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VITRUVIUS POLLIO, MARCUS. 



VITRUVIUS POLLIO, MARCUS. 



424, 



regulate its principles, as disposition (SidGeffts), proportion or dimen- 

 sions (irocr6rr]s), and economy or arrangement according to the uses for 

 which the building is required (olKovopta), &c. : chapter 3, of the dif- 

 ferent branches of architecture ; of building, of dialling, and of 

 mechanics : chapter 4, of the choice of situations for buildings, in 

 which healthiness should be the chief consideration : chapter 5, of 

 the foundations of walls and towers, and their security : chapter 6, of 

 the situations of the buildings of the town within the walls, which 

 should be BO disposed as to be sheltered from the winds ; and of the 

 winds, which were eight principal among the Greeks, but there were 

 many other names for the various winds coming from different direc- 

 tions, of which, together with the eight principal, Vitruvius has made 

 a diagram or <TX^M naming altogether twenty-four : chapter 7, of the 

 situations of public buildings, in which he states that the temples of 

 Venus, Vulcan, Mars, and Ceres should be without the city. 



Book II. In the introduction he relates an anecdote of Alexander 

 and Dinocrates, and the proposition of Dinocrates to convert Mount 

 Athos into a statue of Alexander, &c. Chap. 1 treats of the origin 

 of building, of the first appearance of fire, &c. : chap. 2, of the origin 

 of all things, according to the opinions of the philosophers : chap. 3, 

 of bricks, of the earth of which they ought to be made, and of their 

 dimensions : chap. 4, of sand : chap. 5, of lime : chap. 6, of Pozzo- 

 lana : chap. 7, of stone-quarries : chap. 8, of the different kinds of 

 walls, of the reticulatum and the incertum, and of the isodomum, the 

 pseudisodomum, and the emplectum ; also of cramping ; brick walls are 

 recommended in preference to stone ; of the city of Halicarnassus and 

 of the fountain of Salmacis, &c. : chap. 9^ of timber : chap. 10, of 

 the Apennines, and of the firs called infernce and supernce. 



Book III. In the introduction he mentions a few successful and 

 unsuccessful artists, and various causes of success. Chap. 1 treats of 

 the design and symmetry of temples, of ' perfect numbers,' and of 

 the names of temples, as in antis, prostylos, peripteros, pseudodipteros, 

 dipteros, hypcethros : chap. 2, of the five species of temples pymostylos, 

 systylos, diastylos, arceostylos, eu&tylos: chap. 3, of foundations, and 

 of columns and their ornaments. 



Book IV. Chap. 1, of the origin of the three kinds of columns, 

 Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian ; and of the origin of the Corinthian 

 capital : chap. 2, of the ornaments of columns : chap. 3, of the Doric 

 proportions : chap. 4, of the proportions of the cell and of the 

 arrangement of the pronaos of a temple : chap. 5, of the aspects of 

 temples: chap. 6, of the proportions of doors of temples: chap. 7, 

 of Tuscan temples : chap. 8, of the altars of the gods. 



Book V. Of Public Buildings. Chap. 1, of the forum and basilica : 

 chap. 2, of the treasury, prison, and curia : chap. 3, of the theatre 

 and its situation : chap. 4, of harmony, of the doctrine of Aristoxenus : 

 chap. 5, of the brazen vases (^eTa) used in theatres for increasing the 

 sound : chap. 6, of the shape of a theatre : chap. 7, of the portico 

 and other parts of a theatre : chap. 8, of the three sorts of scenes, 

 the tragic, the comic, and the satyric ; and of the theatres of the 

 Greeks: chap. 9, of the porticoes and passages behind the scenes; 

 and of walks: chap. 10, of baths: chap. 11, of the paloestra: chap. 

 12, of harbours and other buildings in water. 



Book VI. Of the arrangement and symmetry of private buildings. 

