together in some vessel, if upon it a hundredweight stone is placed, it floats on the top, nor can it press down that liquid with its own burden, nor drive it out nor dissipate it. With the hundredweight removed, if a scruple of gold is placed there, it will not float, but will be driven down to the bottom by itself. Thus it is not to be denied that heaviness is determined not by the magnitude of the weight but by the kind of the individual things.

[4] Id autem multis rebus est ad usum expeditum. Neque enim argentum neque aes sine eo potest recte inaurari. Cumque in vestem intextum est aurum eaque vestis contrita propter vetustatem usum non habeat honestum, panni in fictilibus vasis inpositi supra ignem conburuntur.

[4] But this is serviceable for use in many matters. For neither silver nor bronze can be rightly gilded without it. And when gold has been woven into a garment and that garment, worn out on account of age, has no respectable use, the rags, placed in earthenware vessels over the fire, are burned up.

Is cinis coicitur in aquam, et additur eo argentum vivum. Id autem omnis micas auri corripit in se et cogit secum coire. Aqua diffusa cum id in pannum infunditur et ibi manibus premitur, argentum per panni raritates propter liquorem extra labitur, aurum compressione coactum intra purum invenitur.

This ash is cast into water, and quicksilver is added to it. It seizes all the specks of gold into itself and compels them to cohere with it. With the water poured off, when it is poured into a cloth and there pressed by hand, the quicksilver slips out through the cloth’s porosities on account of its liquidity, while the gold, coacted by compression, is found within, pure.

Caput Nonum

Chapter Nine

[1] Revertar nunc ad minii temperaturam. Ipsae enim glaebae, cum sunt aridae, contunduntur pilis ferreis, et lotionibus et cocturis crebris relictis stercoribus efficiuntur, ut adveniant, colores. Cum ergo emissae sint ex minio per argenti vivi relictionem quas in se naturales habuerat virtutes, efficitur tenera natura et viribus inbecillis.

[1] I shall now return to the tempering of minium. For the clods themselves, when they are dry, are crushed with iron pestles, and, with frequent washings and coctions, the dregs being left behind, they are brought about so that the colors may come forth. When therefore the natural virtues which it had held in itself have been sent out from the minium by the reliction of quicksilver, there results a tender nature and feeble in strength.

[2] Itaque cum est in expolitionibus conclavium tectis inductum, permanet sine vitiis suo colore; apertis vero, id est peristyliis aut exhedris aut ceteris eiusdem modi locis, quo sol et luna possit splendores et radios inmittere, cum ab his locus tangitur, vitiatur et amissa virtute coloris denigratur. Itaque cum et alii multi tum etiam Faberius scriba, cum in Aventino voluisset habere domum eleganter expolitam, peristyliis parietes omnes induxit minio, qui post dies XXX facti sunt invenusto varioque colore. Itaque primo locavit inducendos alios colores.

[2] And so, when it has been applied in the polishings of chambers under roofs, it remains without faults in its own color; but in open places, that is, in peristyles or exedrae or other locations of the same kind, where the sun and moon can send in their splendors and rays, when the place is touched by these, it is vitiated and, the virtue of its color having been lost, is blackened. And so, as many others, so also Faberius the scribe, when he wished to have on the Aventine a house elegantly polished, coated all the walls in the peristyles with minium, which after 30 days became of an inelegant and variegated color. Therefore at first he let a contract for other colors to be applied.

[3] At si qui subtilior fuerit et voluerit expolitionem miniaciam suum colorem retinere, cum paries expolitus et aridus est, ceram punicam igni liquefactam paulo oleo temperatam saeta inducat; deinde postea carbonibus in ferreo vase compositis eam ceram a primo cum pariete calfaciundo sudare cogat fiatque, ut peraequetur; deinde tunc candela linteisque puris subigat, uti signa marmorea nuda curantur (haec autemganosis graece dicitur):

[3] But if anyone be more subtle and should wish the miniaceous expolition to retain its own color, when the wall is polished and dry, let him apply Punic wax, melted by fire and tempered with a little oil, with a bristle-brush; then afterwards, with coals arranged in an iron vessel, by warming that wax together with the wall at first let him compel it to sweat, and let it come about that it be equalized; then at that point let him burnish it with a candle and clean linens, as nude marble statues are cared for (this, moreover, is calledganosis in Greek):

[4] ita obstans cerae punicae loricae non patitur nec lunae splendorem nec solis radios lambendo eripere his politionibus colorem. Quae autem in Ephesiorum metallis fuerunt officinae, nunc traiectae sunt ideo Romam, quod id genus venae postea est inventum Hispaniae regionibus, quibus metallis glaebae portantur et per publicanos Romae curantur. Eae autem officinae sunt inter aedem Florae et Quirini.

