The Ten Books on Architecture
inside of the wall with broken stone or masonry. It will thus be
possible for even a tower to be built upon it.
7. When all this is finished, the general rule for shipyards will be to
build them facing the north. Southern exposures from their heat produce
rot, the wood worm, shipworms, and all sorts of other destructive
creatures, and strengthen and keep them alive. And these buildings must
by no means be constructed of wood, for fear of fire. As for their size,
no definite limit need be set, but they must be built to suit the
largest type of ship, so that if even larger ships are hauled up, they
may find plenty of room there.
I have described in this book the construction and completion of all
that I could remember as necessary for general use in the public places
of cities. In the following book I shall consider private houses, their
conveniences, and symmetrical proportions.
BOOK VI
INTRODUCTION
1. It is related of the Socratic philosopher Aristippus that, being
shipwrecked and cast ashore on the coast of the Rhodians, he observed
geometrical figures drawn thereon, and cried out to his companions: "Let
us be of good cheer, for I see the traces of man." With that he made for
the city of Rhodes, and went straight to the gymnasium. There he fell to
discussing philosophical subjects, and presents were bestowed upon him,
so that he could not only fit himself out, but could also provide those
who accompanied him with clothing and all other necessaries of life.
When his companions wished to return to their country, and asked him
what message he wished them to carry home, he bade them say this: that
children ought to be provided with property and resources of a kind that
could swim with them even out of a shipwreck.
2. These are indeed the true supports of life, and neither Fortune's
adverse gale, nor political revolution, nor ravages of war can do them
any harm. Developing the same idea, Theophrastus, urging men to acquire
learning rather than to put their trust in money, states the case thus:
"The man of learning is the only person in the world who is neither a
stranger when in a foreign land, nor friendless when he has lost his
intimates and relatives; on the contrary, he is a citizen of every
country, and can fearlessly look down upon the troublesome accidents of
fortune. But he who thinks himself entrenched in defences not of
learning but of luck, moves in slippery paths, struggling through life
unsteadily and insecurely."
3. And Epicurus, in much the same way, says that the wise owe little to
fortune; all that is greatest and essential is under the direction of
the thinking power of the mind and the understanding. Many other
philosophers have said the same thing. Likewise the poets who wrote the
ancient comedies in Greek have expressed the same sentiments in their
verses on the stage: for example, Eucrates, Chionides, Aristophanes, and
with them Alexis in particular, who says that the Athenians ought to be
praised for the reason that, while the laws of all Greeks require the
maintenance of parents by their children, the laws of the Athenians
require this only in the case of those who have educated their children
in the arts. All the gifts which fortune bestows she can easily take
away; but education, when combined with intelligence, never fails, but
abides steadily on to the very end of life.
4. Hence, I am very much obliged and infinitely grateful to my parents
for their approval of this Athenian law, and for having taken care that
I should be taught an art, and that of a sort which cannot be brought to
perfection without learning and a liberal education in all branches of
instruction. Thanks, therefore, to the attention of my parents and the
instruction given by my teachers, I obtained a wide range of knowledge,
and by the pleasure which I take in literary and artistic subjects, and
in the writing of treatises, I have acquired intellectual possessions
whose chief fruits are these thoughts: that superfluity is useless, and
that not to feel the want of anything is true riches. There may be some
people, however, who deem all this of no consequence, and think that the
wise are those who have plenty of money. Hence it is that very many, in
pursuit of that end, take upon themselves impudent assurance, and attain
notoriety and wealth at the same time.
5. But for my part, Caesar, I have never been eager to make money by my
art, but have gone on the principle that slender means and a good
reputation are preferable to wealth and disrepute. For this reason, only
a little celebrity has followed; but still, my hope is that, with the
publication of these books, I shall become known even to posterity. And
it is not to be wondered at that I am so generally unknown. Other
architects go about and ask for opportunities to practise their
profession; but I have been taught by my instructors that it is the
proper thing to undertake a charge only after being asked, and not to
ask for it; since a gentleman will blush with shame at petitioning for
a thing that arouses suspicion. It is in fact those who can grant
favours that are courted, not those who receive them. What are we to
think must be the suspicions of a man who is asked to allow his private
means to be expended in order to please a petitioner? Must he not
believe that the thing is to be done for the profit and advantage of
that individual?
6. Hence it was that the ancients used to entrust their work in the
first place to architects of good family, and next inquired whether they
had been properly educated, believing that one ought to trust in the
honour of a gentleman rather than in the assurance of impudence. And the
architects themselves would teach none but their own sons or kinsmen,
and trained them to be good men, who could be trusted without hesitation
in matters of such importance.