 In the introduction he speaks of the advantages of learning, and 

 relates an anecdote of Aristippus, the philosopher. Chap. 1, treats of 

 the situations of buildings, according to the nature and climate of dif- 

 ferent places : chap. 2, of their proportions, according to the nature 

 of their sites : chap. 3, of courts (cavsedia), the Tuscan, the Corinthian, 

 the tetrastylon, the displuviatum, and the testudinatum : chap. 4, of 

 courts (atria), wings or aisles (alze), the tdblinum and the peristylium : 

 chap. 5, of triclinia, otti, exedrce, pinacothecw, and their dimensions : 

 chap. 6, of the ceci (halls) of the Greeks (KV&KTIVOI) : chap. 7, of the 

 aspects of different kinds of buildings : chap. 8, of houses suited to 

 persons of various ranks : chap. 9, of the proportions of country- 

 houses : chap. 10, of the arrangement and parts of Grecian houses ; 

 of some Greek customs ; of pictures called Xenia; of some discre- 

 pancies in Greek and Roman names of apartments, &c. ; and of the 

 origin of the representation of Atlas with a globe upon his shoulders : 

 chap. 11, of the strength of buildings. 



Book VII. Of the finishing and decoration of Private Buildings. 

 In the introduction, he speaks of books, libraries, and of book-making; 

 of many writers on the arts and sciences, and also of some of the 

 principal buildings of the Greeks, and their architects as the temple 

 of Diana at Ephesus, of Apollo at Miletus, of Ceres and Proserpine at 

 Eleusis, of Jupiter Olympius at Athens, and of Honour and Virtue at 

 Rome. Chap. 1 treats of pavements : chap. 2, of stucco : chap. 3, of 

 stucco-work, and the method of preparing walls for painting or 

 colouring in fresco ; and of the excellence of Greek plaster : chap. 4, 

 of stucco-work in damp places, and of pavements for triclinia : chap. 

 5, of the use of painting in buildings, and the different kinds of 

 pictures proper for various apartments ; of the inferiority of such 

 decorations in the time of Vitruvius to those of the ancient Greeks, 

 and an anecdote of a scene painter of Alabanda : chap. 6, of the pre- 

 paration of marble for plastering for painting : chap. 7, of natural 

 colours or such as are found in the earth: chap. 8, of vermilion and 

 quicksilver, and of anthrax : and of the method of recovering gold 

 from old gold embroidery : chap. 9, of the preparation of vermilion, 

 and a test of its purity: chap. 10, of artificial colours and of black: 



chap. 11, of Alexandrian blue, and of burnt yellow : chap. 12, of 

 white-lead, of verdigris, and of red lead: chap. 13, of purple: chap. 

 14, of factitious colours, purples, attic ochre, and indigo. 



Book VIII. Of Water. In the introduction some ancient opinions 

 concerning water are noticed. Chap. 1 treats of the methods of 

 finding water : chap. 2, of rain water, of climates and of rivers : chap. 

 3, of the nature of various waters, of hot-springs, of mineral-waters, 

 of poisonous and of acid waters, and of remarkable fountains, &c. : 

 chap. 4, the same subject continued, the water of the Balearic Isles 

 good for singing : chap. 5, of methods of judging of water : chap. 6, 

 of levelling, and of the instruments used for that purpose, the dioptra, 

 the level (libra aquaria), and the chorobates : chap. 7, of conducting 

 water, which was done in three ways, in streams or channels, in leaden 

 pipes, and in earthen tubes Vitruvius recommends the last ; also of 

 wells and of cisterns. 



Book. IX. On the principles of gnomonics and the rules of dialling. In 

 the introduction he makes a few remarks in praise of the great services 

 of many of the Greek philosophers. Chap. 1 treats of Plato's method 

 of doubling the area of a square : chap. 2, of Pythagoras's method of 

 constructing a right angled triangle : chap. 3, of Archimedes's method 

 of detecting silver when mixed with gold, also of discoveries of Archy- 

 tas of Tarentum and of Eratosthenes of Cyrene, &c. : chap. 4, of the 

 universe and of the planets : chap. 5, of the sun's course through the 

 twelve signs : chap. 6, of the northern constellations : chap. 7, of the 

 southern constellations ; of the Chaldseans, and of several Greek astro- 

 nomers : chap. 8, of the construction of dials by the Analemma : 

 chap. 9, of various dials and their inventors. 