[4] thus, the cuirass of Punic wax, standing in the way, does not allow either the moon’s splendor or the sun’s rays, by licking, to snatch away the color from these polishes. But the workshops which were in the mines of the Ephesians have now for that reason been transferred to Rome, because that kind of vein was afterwards discovered in the regions of Hispania, from which mines the clods of ore are carried and are managed at Rome by the publicans. And those workshops are between the temple of Flora and that of Quirinus.

[5] Vitiatur minium admixta calce. Itaque si qui velit experiri id sine vitio esse, sic erit faciendum. Ferrea lamna sumatur, eo minium inponatur, ad ignem conlocetur, donec lamna candescat.

[5] Minium is vitiated when lime is mixed in. Therefore, if anyone wishes to test that it is without defect, it must be done thus: an iron lamina is to be taken, minium placed upon it, it is to be set to the fire until the lamina glows white-hot.

Cum e candore color mutatus fuerit eritque alter, tollatur lamna ab igni, et sic refrigeratum restituatur in pristinum colorem; sine vitio esse propabit; sin autem permanserit nigro colore, significabit se esse vitiatum.

When, from the white glow, its color has been changed and is another, let the plate be taken from the fire, and, thus cooled, let it be restored to its former color; it will prove to be without defect; but if it has remained in a black color, it will signify that it is vitiated.

[6] Quae succurrere potuerunt mihi de minio, dixi. Chrysocolla adportatur a Macedonia; foditur autem ex is locis, qui sunt proximi aerariis metallis. Armenium et indicum nominibus ipsis indicatur, quibus in locis procreatur.

[6] What could come to mind to me about minium, I have said. Chrysocolla is brought from Macedonia; moreover it is dug from those places which are nearest to copper mines. Armenian and Indian are indicated by the names themselves, in what places they are produced.

Caput Decimum

Chapter Ten

[1] Ingediar nunc ad ea, quae ex aliis generibus tractationum temperaturis commutata recipiunt colorum proprietates. Et primum exponam de atramento, cuius usus in operibus magnas habet necessitates, ut sint notae, quemadmodum praeparentur certis rationibus artificiorum, ad id temperaturae.

[1] I will now proceed to those things which, transmuted by the temperings of other kinds of treatments, receive the properties of colors. And first I will expound concerning ink, whose use in works is of great necessity, so that it may be known by what fixed ratios of the crafts the temperings are prepared for that purpose.

[2] Namque aedificatur locus uti laconicum et expolitur marmore subtiliter et levigatur. Ante id fit fornacula habens in laconicum nares, et eius praefurnium magna diligentia conprimitur, ne flamma extra dissipetur. In fornace resina conlocatur.

[2] For a place is constructed as a laconicum and is finished with marble finely and smoothed. In front of it a small furnace is made, having nostrils (vents) into the laconicum, and its praefurnium is compressed with great diligence, lest the flame be dissipated outside. Resin is placed in the furnace.

Hanc autem ignis potestas urendo cogit emittere per nares intra laconicum fuliginem, quae circa parietem et camerae curvaturum adhaerescit. Inde collecta partim componitur ex gummi subacta ad usum atramenti librarii, reliquum tectores glutinum admiscentes in parietibus utuntur.

But the power of the fire, by burning, compels this to emit into the laconicum, through the nostrils, soot, which adheres around the wall and the curvature of the chamber-ceiling. Collected from there, part is compounded with refined gum for the use of book-ink; the remainder the plasterers use on walls, mixing in glue.

[3] Si autem hae copiae non fuerint paratae, ita necessitatibus erit administrandum, ne expectatione morae res retineatur. Sarmenta aut taedae schidiae comburantur; cum erunt carbones, extinguantur, deinde in mortario cum glutino terantur; ita erit atramentum tectoribus non invenustum.

[3] But if these supplies are not prepared, thus it must be administered according to necessities, lest the matter be held back by the expectation of delay. Brushwood or pine‑torch splints should be burned; when there are charcoals, let them be quenched, then in a mortar let them be ground with glue; thus there will be an ink for plasterers not uncomely.

