The Ten Books on Architecture
5. In araeostyles we cannot employ stone or marble for the architraves,
but must have a series of wooden beams laid upon the columns. And
moreover, in appearance these temples are clumsy-roofed, low, broad, and
their pediments are adorned in the Tuscan fashion with statues of
terra-cotta or gilt bronze: for example, near the Circus Maximus, the
temple of Ceres and Pompey's temple of Hercules; also the temple on the
Capitol.
6. An account must now be given of the eustyle, which is the most
approved class, and is arranged on principles developed with a view to
convenience, beauty, and strength. The intervals should be made as wide
as the thickness of two columns and a quarter, but the middle
intercolumniations, one in front and the other in the rear, should be of
the thickness of three columns. Thus built, the effect of the design
will be beautiful, there will be no obstruction at the entrance, and the
walk round the cella will be dignified.
7. The rule of this arrangement may be set forth as follows. If a
tetrastyle is to be built, let the width of the front which shall have
already been determined for the temple, be divided into eleven parts and
a half, not including the substructures and the projections of the
bases; if it is to be of six columns, into eighteen parts. If an
octastyle is to be constructed, let the front be divided into
twenty-four parts and a half. Then, whether the temple is to be
tetrastyle, hexastyle, or octastyle, let one of these parts be taken,
and it will be the module. The thickness of the columns will be equal to
one module. Each of the intercolumniations, except those in the middle,
will measure two modules and a quarter. The middle intercolumniations in
front and in the rear will each measure three modules. The columns
themselves will be nine modules and a half in height. As a result of
this division, the intercolumniations and the heights of the columns
will be in due proportion.
8. We have no example of this in Rome, but at Teos in Asia Minor there
is one which is hexastyle, dedicated to Father Bacchus.
These rules for symmetry were established by Hermogenes, who was also
the first to devise the principle of the pseudodipteral octastyle. He
did so by dispensing with the inner rows of thirty-eight columns which
belonged to the symmetry of the dipteral temple, and in this way he made
a saving in expense and labour. He thus provided a much wider space for
the walk round the cella between it and the columns, and without
detracting at all from the general effect, or making one feel the loss
of what had been really superfluous, he preserved the dignity of the
whole work by his new treatment of it.
9. For the idea of the pteroma and the arrangement of the columns round
a temple were devised in order that the intercolumniations might give
the imposing effect of high relief; and also, in case a multitude of
people should be caught in a heavy shower and detained, that they might
have in the temple and round the cella a wide free space in which to
wait. These ideas are developed, as I have described, in the
pseudodipteral arrangement of a temple. It appears, therefore, that
Hermogenes produced results which exhibit much acute ingenuity, and
that he left sources from which those who came after him could derive
instructive principles.
10. In araeostyle temples, the columns should be constructed so that
their thickness is one eighth part of their height. In the diastyle, the
height of a column should be measured off into eight and a half parts,
and the thickness of the column fixed at one of these parts. In the
systyle, let the height be divided into nine and a half parts, and one
of these given to the thickness of the column. In the pycnostyle, the
height should be divided into ten parts, and one of these used for the
thickness of the column. In the eustyle temple, let the height of a
column be divided, as in the systyle, into nine and a half parts, and
let one part be taken for the thickness at the bottom of the shaft. With
these dimensions we shall be taking into account the proportions of the
intercolumniations.
11. For the thickness of the shafts must be enlarged in proportion to
the increase of the distance between the columns. In the araeostyle, for
instance, if only a ninth or tenth part is given to the thickness, the
column will look thin and mean, because the width of the
intercolumniations is such that the air seems to eat away and diminish
the thickness of such shafts. On the other hand, in pycnostyles, if an
eighth part is given to the thickness, it will make the shaft look
swollen and ungraceful, because the intercolumniations are so close to
each other and so narrow. We must therefore follow the rules of symmetry
required by each kind of building. Then, too, the columns at the corners
should be made thicker than the others by a fiftieth of their own
diameter, because they are sharply outlined by the unobstructed air
round them, and seem to the beholder more slender than they are. Hence,
we must counteract the ocular deception by an adjustment of proportions.
