The architect Dinocrates, relying on his ideas and his ingenuity, while Alexander was gaining possession of the world, set out from Macedonia to the army, eager for a royal recommendation. From his country he carried letters from kinsmen and friends to the officers of the first rank and to the purple-clad courtiers, that he might have easier access; and, received by them courteously, he asked to be brought as soon as possible to Alexander. When they had made promises but were slower than he wished, watching for a fit moment, Dinocrates, thinking himself mocked by them, sought his own means of introduction. For he was of most ample stature, of pleasing countenance, and of the highest bearing and dignity. Trusting therefore in these natural gifts, he laid aside his clothing at his lodging, anointed his body with oil, crowned his head with a garland of poplar leaves, covered his left shoulder with a lion's skin, and, holding a club in his right hand, advanced towards the tribunal of the king dispensing justice. §1
When the strangeness of the sight had turned the people's attention, Alexander caught sight of him. Marveling, he ordered place to be made for him to approach, and asked who he was. Then he replied, "I am Dinocrates, a Macedonian architect, who bring to you designs and forms worthy of your renown. For I have shaped Mount Athos into the figure of a man, in whose left hand I have designed the walls of a most spacious city, and in his right a bowl to receive the waters of all the rivers which are on that mountain, so that from it they may be poured forth into the sea." §2
Delighted by the account of the design, Alexander at once asked whether there were fields round about that could sustain that city by a supply of grain. When he had learned that this could not be done except by overseas conveyance, he said, "Dinocrates, I mark the admirable composition of your design, and am taken with it, but I observe that, should anyone lead a colony to that place, his judgment will be blamed. For just as a new-born infant cannot be reared without the milk of his nurse, nor brought on to the successive steps of life's growth, so a city without fields and their produce flowing abundantly within her walls cannot grow, nor have a crowded population without plenty of food, nor maintain a people without supplies. Therefore, just as I think your design is to be approved, so I judge the place to be rejected. But I wish you to remain with me, because I shall make use of your services." §3
From that time Dinocrates did not leave the king, and followed him into Egypt. There, Alexander, having observed a harbor naturally safe, an excellent market-place, and fields fruitful in grain all round Egypt, and the great usefulness of the immense river Nile, ordered him to establish a city in his name, Alexandria. And so Dinocrates, commended by the look and dignity of his body, came to that renown. But to me, Imperator, nature has not granted stature, age has marred my face, and ill-health has drawn off my strength. Therefore, since I am deserted by these advantages, by the aids of knowledge and by my writings I shall, as I hope, come to a commendation. §4
Since in my first volume I have written at large of the office of architecture, of the terminations of the art, and likewise of walls and of the division of plots within them, and since the next in order is to unfold with what proportions and symmetries sacred, public, and likewise private buildings ought to be built, I did not think I should set these forth before first expounding the supplies of materials from whose gathering buildings are brought to completion, by structures and by the reasonings proper to the materials, what virtues they have in use, and by what principles of the nature of things they have been compounded. But before I begin to unfold the natural matters, I shall first set out from what beginnings the principles of building have arisen, and how their inventions have grown; and I shall follow the tracks of antiquity and of those who dedicated to the precepts of their writings the beginnings of civilization and their painstaking discoveries. So I shall expound as I was myself instructed by them. §5
Men in the ancient manner were born like beasts in the woods and caves and groves, and passed their lives feeding on country food. Meanwhile in a certain place, by the action of tempests and winds, trees shaken by the thickness of their masses rubbed their branches together and set fire to them; and those who were about that place, terrified by the vehement flame, fled. Afterward, when it had quieted, drawing nearer they noticed that there was great comfort to their bodies in the warmth of the fire; adding wood, and so preserving it, they brought others up and, pointing with a gesture, showed what advantages they had from it. In this gathering of men, as they poured forth their voices in various ways with their breath, by daily custom they fixed their words as they happened to arise; and then, by signifying things which were more often in use, from the chance event they began to speak, and so procreated speech among themselves. §6
Therefore when, because of the discovery of fire, gathering and council and companionship were first born among men, and many came together into one place, having from nature this reward above the rest of the animals, that they walked not stooping but upright and so could behold the magnificence of the world and of the stars, and likewise could easily handle with hands and fingers whatever they wished, they began in that company, some to make themselves shelters of boughs, some to dig out caves under the mountains, some to imitate the nests of swallows and their buildings and to make, of mud and twigs, places to creep into. Then, observing the shelters of others and adding to their own thoughts, they daily produced better kinds of huts. §7
Since men were of an imitative and teachable nature, daily glorying in their inventions, they would show to one another the results of their buildings, and so, by exercising their talents in rivalries, they were daily perfected by better judgments. First they wove walls with uprights and wattled twigs, plastered with mud. Others, drying lumps of mud, built walls, joining them together with timber; and to avoid rains and the heats of summer they covered them with reeds and foliage. After, when through the storms of winter the roofs could not bear the rains, they made ridge-roofs, coating them with mud, and, by sloping the roofs, drew off the dripping water. §8