Book X. Of Machines. In the introduction Vitruvius notices a 

 salutary law of Ephesus, which kept architects and others to their 

 contracts, and regrets that no such law was in force at Rome. Chap. 1, 

 treats of machines and engines generally, as scaliug-machines, machines 

 set in motion by the wiud, and draught machines ; also of the loom 

 and other machines : chaps. 2, 3, 4, and 5, of machines of draught, of 

 the wheel and axle, pulley, &c., and polyspaston : chap. 6, of Ctesi- 

 phon's contrivance for removing great weights, when he removed 

 from the quarry the shafts of the columns for the temple of Diana at 

 Ephesus : chap. 7, of the discovery of the quarry whence stone was 

 procured for the construction of the temple of Diana at Ephesus : 

 chap. 8, of the principles of mechanics : haps. 9 and 10, of engines 

 for raising water, of the tympanum, and of water-mills: chap. 11, of 

 the water-screw : chap. 12, of the machine of Ctesibius for raising water 

 to a considerable height : chap. 13, of the water-organ, a very complex 

 machine, which Vitruvius has done his utmost, he says, to explain : 

 chap. 14, of machines for measuring the distance you travel by land or 

 by water : chap. 15, of catapultse and scorpions : chaps. 16, 17, and 

 18, of balistaj and catapultse : chap. 19, of machines for attack, of the 

 ram and the tower : chap. 20, of the tortoise for filling ditches : 

 chap. 21, of other tortoises : chap. 22, of machines for defence. 



There have been many editions of Vitruvius ; the Editio princeps 

 was printed, without date or name of printer or place, about 1480, at 

 Rome, by George Herolt, in folio, under the superintendence of Sul- 

 pitius. It commences, without a title, with ' lo. Sulpitius Lectori 

 salutem. Cum divinum opus Vitruvii,' &c. The small work of 

 Frontinus, on Aqueducts, was printed with it. The next edition was 

 published at Florence, in 1496, with some other treatises, also in folio ; 

 it is equally scarce with the Editio princeps. There have been many 

 others: at Venice, fol. in 1497; and again, in folio, with wood-cuts, 

 in 1511; the Giunta edition, at Florence, in Svo, in 1513, also with 

 wood-cuts; reprinted in 1522; again in 1523, without place or date; 

 at Strasburg, in quarto, in 1543 ; reprinted in 1550, with the notes of 

 Philander, which were first published at Rome, in 1544, without the 

 text; at Lyon, by Philander, in quarto, in 1552, *M. Vitruvii Pollionis 

 de Architecture Libri Decem ad Csesarem Augustum, omnibus om- 

 nium editoribus longe emendatiores, collatis veteribus exemplis,' &c. ; 

 at Venice, in folio, in 1567, by Barbaro; at Lyon, in quarto, in 1586; 

 at Amsterdam, printed by Elzevir, in folio, in 1649, with additional 

 notes and commentaries, and some other treatises, edited by John de 

 Laet ; at Naples, in folio, in 1758, with an Italian translation by the 

 Marquis Galiani ; at Berlin, in 2 vols. quarto, in 1800, with a glossary 

 in German, Italian, French, and English; at Strasburg, in Svo, in 1807; 

 and in the same year, by Schneider, at Leipzig, in 3 vols. Svo., which 

 is the best edition that has appeared, but it is without plates. 



M. Quatremcre de Quincy ('Biographie Universelle ') states that the 

 first manuscript of Vitruvius was found in the library of the Bene- 

 dictine abbey of Monte Cassino, near Naples, and that the best is in 

 the library of Franecker. The translations of Vitruvius into various 

 languages are likewise numerous : the following are into French ; by 

 Jan. Martin, Paris, folio, in 1547; reprinted in 1572; by Jean de 

 Tournes, Geneva, quarto, in 1618; by Perrault, with copper-plates, 

 Paris, folio, in 1673 ; another edition, by the same translator, in 1684; 

 an abridgment by the same in folio, 1674 (of which an English trans- 

 lation was published in London, 8vo, 1692, and several times re- 

 printed); by Le Bioul, Brussels, quarto, in 1816; into German, by 

 Rivius, Niirnberg, folio, in 1548, reprinted at Basel, in 1575, and 

 again at the same place in 1614 ; by Rode, Leipzig, 2 vols. quarto, in 

 1796; the first volume contains a Life of Vitruvius : into Italian, by 

 Benedict Jovius and Csosar Csesarinus, one of the architects of the 

 cathedral of Milan, Como, folio, in 1521 ; reprinted at Venice in 1524, 