12. Moreover, the diminution in the top of a column at the necking seems
to be regulated on the following principles: if a column is fifteen feet
or under, let the thickness at the bottom be divided into six parts,
and let five of those parts form the thickness at the top. If it is from
fifteen feet to twenty feet, let the bottom of the shaft be divided into
six and a half parts, and let five and a half of those parts be the
upper thickness of the column. In a column of from twenty feet to thirty
feet, let the bottom of the shaft be divided into seven parts, and let
the diminished top measure six of these. A column of from thirty to
forty feet should be divided at the bottom into seven and a half parts,
and, on the principle of diminution, have six and a half of these at the
top. Columns of from forty feet to fifty should be divided into eight
parts, and diminish to seven of these at the top of the shaft under the
capital. In the case of higher columns, let the diminution be determined
proportionally, on the same principles.
13. These proportionate enlargements are made in the thickness of
columns on account of the different heights to which the eye has to
climb. For the eye is always in search of beauty, and if we do not
gratify its desire for pleasure by a proportionate enlargement in these
measures, and thus make compensation for ocular deception, a clumsy and
awkward appearance will be presented to the beholder. With regard to the
enlargement made at the middle of columns, which among the Greeks is
called [Greek: entasis], at the end of the book a figure and calculation
will be subjoined, showing how an agreeable and appropriate effect may
be produced by it.
CHAPTER IV
THE FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES OF TEMPLES
1. The foundations of these works should be dug out of the solid ground,
if it can be found, and carried down into solid ground as far as the
magnitude of the work shall seem to require, and the whole substructure
should be as solid as it can possibly be laid. Above ground, let walls
be laid under the columns, thicker by one half than the columns are to
be, so that the lower may be stronger than the higher. Hence they are
called "stereobates"; for they take the load. And the projections of the
bases should not extend beyond this solid foundation. The wall-thickness
is similarly to be preserved above ground likewise, and the intervals
between these walls should be vaulted over, or filled with earth rammed
down hard, to keep the walls well apart.
2. If, however, solid ground cannot be found, but the place proves to be
nothing but a heap of loose earth to the very bottom, or a marsh, then
it must be dug up and cleared out and set with piles made of charred
alder or olive wood or oak, and these must be driven down by machinery,
very closely together like bridge-piles, and the intervals between them
filled in with charcoal, and finally the foundations are to be laid on
them in the most solid form of construction. The foundations having been
brought up to the level, the stylobates are next to be put in place.
3. The columns are then to be distributed over the stylobates in the
manner above described: close together in the pycnostyle; in the
systyle, diastyle, or eustyle, as they are described and arranged above.
In araeostyle temples one is free to arrange them as far apart as one
likes. Still, in peripterals, the columns should be so placed that there
are twice as many intercolumniations on the sides as there are in front;
for thus the length of the work will be twice its breadth. Those who
make the number of columns double, seem to be in error, because then the
length seems to be one intercolumniation longer than it ought to be.
4. The steps in front must be arranged so that there shall always be an
odd number of them; for thus the right foot, with which one mounts the
first step, will also be the first to reach the level of the temple
itself. The rise of such steps should, I think, be limited to not more
than ten nor less than nine inches; for then the ascent will not be
difficult. The treads of the steps ought to be made not less than a foot
and a half, and not more than two feet deep. If there are to be steps
running all round the temple, they should be built of the same size.
5. But if a podium is to be built on three sides round the temple, it
should be so constructed that its plinths, bases, dies, coronae, and
cymatiumare appropriate to the actual stylobate which is to be under the
bases of the columns.
The level of the stylobate must be increased along the middle by the
scamilli impares; for if it is laid perfectly level, it will look to the
eye as though it were hollowed a little. At the end of the book a figure
will be found, with a description showing how the scamilli may be made
to suit this purpose.
CHAPTER V
PROPORTIONS OF THE BASE, CAPITALS, AND ENTABLATURE IN THE IONIC ORDER
1. This finished, let the bases of the columns be set in place, and
constructed in such proportions that their height, including the plinth,
may be half the thickness of a column, and their projection (called in
Greek [Greek: ekphora]) the same.[1] Thus in both length and breadth it
will be one and one half thicknesses of a column.
[Note 1: Reading _aeque tantam_ as in new _Rose._ Codd. _sextantem;_
Schn. _quadrantem._]
2. If the base is to be in the Attic style, let its height be so divided
that the upper part shall be one third part of the thickness of the
column, and the rest left for the plinth. Then, excluding the plinth,
let the rest be divided into four parts, and of these let one fourth
constitute the upper torus, and let the other three be divided equally,
one part composing the lower torus, and the other, with its fillets, the
scotia, which the Greeks call [Greek: trochilos].
3. But if Ionic bases are to be built, their proportions shall be so
determined that the base may be each way equal in breadth to the
thickness of a column plus three eighths of the thickness; its height