That these things were set up from the origins set forth above we may thus observe, because to this day, among foreign nations, buildings are put up from such materials, as in Gaul, Spain, Lusitania, and Aquitania, from oak shingles or straw. Among the nation of the Colchians, on the Pontus, on account of the abundance of forests, whole trees are laid flat upon the earth on right and left, with such space left between them as the length of the trees allows. Upon the outer ends of these, others are placed crosswise, enclosing the middle space of the dwelling. Then above, joining the corners with alternate beams from four sides, and so rearing walls of trees true to the perpendicular from the lowermost, they carry up towers to a great height; and the spaces left between, on account of the thickness of the timber, they fill with chips and mud. Likewise for the roofs, cutting back the crossbeams from the extreme, they throw them across by degrees, drawing them inward, and so from four sides they carry them up to a height with cones in the middle, which, covering with foliage and mud, they produce, after a barbaric manner, roofs of towers vaulted over. §9
The Phrygians, however, who dwell in plain country, wanting timber for lack of forests, choose natural mounds, divide them with a ditch through the middle, and, cutting out passages, enlarge the spaces as far as the nature of the place allows. And above, binding stakes together, they make cones, which they cover with reeds and brushwood, and heap up above their dwellings immense mounds of earth. Thus the arrangement of the roofs makes the winters warmest and the summers coolest. Some make their huts of the reeds of the marsh. Among other peoples also, and in certain places, similar constructions of huts are made on like reasoning. No less at Massalia may we observe roofs without tiles, made of earth tempered with chaff. At Athens, as an exemplar of antiquity, the Areopagus remains to this day roofed with mud. So in the Capitol the hut of Romulus, and the straw-roofed buildings of the sacred places on the citadel, can remind us and signify the manners of antiquity. §10
By these tokens regarding the ancient inventions of buildings we may so reason that they were so. And when, by daily work, hands grown more practiced had made progress in building, and talent, through exercising skill by habit, had come to the arts, then also industry, added to their minds, brought it about that those who had been more studious in these matters professed themselves to be workmen. When these things therefore had at first been so established, and nature not only had adorned the peoples with senses, as the rest of the animals, but had also armed the mind with cogitations and counsels, and had placed the other animals under their power, then indeed, by the making of buildings, advancing by degrees to the other arts and disciplines, from a wild and rustic life they led men on to gentle civilization. §11
Then, equipping themselves with spirit and looking forward with greater thoughts born of the variety of arts, they began to build not huts, but houses with foundations, with walls of brick or of dressed stone, and roofed with timber and tile; and then, by the observations of study, from wandering and uncertain judgments they came to fixed principles of symmetry. After they had observed that nature's begettings were lavish, and that an abundance of supplies for buildings had been prepared by her, by handling them they nurtured them, and, enlarged by the arts, adorned with its pleasures the elegance of life. Therefore I will tell, as I can, concerning these things that are fit for use in buildings: of what qualities they are, and what virtues they have. §12
But if any one should wish to dispute concerning the order of this book, as judging that it ought to have been set first, let him not think that I have erred. Thus I will render a reason. When I was writing the body of architecture, in the first volume I thought it proper to set forth with what learnings and disciplines it is adorned, and to define the species of it by their terminations, and to tell from what things it was born. And so I there declared what the architect himself ought to be. Therefore in the first I spoke of the office of the art; in this I shall treat of the natural properties of materials, what use they have. For this book does not profess from what architecture is born, but whence the beginnings of buildings were instituted, and by what reasonings they were nourished and advanced by degrees to their present definition. §13
So, therefore, in its own order and place shall the plan of this volume be. Now I will return to the proposed topic, and I will reason of the supplies that are fit for the perfecting of buildings, how they appear to have been produced by the nature of things, and by what mixtures the concurrence of principles is tempered, so that matters may not be obscure but plain to readers. For no kinds of material, nor bodies, nor things can be born or be grasped by the intellect apart from a concurrence of principles; nor does the nature of things suffer the precepts of the natural philosophers to have true explanations unless, by subtle reasonings, demonstrations be had of the causes which inhere in these matters, showing how and wherefore they are so. §14
Thales first held water to be the principle of all things. Heraclitus of Ephesus, who on account of the obscurity of his writings was called by the Greeks σκοτεινός, held fire. Democritus, and Epicurus his follower, held atoms, which our people have called insecabilia corpora (indivisible bodies), and some have called individua. The discipline of the Pythagoreans added to water and fire, air and earth. Therefore Democritus, though he did not speak of things properly but only proposed indivisible bodies, seems for that reason to have spoken of those very things, because, when they are separate, they neither are harmed nor receive destruction, nor are divided by cutting, but retain within themselves, throughout eternal and perpetual time, an infinite solidity. §15
Since therefore all things are seen to come together and be born from these principles, which agree with one another, so that they are distributed by nature of things into kinds innumerable, I thought fit to set forth the varieties, the differences of their use, and what qualities they have in buildings, so that, when these are known, those who think of building may not err, but may make ready for their buildings supplies fit for the use. §16
So first, of bricks, I shall tell from what earth they ought to be drawn. They are not to be made from sandy, nor pebbly, nor from loose gravel, since bricks made from such kinds first become heavy, then, when they are sprinkled by rains upon the walls, are washed away and dissolved, and the chaff does not stick together in them on account of the roughness. They are to be made from whitish chalky earth, or from red ochre, or even from coarse male sandy soil. For these kinds, because of their lightness, have firmness, and are not heavy in the work, and are readily heaped up. §17