[4] Non minus si faex vini arefacta et cocta in fornace fuerit et ea contrita cum glutino in opere inducetur, super quam atramenti suavitatis efficiet colorem; et quo magis ex meliore vino parabitur, non modo atramenti, sed etiam indici colorem dabit imitari.

[4] No less: if the lees of wine have been dried and baked in a furnace and, when crushed with glue, are applied to the work, they will produce upon it a color of ink‑like suavity; and the more it is prepared from better wine, it will give a color to imitate not only ink, but even indigo.

Caput Undecimum

Chapter Eleven

[1] Caeruli temperationes Alexandriae primum sunt inventae, postea item Vestorius Puteolis instituit faciundum. Ratio autem eius, e quibus est inventa, satis habet admirationis. Harena enim cum nitri flore conteritur adeo subtiliter, ut efficiatur quemadmodum farina; et aes cyprum limis crassis uti scobis facta mixta conspargitur, ut conglomeretur; deinde pilae manibus versando efficiuntur et ita conligantur, ut inarescant; aridae componuntur in urceo fictili, urcei in fornace: ita aes et ea harena ab ignis vehementia confervescendo cum coaruerint, inter se dando et accipiendo sudores a proprietatibus discedunt suisque rebus per ignis vehementiam confectis caeruleo rediguntur colore.

[1] The blue preparations were first invented at Alexandria; afterwards likewise Vestorius at Puteoli established their manufacture. The method of it, from which it was invented, affords quite enough admiration. For sand is ground with the flower of nitre so finely that it is made as if flour; and Cyprian copper, made into shavings by thick files as if sawdust, is mixed in and sprinkled, so that it agglomerates; then balls are produced by turning with the hands and are thus bound together so that they dry; when dry they are set in an earthenware jar, the jars in a furnace: thus the copper and that sand, by the vehemence of the fire boiling together and when they have contracted, by giving and receiving “sweats,” depart from their properties, and, their substances having been concocted by the vehemence of the fire, they are reduced to a cerulean color.

[2] Usta vero, quae satis habet utititatis in operibus tectoriis, sic temperatur. Glaeba silis boni coquitur, ut sit in igni candens; ea autem aceto extinguitur et efficitur purpureo colore.

[2] Burnt pigment, which has enough usefulness in stucco works, is thus tempered. A clod of good ochre is cooked, so that it is glowing in the fire; then it is quenched with vinegar and is made into a purplish color.

Caput Duodecimum

Chapter Twelve

[1] De cerussa aerugineque, quam nostri aerucam vocitant, non est alienum, quemadmodum comparetur, dicere. Rhodo enim doleis sarmenta conlocantes aceto suffuso supra sarmenta conlocant plumbeas massas, deinde ea operculis obturant, ne spiramentum obturatum emittatur. Post certum tempus aperientes inveniunt e massis plumbeis cerussam.

[1] On ceruse and verdigris, which our people call “aeruca,” it is not out of place to say how it is prepared. For at Rhodes, placing brushwood in casks, with vinegar poured in, they place leaden masses above the brushwood; then they stop them up with covers, so that the vent, once plugged, may not let anything out. After a set time, when they open them, they find ceruse from the leaden masses.

Eadem ratione lamellas aereas conlocantes efficiunt aeruginem, quae aeruca appellatur.

By the same method, placing bronze plates they produce verdigris, which is called aeruca.

[2] Cerussa vero, cum in fornace coquitur, mutato colore ad ignem incendi efficitur sandaraca -- id autem incendio facto ex casu didicerunt homines -- et ea multo meliorem usum praestat, quam quae de metallis per se nata foditur.

[2] Ceruse indeed, when it is cooked in a furnace, with its color changed by the fire of combustion, is made into sandarach — and men learned that when a burning happened by chance — and it affords a much better use than that which, native in the metals, is dug out by itself.

Caput Tertium Decimum

Chapter Thirteen

[1] Incipiam nunc de ostro dicere, quod et carissimam et excellentissimam habet praeter hos colores aspectus suavitatem. It autem excipitur e conchylio marino, e quo purpura efficitur, cuius non minores sunt quam ceterarum naturae considerantibus admirationes, quod habet non in omnibus locis, quibus nascitur, unius generis colorem, sed solis cursu naturaliter temperatur.

[1] I shall now begin to speak about purple (ostrum), which, beyond these colors, possesses both the most costly and the most excellent suavity of aspect. But it is extracted from a marine conchylion (shellfish), from which purple is produced, whose marvels, to those considering the nature of things, are no less than those of other things, because it does not have, in all the places where it is born, a color of one kind, but is naturally tempered by the course of the sun.

