ARCHITECTURE. 
Augustus, though some maintain that he 
only added the portico ; but of this there is 
no proof, as no mention is made of this cele- 
brated building before bis time. We find 
from Vitruvius (lib. iii. c. 3,) that the floors 
of temples were frequently supported by 
vaults, and (lib. v. c. 1.) that the roofs of 
basilicas were vaulted of the tortoise form, 
which he distinguishes by the name of tes- 
tudo. This form of vaulting is very flat, 
with four curved sides springing from each 
of the four walls, and it approaches nearly 
to that of a flat dome upon a rectangular 
plan. 
We also find, from the remains of Roman 
buildings, the ceiling of their apartments 
vaulted. The side apartments, or chapels, 
of the Temple of Peace, and of the baths of 
Dioclesian, have vaults with cylindrical in- 
tradoes, while the great rectangular apart- 
ment in each of these edifices is vaulted in 
the groined form ; and it is remarkable that 
the groins are not formed by the intradoes 
of the vaults in the chapels, for the summits 
of the vaults in these rises but a small dis- 
tance above the springing of the middle 
groins. It may also be remarked, that the 
piers between the chapels have small ar- 
cades, the summits of which are consider- 
ably below the cylindrical intradoes of the 
side vaults. This circumstance is not pecu- 
liar to these buildings, as is to be found in 
many others. This is to be seen distinctly 
in the plates of the temple of Peace, by 
Desgodetz. The Romans employed annu- 
lar vaults, as in the temple of Bacchus ; and 
in this, as in the temple of Peace, and the 
baths of Dioclesian, the summits of the ar- 
cades supporting the cylindric wall and dome 
of the central apartment do not intersect 
the annular intrados ; but the convex side 
of the cylindric wall which supports this 
annular intrados, and consequently do not 
form groins. The intradoes of the Roman 
domes are of a semicircular section, as may 
be seen in the Pantheon, the temple of Bac- 
chus at Rome, the temple of Jupiter, and 
vestibule of the palace of Diolesian, at Spa-, 
latro, in Dalmatia, while the vertical section 
of the extradoes through the axis is a much 
less segment, as the Pantheon at Rome, and 
the vestibule and palace of Dioclesian ex- 
hibit. We have no instances among the 
Roman or Grecian buildings of pendentives 
or spandrels which are supported by four 
pillars, or by quadrangular or polygonal walls, 
and which support themselves on a sphe- 
ric dome or cylindrical wall. Pendentives 
rising from four pillars, and a dome from the 
top of the pendentives, were first put in 
practice, it is said, in the celebrated church 
of Sancta Sophia at Constantinople. 
In the rectangular buildings of the middle 
ages quadrangular, equal-pitched groins were 
generally used ; and in circular buildings 
we have annular groins, as in the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre at Cambridge, and 
Temple Church, London. We have also 
mentioned those curious groins which are 
exhibited in the ceilings of King’s College 
Chapel, Cambridge ; St. George’s Chapel, 
Windsor; and King Henry the Seventh’s 
Chapel, Westminster, of modern inven- 
tion. 
In the present day every species of vault- 
ing, that were either used by the ancients 
or throughout the middle ages, are employ- 
ed, both for the sake of variety and for 
elegance. 
It does not appear that the ancients were 
acquainted with cylindrical, unequal-pitched 
groins, at least by way of ornament; this 
form is however very beautiful, as the ar- 
cades above the passage through the front 
of Somerset-House clearly exhibit. 
ARCHYTAS, of Tarentum,in biography, 
a celebrated mathematician, cosmographer, 
and Pythagorean philosopher, of whom Ho, 
race says 
Maris ac terra, numeroque ca- 
rentis arena 
Mensorem cohibent, Archyta, Sfc. 
He flourished about 400 years before 
Christ, and was the master of Plato, Eu- 
doxus, and Philolaus. He gave a method 
of finding two mean proportionals between 
two given lines, and thence the duplication 
of the cube, by means of the conic sections. 
His skill in mechanics was such, that he was 
said to be the inventor of the crane and the 
screw ; and he made a wooden pigeon that 
could fly about, when it was once set off; 
but it could not rise again of itself, after it 
rested. He wrote several works, though 
none of them are now extant, particularly 
a treatise IlEpi tu naylof, De lAiiverso, cited 
by Simplicius in Arist. Categ. It is said 
he invented the ten categories. He ac- 
quired great reputation both in his legisla- 
tive and military capacity; having com- 
manded an army seven times without ever 
being defeated. He was at last shipwreck- 
ed, and drowned in the Adriatic sea. 
Archytas was distinguished through life 
by modesty and self-command. He main- 
tained that virtue was to be pursued for its 
own sake, in every condition of life; that 