They should be made in spring and in autumn, so that they may dry with one even course. For those that are made at midsummer are faulty, because, when the sun fiercely pre-bakes the outer skin, it makes it seem dry, while the interior is not dry; and when later, as it dries, it contracts itself, it breaks through the parts that had been dry. Thus, becoming cracked, they are made weak. Most useful of all they will be, if they are made two years beforehand. For before that they cannot thoroughly dry. Therefore when they have been laid fresh and not dry, with plaster laid over them and set rigidly hard, while they themselves, as they settle, cannot keep the same height as the plaster, and, moved by contraction, they do not adhere to it, but are parted from its joining. So the plasters, separated from the structure, cannot, by their thinness, stand of themselves but are broken, and the walls themselves, in their fortuitous settling, are impaired. For this reason the people of Utica too use brick in the structure of walls only if it is dry, and made five years before, and has been so approved by judgment of the magistrate. §18
There are three kinds of bricks. One is that which in Greek is called Lydian, which is the kind our people use, a foot and a half long, a foot wide. The other two are used in the buildings of the Greeks. Of these one is called πεντάδωρον, the other τετράδωρον. The Greeks call the palm δῶρον, because the giving of gifts in Greek is called δῶρον, and this is always carried through by the palm of the hand. So that which is of five palms each way is called pentadoron; that which is of four, tetradoron; and public works are built with pentadora, private ones with tetradora. §19
Half-bricks are made to go with these bricks, and when walls are built of them, on one side rows of bricks, on the other of half-bricks, are placed. So when on each side they are laid to the line, with alternate layers the walls are bound together, and the middle bricks, placed over the joints, produce both firmness and, on each side, a look not ungraceful. There is, moreover, in farther Spain a city Maxilua, likewise Callet, and in Asia Pitane, where bricks, when they have been made and dried, once thrown float upon water. That they can float seems to be because the earth of which they are made is pumice-like. So since it is light, made solid by air it does not admit nor drink in liquid to itself. Therefore, because it is of light and rare properties, and does not suffer the moist power to penetrate into its substance, however heavy it may be, it is constrained by the nature of things, just as pumice, to be sustained by water. So they have great uses, because they are not burdensome in building, and, when made, are not dissolved by storms. §20
In concrete structures, first there is an inquiry concerning sand, that it be suitable for mixing with the material and have no earth mingled with it. Now there are these kinds of pit-sand: black, white, red, and carbuncular (coarse red-black). Of these, the kind which, rubbed in the hand, shall make a creaking noise, will be best; but that which shall be earthy will have no sharpness. Likewise, if it be thrown upon a white garment, and afterwards shaken out or washed, and neither stains it nor leaves earth settled there, it will be suitable. §21
But if there be no sand-pits whence it may be dug, then it must be sifted out from rivers or from gravel, no less also from the sea-shore. But this, in structures, has these defects: it dries with difficulty, and does not suffer the wall to be loaded continuously unless it rests at intervals, nor does it take vaulting. Sea-sand, moreover, has this in addition, that the walls, when plasters are laid upon them, giving back the saltness, dissolve the coating. §22
Pit-sands, however, dry quickly in structures, and the coatings stand fast, and they admit vaulting; but only those that are fresh from the sand-pits. For if, when taken out, they lie long exposed, parched by sun and moon and frost they are dissolved and become earthy. Thus, when thrown into a structure, they cannot hold the rubble, but the loads, which the walls cannot support, rush down and glide. But though fresh pit-sands have such great virtues in structures, they are not useful in plastering, for this reason: that the lime, from its richness, when it is mixed with the straw, cannot, on account of its vehemence, dry without cracks. River-sand, however, though useless for cement on account of its leanness, on being worked over with tools of the plasterer receives solidity in the plaster. §23
Once the supplies of sand have been explained, diligence must also be applied to the lime, that it be burnt from white stone or from flint. And that which shall be of close and harder stone will be useful in structures; that from porous stone, in plaster. When this has been slaked, then let the material be mixed so that, if it be pit-sand, three parts of sand and one of lime shall be thrown in; if river-sand or sea-sand, two parts of sand and one of lime shall be joined. For so shall be the just proportion of the mixture of the temper. In river-sand or sea-sand, moreover, if anyone shall add a third part of pounded and sifted tile, he will produce a tempering of the material better suited for use. §24
Now why it is that lime, when it takes water and sand, then consolidates the structure, this seems to be the cause: that stones, like other bodies, are composed from the principles. And those that have more of air are soft; those that have more of water are tough from moisture; those of earth, hard; those of fire, more fragile. Therefore, if stones of these kinds, before they are baked, are crushed small and thrown with sand into the structure, they neither harden nor can retain it. But when they have been thrown into the furnace and, seized by the vehement fervor of the fire, have lost the virtue of their former solidity, then, their strength burnt out and drawn forth, they are left with open and empty pores. Therefore the liquor which is in the body of such stone, and the air, when they have been burnt out and snatched away, and the stone shall have retained in itself a residual hidden heat, being plunged in water, before it receives the force of fire again, with the moisture penetrating into the rare pores it effervesces, and so, cooled, it drives the fervor out of the body of the lime. §25
For this reason, stones of whatever weight are thrown into the furnace, when they are taken out cannot correspond to that weight, but when they are weighed, their size remaining the same, the liquor being baked out, they are found to have decreased by about a third part of their weight. Therefore, when their pores and rarities lie open, they seize to themselves the mixture of the sand, and so hang together; and, drying along with the rubble, they come together and give solidity to structures. §26
There is also a kind of powder which by nature produces wondrous things. It is born in the regions about Baiae and in the fields of the municipalities which are around Mount Vesuvius. Mixed with lime and rubble, it not only gives firmness to other buildings, but even, when moles are built in the sea, they set under water. This seems to take place on this reasoning: that under these mountains the earths are seething, and springs are frequent, which would not be so if they did not have in the depth, of sulphur or alum or bitumen, vast burning fires. Therefore the fire and the vapor of flame passing through the fissures within and burning, makes that earth light, and the tufa which is produced there is swollen but without moisture. Therefore when the three things, formed in similar wise by the vehemence of fire, come together into one mixture, on the instant, when moisture has been received, they cohere together, and, quickly hardened by the moisture, they set, and no waves nor force of water can dissolve them. §27