But when I see that this grand art is boldly professed by the uneducated
and the unskilful, and by men who, far from being acquainted with
architecture, have no knowledge even of the carpenter's trade, I can
find nothing but praise for those householders who, in the confidence of
learning, are emboldened to build for themselves. Their judgment is
that, if they must trust to inexperienced persons, it is more becoming
to them to use up a good round sum at their own pleasure than at that of
a stranger.
7. Nobody, therefore, attempts to practise any other art in his own
home--as, for instance, the shoemaker's, or the fuller's, or any other
of the easier kinds--but only architecture, and this is because the
professionals do not possess the genuine art but term themselves
architects falsely. For these reasons I have thought proper to compose
most carefully a complete treatise on architecture and its principles,
believing that it will be no unacceptable gift to all the world. In the
fifth book I have said what I had to say about the convenient
arrangement of public works; in this I shall set forth the theoretical
principles and the symmetrical proportions of private houses.
CHAPTER I
ON CLIMATE AS DETERMINING THE STYLE OF THE HOUSE
1. If our designs for private houses are to be correct, we must at the
outset take note of the countries and climates in which they are built.
One style of house seems appropriate to build in Egypt, another in
Spain, a different kind in Pontus, one still different in Rome, and so
on with lands and countries of other characteristics. This is because
one part of the earth is directly under the sun's course, another is far
away from it, while another lies midway between these two. Hence, as the
position of the heaven with regard to a given tract on the earth leads
naturally to different characteristics, owing to the inclination of the
circle of the zodiac and the course of the sun, it is obvious that
designs for houses ought similarly to conform to the nature of the
country and to diversities of climate.
2. In the north, houses should be entirely roofed over and sheltered as
much as possible, not in the open, though having a warm exposure. But on
the other hand, where the force of the sun is great in the southern
countries that suffer from heat, houses must be built more in the open
and with a northern or north-eastern exposure. Thus we may amend by art
what nature, if left to herself, would mar. In other situations, also,
we must make modifications to correspond to the position of the heaven
and its effects on climate.
3. These effects are noticeable and discernible not only in things in
nature, but they also are observable in the limbs and bodies of entire
races. In places on which the sun throws out its heat in moderation, it
keeps human bodies in their proper condition, and where its path is very
close at hand, it parches them up, and burns out and takes away the
proportion of moisture which they ought to possess. But, on the other
hand, in the cold regions that are far away from the south, the
moisture is not drawn out by hot weather, but the atmosphere is full of
dampness which diffuses moisture into the system, and makes the frame
larger and the pitch of the voice deeper. This is also the reason why
the races that are bred in the north are of vast height, and have fair
complexions, straight red hair, grey eyes, and a great deal of blood,
owing to the abundance of moisture and the coolness of the atmosphere.
4. On the contrary, those that are nearest to the southern half of the
axis, and that lie directly under the sun's course, are of lower
stature, with a swarthy complexion, hair curling, black eyes, strong
legs, and but little blood on account of the force of the sun. Hence,
too, this poverty of blood makes them over-timid to stand up against the
sword, but great heat and fevers they can endure without timidity,
because their frames are bred up in the raging heat. Hence, men that are
born in the north are rendered over-timid and weak by fever, but their
wealth of blood enables them to stand up against the sword without
timidity.
5. The pitch of the voice is likewise different and varying in quality
with different nations, for the following reasons. The terminating
points east and west on the level of the earth, where the upper and
lower parts of the heaven are divided, seem to lie in a naturally
balanced circle which mathematicians call the Horizon. Keeping this idea
definitely in mind, if we imagine a line drawn from the northern side of
the circumference (N) to the side which lies above the southern half of
the axis (S), and from here another line obliquely up to the pivot at
the summit, beyond the stars composing the Great Bear (the pole star P),
we shall doubtless see that we have in the heaven a triangular figure
like that of the musical instrument which the Greeks call the
"sambuca."
6. And so, under the space which is nearest to the pivot at the bottom,
off the southern portions of the line of the axis, are found nations
that on account of the slight altitude of the heaven above them, have
shrill and very high-pitched voices, like the string nearest to the
angle in the musical instrument. Next in order come other nations as far
as the middle of Greece, with lower elevations of the voice; and from
this middle point they go on in regular order up to the extreme north,
where, under high altitudes, the vocal utterance of the inhabitants is,
under natural laws, produced in heavier tones. Thus it is obvious that
the system of the universe as a whole is, on account of the inclination
of the heaven, composed in a most perfect harmony through the temporary
power of the sun.
7. The nations, therefore, that lie midway between the pivots at the
southern and the northern extremities of the axis, converse in a voice