[2] Itaque quod legitur Ponto et Gallia, quod hae regiones sunt proximae ad septentrionem, est atrum; progredientibus inter septentrionem et occidentem invenitur lividum; quod autem legitur ad aequinoctialem orientem et occidentem, invenitur violacio colore; quod vero meridianis regionibus excipitur, rubra procreatur potestate, et ideo hoc Rhodo etiam insula creatur ceterisque eiusmodi regionibus, quae proximae sunt solis cursui.

[2] Therefore, that which is gathered in Pontus and Gaul—because these regions are nearest to the north—is black; proceeding between the north and the west it is found livid; but that which is gathered toward the equinoctial east and west is found violet in color; whereas that which is extracted in meridional regions is produced with red potency, and for this reason this is produced also on the island of Rhodes and in other regions of this kind, which are closest to the course of the sun.

[3] Ea conchylia, cum sunt lecta, ferramentis circa scinduntur, e quibus plagis purpurea sanies, uti lacrima profluens, excussa in mortariis terendo comparatur. Et quod ex concharum marinarum testis eximitur, ideo ostrum est vocitatum. Id autem propter salsuginem cito fit siticulosum, nisi mel habeat circa fusum.

[3] Those conchs, when they have been gathered, are cut around with iron implements, and from those slashes the purple ichor, flowing like a tear, being shaken out, is prepared by grinding in mortars. And because it is taken out from the shells of the marine conchs, therefore it has been called ostrum. But it, on account of its salinity, quickly becomes thirsty, unless it has honey around the spindle.

Caput Quartum Decimum

Chapter Fourteen

[1] Fiunt etiam purpurei colores infecta creta rubiae radice et hysgino, non minus et ex floribus alii colores. Itaque tectores, cum volunt sil atticum imitari, violam aridam coicientes in vas cum aqua, confervefaciunt ad ignem, deinde, cum est temperatum, coiciunt linteum, et inde manibus exprimentes recipiunt in mortarium aquam ex violis coloratam, et eo cretam infundentes et eam terentes efficiunt silis attici colorem.

[1] Purple colors also are produced by impregnating chalk with the root of madder and with hysgin, and likewise other colors from flowers. And so plasterers, when they wish to imitate Attic sil, throwing dried violet into a vessel with water, bring it to a boil over the fire; then, when it has been tempered, they throw it linen, and from there, squeezing it with their hands, they receive into a mortar the water colored from the violets; and, pouring chalk into it and grinding it, they make the color of Attic silis.

[2] Eadem ratione vaccinium temperantes et lactem miscentes purpuram faciunt elegantem. Item qui non possunt chrysocolla propter caritatem uti, herba, quae luteum appellatur, caeruleum inficiunt, et utuntur viridissimum colorem; hacc autem infectiva appellatur. Item propter inopiam coloris indici cretam selinusiam aut anulariam vitro, quod Graeciisatin appellant, inficientes imitationem faciunt indici coloris.

[2] By the same method, tempering vaccinium and mixing in milk, they make an elegant purple. Likewise, those who cannot use chrysocolla on account of its dearness dye the blue with the herb which is called Luteum, and they employ a very green color; this, however, is called the infective (dyestuff). Likewise, because of scarcity of the indigo color, by dyeing Selinusian or Annularian chalk with woad, which the Greeks callisatin, they make an imitation of the indigo color.

[3] Quibus rationibus et rebus ad dispositionem firmitatis quibusque decoras oporteat fieri picturas, item quas habeant omnes colores in se potestates, ut mihi succerrere potuit, in hoc libro perscripsi. Itaque omnes aedificationum perfectiones, quam habere debeant opportunitatem ratiocinationis, septem voluminibus sunt finitae; insequenti autem de aqua, si quibus locis non fuerit, quemadmodum inveniatur et qua ratione ducatur quibusque rebus, si erit salubris et idonea, probetur, explicabo.

[3] By what reasons and resources for the arrangement of firmness, and by what means the paintings ought to be made decorous, likewise what powers all the colors have in themselves, so far as it could come to my aid, I have written out in this book. And thus all the perfections of buildings, what opportuneness of ratiocination they ought to have, have been completed in seven volumes; in the following, however, concerning water, if in some places it shall not be, how it may be found and by what method it may be led, and by what means, if it will be healthful and suitable, it may be proved, I will explain.