That there are fires in these places even this fact can indicate: in the Cuman mountains at Baiae are places excavated for sweating-baths, in which a fiery vapor, rising up from the depths, pierces that earth by the vehemence of fire, and, streaming through it, arises in those places, and so produces excellent uses for sweating-baths. No less also is it recorded that anciently fires increased and abounded under Mount Vesuvius, and thence vomited forth flame into the surrounding fields. So what is now called spongy stone or Pompeian pumice appears to have been burnt out of another kind of stone and reduced to this quality of its kind. §28
But this kind of sponge that is taken thence is not born in all places, except round about Etna, and in the hills of Mysia which are named by the Greeks κατακεκαυμένη (burnt), and in such other places as have the like properties. If therefore in such places boiling springs of waters are found, and in the excavated mountains hot vapors, and the places themselves are recorded by the ancients to have had fires wandering over the fields, it appears certain that, by the vehemence of fire, liquor has been drawn out from them, from the tufa and the earth, as in furnaces from lime. §29
Therefore, when things unlike and unequal are seized, and united into one power, the hot dryness of the parched, suddenly sated by water, boils by a hidden heat in their common bodies, and vehemently makes them come together and swiftly acquire a single virtue of solidity. One may still ask, since there are also in Etruria frequent springs of hot water, why a powder is not born there too, from which, by the same reasoning, a structure might set solid under water. So I have thought good, before the question is asked, to expound how these things seem to be. §30
Not in all places and regions are the same kinds of earth nor stones born, but some are earthy, others sandy, others gravelly, in yet other places sandy, no less also timber; and altogether of dissimilar and unlike kind in the varieties of regions, such qualities inhere in the earth. One may chiefly observe this in that where Mount Apennine encircles the regions of Italy and Etruria, in nearly all places pit-sands are not lacking; but across the Apennine, in the part which is toward the Adriatic Sea, none are found; and in Achaea, in Asia, across the sea, they are not even named. Therefore not in all places in which frequent springs of hot water boil up can the same advantages similarly concur, but all things are as the nature of things has instituted, not to the pleasure of men but, scattered abroad, are produced by chance. §31
Therefore, in places where there are no earthy mountains but of soft material, the force of fire, passing out through its veins, burns it up. What is soft and tender it consumes; what is rough it leaves. So as in Campania ash is made out of burnt earth, so in Etruria carbunculus is made out of baked material. Both are excellent in structures, but one has its virtue in earthen buildings, the other in marine moles. It is a substance softer than tufa, firmer than earth, from which, thoroughly burnt up from below by the vehemence of fire, in some places is produced that kind of sand which is called carbunculus. §32
Of lime and sand, with what varieties they are and what virtues they have, I have spoken. It follows in order that I unfold concerning quarries, from which squared stones and supplies of rubble are taken and prepared for buildings. These are found to be of unequal and unlike virtues. For there are some that are soft, as those around Rome at Rubra, Pallia, Fidenae, and Alba; others tempered, as the Tiburtine, Amiternine, Soractine, and others of these kinds; and some hard, as flints. There are also many other kinds, as in Campania the red and black tufas; in Umbria and Picenum and Venetia a white, which is even cut with a toothed saw like wood. §33
All of these soft stones have this use, that when taken out of them the stones are easily worked; and if they be in covered places, they bear the strain; but if in open and exposed places, when touched by frost and hoar-frost they crumble and dissolve. Likewise along the sea-shore, eaten by the brine, they melt away and cannot endure the heats. But the Tiburtine, and all stones of the same kind, sustain every burden and every injury from storms; but from fire they cannot be safe, and as soon as they are touched by it they split asunder and are dispersed. This is because by their natural composition they have little moisture, and likewise not much earth, but much air and fire. Therefore, since in them moisture and earth are less, and fire also, at the touch and force of vapor the air being driven from them, it follows deep within, and, occupying the vacuities of the fissures, grows hot, and makes those stones, as if burning, like itself. §34
There are likewise several quarries in the territory of the Tarquinians, which are called the Anician, of a color like the Albanian, whose workings are chiefly around lake Volsiniensis, likewise in the prefecture of Statonia. These have infinite virtues. For neither is the storm of frosts nor the touch of fire able to harm them; but they are firm and lasting even to antiquity, because they have little, in the natural mixture, of air and fire, but moisture in moderation and earth in greatest share. Thus, being set solid in close compositions, they are injured neither by storms nor by the vehemence of fire. §35
One may best judge this from the monuments that are about the municipality of Ferentium, made out of these quarries. For there are ample statues excellently wrought, and smaller figures, flowers, and acanthus foliage elegantly carved; and though these are old, they appear as fresh as if only recently made. No less also do the bronze-smiths, from the molds arranged in the casting of bronze out of these quarries, derive from them the greatest advantages for the casting of metal. If they were near the city, it would be worth while that every kind of work be accomplished out of these workshops. §36
Since therefore, on account of nearness, necessity compels us to use the supplies from the Rubran and Pallian quarries, and those nearest to the city, if anyone shall wish to make his work without defects, it must be prepared thus. When it is to be built, let those stones be taken out two years beforehand, not in winter but in summer, and lying exposed let them remain in open places. Those which, in that biennium, shall have been touched and hurt by storms, let them be thrown into the foundations. The rest, which shall not have been damaged, being approved by the nature of things, shall be able to endure built above ground. And these things are to be observed not only in squared stones, but also in concrete structures. §37
There are these kinds of wall structure: the reticulate, which all now use, and the ancient, which is called incertum. Of these the reticulate is more graceful, but is thereby prepared for the making of cracks, since it has on every side bedding-joints and coursing-joints dissolved. The uncertain rubble, however, settling one piece upon another and imbricated among themselves, furnishes a structure not showy but firmer than the reticulate. §38
Both are to be built with the smallest bits, so that the walls, saturated often with material of lime and sand, may hold the longer. For since the rubble is of soft and rare power, it dries up, drawing off the juice from the material. But when the supply of lime and of sand has prevailed and abounded, the wall, having the more moisture, will not quickly grow faint, but is held together by these. But when the moist power of the material has been exhausted through the rareness of the rubble, and the lime parts from the sand and is dissolved, then likewise the rubble cannot cohere with the rest, but in time the walls are made ruinous. §39
This one may observe also from certain monuments that have been made about the city of marble or squared stones, and rammed within, toward the middle, with structures; with the material grown old and faint, and the rareness of the rubble drawn dry, they fall down; and the joints of the facings, with their jointing dissolved by the ruin, are dispersed. §40
But if anyone shall not wish to fall into that defect, let him, keeping a hollow in the middle along the uprights, build on the inside walls two feet thick out of squared red stone, or out of baked brick, or out of flint in regular order; and with these let the facings be bound by iron clamps and lead. For so the work, built not in a heap but in order, will be able to be without defect for all time: because the beds and joints of the stones, settling upon one another and tied by their junctures, will not force the work out, nor suffer the uprights, bound together, to slip. §41
So the Greek manner of construction is not to be despised. For they do not use construction polished from soft rubble, but, when they depart from the squared, they lay of flint or hard stone in regular course, and, building as if with bricks, they bind the joints of these in alternate layers, and thus most of all produce firm qualities for eternity. They are built of two kinds. Of these, one is called isodomum, the other pseudisodomum. §42
Isodomum is the name when all the courses have been built of an equal thickness; pseudisodomum, when unequal and uneven rows of courses are arranged. Both these are firm, first because the rubble stones themselves are close and solid in property, and cannot drink in liquor from the material, but preserve it in its moisture to the greatest antiquity; and their very beds, first set plane and leveled, do not suffer the mortar to run out, but, bound by the perpetual thickness of the walls, hold them together to the greatest antiquity. §43
The other is what they call ἔμπλεκτον, which even our rustics use. Their facings are smoothed; the rest is placed with the material as it has grown, and they bind the alternate joints. But our people, studying speed, place the facings upright, and crowd the middle, throwing in separately with the material broken rubble. So three crusts rise up in that structure, two of the facings and one of the cramming of the middle. The Greeks, however, do not so, but, placing them flat and laying their lengths by turns into the thickness, do not stuff the middle, but from their own facings they consolidate one perpetual thickness of walls. Further, they lay separately, at intervals, single stones of perpetual thickness with facings on either part, which they call διατόνους, which bind and confirm the solidity of the walls most of all. §44
Therefore whoever shall desire from these notes to observe and choose a kind of structure, he will be able to have a principle of perpetuity. For those which are of soft rubble and of a subtle gracefulness, these cannot but be ruinous in time. Therefore when arbiters are chosen for party-walls, they do not estimate them at the price at which they were made, but, when they find from the tablets the record of their letting, they deduct an eightieth part for each year that has gone by, and so pronounce sentence that the remaining sum should be paid for those walls, since they cannot last more than eighty years. §45
But for brick walls, provided they stand upright, no deduction is made, but they are always estimated at the price at which they were once made. So in some cities one may see public works and private houses, and even royal palaces, built of brick: and first, at Athens, the wall which looks toward Mount Hymettus and Mount Pentelicus; likewise at Patras the cellae of the temple of Jupiter and of Hercules are of brick, though around them, in the temple, the architraves and columns are of stone; in Italy, at Arretium, an ancient wall excellently built; at Tralles, the house built for the Attalid kings, which is always given as a dwelling to him who holds the priesthood of the state. Likewise at Lacedaemon, from certain walls even pictures, cut out with the bricks themselves sectioned, and enclosed in wooden frames, were brought to the comitium for the adornment of the aedileship of Varro and Murena. §46
Such was the house of Croesus, which the Sardians dedicated to their citizens as a gerusia, a college of elders, for the leisure of their age. Likewise at Halicarnassus the house of the most mighty king Mausolus, though it had all things adorned with Proconnesian marble, has walls built of brick, which to this day give out a remarkable firmness, smoothed with plaster-work so that they seem to have the transparence of glass. This king did this not from poverty; for he was stuffed with infinite revenues, since he ruled all Caria. §47
His keenness and dexterity for the preparing of buildings one may consider thus. For having been born at Mylasa, and observing that the place at Halicarnassus was naturally fortified, and that there was a market-place convenient and a useful harbor, he there built himself a house. This place is like the curve of a theater. And so at the bottom, along the harbor, the forum has been built. But by the mid-altitude of the curve and its girdling, a broad-avenue was made; in the midst of which the Mausoleum was built with such excellent works that it is named among the seven spectacles. On the summit of the citadel, in the middle, a shrine of Mars, with a colossal statue of mixed materials, by the noble hand of Leochares. But this statue some think to be by Leochares, others by Timotheus. On the uppermost right horn the shrine of Venus and of Mercury, next to the very spring of Salmacis. §48
That spring is commonly, by false rumor, believed to infect with effeminate disease those who have drunk of it. But why this opinion through the orb of the earth is spread by a false report, I will not grudge to set forth. For that which is said, that men become soft and unchaste from that water, cannot be so; but that spring's property is of clear and excellent taste. When Melas and Arevanias from Argos and from Troezen led a common colony to that place, they drove out the barbarous Carians and Lelegians. These, being put to flight into the mountains, came together, and running to and fro in that country, by robberies cruelly laid waste the new-comers. Afterwards, one of the colonists, because of the goodness of the water of that spring, for the sake of profit opened a tavern near it with all manner of stores, and, by plying his trade, he attracted those barbarians. Thus, coming down one by one and assembling into gatherings, from their harsh and wild manner they were brought over, by their own will, into the Greek habit and sweetness. Therefore that water, not by a vice of unchaste disease but by the gentleness of civility, having softened the minds of the barbarians, has acquired that fame. §49
It remains, since I have been drawn to the unfolding of those walls, that I define them in their whole. For just as on the right part is the shrine of Venus and the spring written of above, so on the left horn the royal house, which King Mausolus placed according to his own plan. From it he could look to the right upon the forum, the harbor, and the whole circuit of the walls; beneath, on the left, a secret harbor concealed under the walls, so that no one could see or know what was going on in it, while the king himself from his own house could command the rowers and soldiers, no one else knowing what was required. §50
So after the death of Mausolus, Artemisia his wife reigning, the Rhodians, indignant that a woman should rule over the cities of all Caria, with an armed fleet set out to occupy that kingdom. Then when this was announced to Artemisia, she ordered her fleet to be hidden in that harbor, the rowers and marines kept out of sight and made ready, and the rest of the citizens to be upon the wall. When the Rhodians had put forth their fitted fleet into the greater harbor, she ordered applause to be given twice from the wall, and the promise to deliver up the town. Then they, leaving their ships empty, had penetrated within the wall; Artemisia, a channel being suddenly made into the deep sea, led out her fleet from the lesser harbor, and so sailed into the greater. Landing her troops, she took away the empty fleet of the Rhodians into the deep. Thus the Rhodians, with no place to retreat, shut in in the middle in the very forum, were slaughtered. §51
Then Artemisia, having placed her own soldiers and rowers on the ships of the Rhodians, set out for Rhodes. But the Rhodians, when they had seen afar their own laurel-crowned ships coming, thinking that their fellow-citizens were returning as victors, received the enemies. Then Artemisia, having taken Rhodes, with the leading men killed, set up a trophy of her victory in the city of Rhodes, and made two bronze statues, one of the state of the Rhodians, the other of her own image. She so figured it as stamping brand-marks on the state of the Rhodians. Thereafter the Rhodians, hindered by religion (because it is impious that trophies dedicated should be removed), built a building round that place, and so, erected with a Greek station they covered it that no one could look upon it, and ordered it to be called the ἄβατον, that is, inaccessible. §52
Since then kings of such great power did not despise structures of brick walls, for whom, with revenues and spoils enclosed, it had been lawful to have them not only of concrete or of squared stone but also of marble, I do not think it ought to be disapproved that buildings made of brick structure are made, so long only as they be rightly roofed. But I will set forth why this kind ought not to be made by the Roman People in the city, and I will not omit what the causes and reasonings of that matter are. §53
The public laws do not suffer greater thicknesses than a foot and a half to be established in a common place. The other walls too, lest the spaces become narrower, are set up at the same thickness. But brick walls, unless they be of two or three leaves, cannot, at a foot-and-a-half thickness, support more than one floor. In such majesty of the city, however, and in the infinite throng of citizens, innumerable dwellings must be set forth. Therefore, since the level plots could not receive so great a multitude for dwelling in the city, necessity itself has driven men to the help of the height of buildings. So with stone piers, with brickwork structures, with concrete walls, heights have been constructed, and, floored over with many stories, they produce the highest advantages of dividings of apartments. Therefore the Roman People, with their dwellings multiplied by many stories up on high, has dwellings of remarkable convenience without hindrance. §54
Since therefore it has been explained why, because of the necessity of narrow plots in the city, they do not suffer walls of brick to be made, when it is necessary to use them outside the city, it must be done thus to be without defect in old age. On the highest part of the walls let tile-work structure be set beneath the roofing-tiles, about a foot and a half in height, and let it have projections of cornices. So the defects which are wont to occur in these may be avoided. For when on the roof the tiles shall have been broken or blown off by the winds, through which water from rains can drip down, the tiled coat will not suffer the brick to be injured, but the projections of the cornices will throw off the drops beyond the perpendicular, and by that reasoning will preserve unharmed the structures of the brick walls. §55
But whether the tile itself is of the best or faulty, no one can at once judge of it in a structure; because in storms and in age, when it is laid upon a roof, if it is firm, then it is proved. For that which shall not have been made of good clay, or shall have been too little baked, there shows itself to be faulty when touched by frost and hoar-frost. Therefore that which cannot bear the strain on a roof cannot be firm in a structure that bears a load. For which reason walls built of the tile of old roofing-tiles will most of all be able to have firmness. §56
As for lath-and-plaster walls, I should wish they had not been invented. For however much they gain in speed and space, by so much the greater and the more common is their calamity, because they stand ready for fires like torches. Therefore it seems better that the cost be spent on tile-work than, for the saving of lath-and-plaster, to be in danger. In plastering-work, too, they make cracks by the arrangement of the uprights and the cross-pieces; for when they are smeared, receiving the moisture they swell; then, drying, they contract, and so, made thin, they break the soundness of the plaster. But since some are compelled by speed, or by poverty, or by a partition in a place that overhangs, it must be done thus. Let the ground be laid deep with substructure, so that they may be untouched by the rubble and the pavement. For when buried in these, they become rotten with age; then, settling, they lean forward and break the look of the plaster. Of walls and of the preparation, by kinds, of their materials, with what virtues and defects, as I have been able, I have set forth; of joists and their supplies, that they may not be weak in age, as the nature of things shows, I shall unfold. §57
Timber is to be cut from the first of autumn up to that time which shall be before Favonius begins to blow. For in spring all trees become pregnant, and all bring forth the virtue of their own property into leaf and into the yearly fruits. Therefore when through the necessity of that season they have been empty and swollen, they are made hollow and, by rarities, weak; as women's bodies too, when they have conceived, up to the bringing forth of their child are not judged whole, nor, in the sale of slaves, when they are pregnant, are they guaranteed sound, because in the body the growing seed draws to itself nourishment from all the forces of the food, and the firmer it is made for the maturity of the birth, the less does it suffer that from which it is itself born to be solid. So when the offspring is brought forth, that which before was drawn off into another kind of increase, being freed from the division of begetting, the veins being empty and open, licking in juice into themselves, becomes firm and returns into the first firmness of nature. §58
By the same reasoning, in the autumn season, with the ripeness of the fruits and the foliage slackening, the trees, drawing up through their roots from the earth, recover sap into themselves and are restored to their ancient solidity. But the force of winter air presses and consolidates them during the time above written. Therefore, if timber be cut by the reasoning and at the time above written, it will be timely. §59
It ought to be cut in this way, that an incision be made in the trunk down to the very pith, and so let it be left, that through this the sap may drop out and exhaust itself. Thus the useless liquor that is inside, flowing forth through the sap-channel, will not suffer the quality of the wood to die in corruption or to be spoiled. Then, when the tree is dry and without drippings, let it be felled, and so it will be of the best in use. §60
That this is so one may observe from shrubs. For these, when at their proper time they are pierced at the base and pruned, pour forth through the holes the abundant and tainted liquor which they have within their pith, and so, drying, receive lastingness. But those which have no issues of their moistures from the trees rot within, by accumulation, and make the trees hollow and faulty. Therefore, if as they stand alive they grow dry without aging, without doubt, when they are felled for timber, if they be so treated, they will be able to have great uses in buildings to an old age. §61
These woods, however, have different and unlike virtues, as oak, elm, poplar, cypress, fir, and the other kinds which chiefly are suited for buildings. For oak cannot do what fir does, nor cypress what elm, nor have the rest the same likenesses among themselves by the nature of things, but the several kinds, being composed by the properties of their principles, give out in works effects of a different kind, the one from the other. §62
And first, fir, having in it very much air and fire, and least of moisture and earth, composed of the lighter powers of the nature of things, is not heavy. And so, content with its natural stiffness, it does not quickly bend beneath a load, but remains straight in the joisting. But because it has in it more of heat, it produces and nourishes rot, and by that is impaired; also for that reason it kindles quickly, because the rareness of air that is in it, being so open, receives the fire, and so from itself sends forth a vehement flame. §63
Of the fir-tree, before it is cut, the part which is nearest to the earth, receiving moisture through its roots from the neighborhood, is made without knots and yielding. But the upper part, by the vehemence of the heat which draws the branches up into the air through its knots, when it is cut off about twenty feet high and well-worked down, because of the hardness of the knotty part, is called fusterna. The lower part, however, when it is cut out, split four ways, and the sap-part cast out, from the same tree is made ready for interior work, and so is called sappinea. §64
Oak, on the contrary, abounding in the earthy satieties of the principles, and having but little of moisture, air, and fire, when it is buried in earthen works, has an infinite eternity. Thus, when it is touched by moisture, not having the rarities of pores on account of its density, it cannot receive liquor into its substance; but, shrinking from the moisture, it resists and twists, and makes the works in which it is cracked. §65
The aesculus, because it is tempered in all the principles, has great uses in building; but when it is placed in moisture, receiving liquor inwardly through its pores, and having expelled air and fire by the operation of the moist power, it is impaired. The cerrus (Turkey oak) and the fagus (beech), because they have an equal mixture of moisture and fire and earth, and most of all of air, through the rareness of this, receiving moisture to the depth, are quickly rotted. White and black poplar, likewise the willow, the linden, and the chaste-tree, having abundance of fire and air, moisture in moderation, but little of earth, being made of lighter tempering, seem to have in use an excellent rigidity. Therefore, although by the mixture of earth they are not hard, on account of their rareness they are white, and offer a convenient workability in carving. §66
The alder, however, which is born nearest the banks of rivers, and seems to be least useful as timber, has in itself excellent principles. For it is tempered with very much air and fire, not much earth, little moisture. So in marshy places, fixed in a close set beneath the foundations of buildings as piles, receiving into itself what it has less of in its body (namely liquor), it remains undying to eternity, and holds up immense burdens of the structure and without defect preserves them. Thus that which above ground cannot endure a little time, the same buried in moisture remains to long duration. §67
This can be best observed at Ravenna, where all works, both public and private, have beneath their foundations piles of this kind. Elm, however, and ash have the greatest amount of moisture and least of air and fire, tempered with an even mixture of earth. They are pliant in works when wrought, and, from the weight of their moisture, lack rigidity and quickly warp. But as soon as they have been made dry by age, or, cast in a field as they stand, they die from the liquor that is in them, they become harder, and, in joinings and joints, by their toughness receive firm clampings. §68
Likewise the hornbeam, because it is of the least mixture of fire and earth, but is contained by the highest tempering of air and moisture, is not brittle but has most useful workability. Therefore the Greeks, because from this wood they make yokes for beasts of burden, and because among them yokes are called ζυγά, call it also zygia. Not less to be wondered at is the cypress and the pine, which, having an abundance of moisture and an equal mixture of the rest, on account of the satiety of moisture in works are wont to be warped; but in age they are preserved without defects, since the liquor which is deep within their bodies has a bitter taste, which on account of its sharpness does not suffer rot to penetrate, nor those insects which are hurtful. Therefore works that are made of these kinds remain to an eternal duration. §69
Likewise the cedar and the juniper have the same virtues and advantages; but just as from cypress and pine there is resin, so from cedar an oil is produced which is called cedrium; when the rest of things have been anointed with it, as also books, they are not harmed by worms nor by rot. The tree itself has a foliage like the cypress; the grain of the timber runs straight. At Ephesus, in the temple, the image of Diana, and also the coffering there, and in other noble shrines, are made of it on account of its eternity. These trees are born chiefly in Crete, in Africa, and in certain regions of Syria. §70
The larch, however, which is not known save to the municipalities which are about the bank of the river Po and the shores of the Adriatic sea, not only is not harmed by rot or worm, on account of the vehement bitterness of its sap, but it does not even receive flame from fire, nor can of itself burn, except as a stone in a furnace for baking lime is burnt with other woods. Not even then does it take flame, or throw off charcoal, but over a long space of time is burnt slowly. Because it is of the least tempering of fire and air among the principles, but close-set with moisture and earth, it has no spaces of pores through which fire can penetrate, and repels its force and suffers not itself quickly to be harmed by it; and on account of its weight it is not sustained by water, but when it is carried, either on ships or upon rafts of fir, is conveyed. §71
It is worth while to know the cause how this timber was discovered. The divine Caesar, when he had his army about the Alps and had ordered the townships to furnish supplies, and there was a fortified stronghold which was called Larignum, then those who were in it, relying on their natural fortification, refused to obey the order. Therefore the general ordered the forces to be brought up. There was before the gate of that stronghold a tower made of this material with beams crossing one another, built high like a pyre, so that from the top they might repel those approaching with stakes and stones. Then indeed, when it was noticed that they had no other missiles but stakes, nor could they hurl far from the wall on account of the weight, it was ordered to bring up, approaching the fortification, bundles of rods bound together, and burning torches. So the soldiers swiftly heaped them. §72
After the flame had seized the rods about that timber, raised to heaven, it produced the opinion that the whole mass had fallen. But when the fire had gone out of itself, and quieted, and the tower appeared untouched, Caesar, marveling, ordered that they be surrounded by a palisade out of range of missiles. Thus forced by fear, when the townspeople had surrendered themselves, it was asked whence were the logs that were not hurt by fire. Then they showed those trees, of which there are the greatest supplies in those places. And for this reason, as that castle was called Larignum, so the timber was called larigna. It is carried by the Po to Ravenna, and at the colonies of Fano, Pisaurum, Ancona, and the other municipalities of that region, it is furnished. If of this wood there were facility of conveyance to Rome, the greatest uses would be had in buildings; and if not in everything, at least, if the planks of the eaves round the blocks were of larch, the buildings would be freed from the danger of fires leaping from one to another, because such planks can neither take flame nor charcoal, nor make them of themselves. §73
These trees have leaves like those of the pine, their timber long and workable for interior work, no less than sappinea; and it has a liquid resin, of the color of Attic honey, which also heals consumptives. Of the several kinds, with what properties they seem to have been composed in the nature of things, and by what reasoning they are produced, I have set forth. There follows the question, why the fir that in the city is called supernas is the worse, while the infernas shows excellent uses in buildings for lastingness; and, as to these matters, in what way they seem, by the properties of their places, to have faults or virtues, I will so set forth that they may be clearer to those who consider. §74
The first roots of Mount Apennine rise from the Tyrrhenian sea between the Alps and the farthest region of Etruria. The ridge of that mountain, turning around and bending in the middle, nearly touching the shores of the Adriatic sea, extends by its circuits to the opposite straits. The hither curve, which leans toward the regions of Etruria and Campania, is of sunny powers; for its blows are continually exposed to the sun's course. But the farther, which slopes toward the upper sea, subject to the northern quarter, is contained by shaded and dark perpetuities. And so trees that are born in that part, nourished by the moist power, are themselves not only increased to the amplest size, but their veins too, filled with abundance of moisture, are saturated with plenty of liquor. But when, once cut and hewn, they have lost their living power, with the veins' rigidity remaining, as they dry they become, on account of their rareness, hollow and vanishing; so in buildings they cannot have long duration. §75
Those, on the other hand, which grow in places facing the sun's course, having no rarities of fissures, being exhausted by drynesses, are solidified; for the sun, licking up moisture not only from the earth but also from the trees, draws it out. Therefore those which are in sunny regions, being made solid by the frequency of close veins, and having no rareness from moisture, when they are hewn for timber, yield great uses for lastingness. So the infernates, which are brought from sunny places, are better than those which from the upper side, of shady parts, are brought. §76
As much as I have been able to consider in mind, concerning the supplies which are necessary in the preparation of buildings, and by what temperings, from the nature of things, they seem to have a mixture of the principles, and what virtues and defects are in the several kinds, that they may not be unknown to builders, I have set forth. Thus those who have been able to follow the prescriptions of these precepts will be more prudent, and will be able in their works to choose the use of the several kinds. Therefore, since concerning the preparations it has been unfolded, in the other volumes concerning the buildings themselves will be set forth: and first, concerning the temples of the immortal gods and their symmetries and proportions, as order demands, I will write in the next. §77