The Ten Books on Architecture
sleeker as they take their fodder in the sunlight. Barns for grain, hay,
and spelt, as well as bakeries, should be built apart from the
farmhouse, so that farmhouses may be better protected against danger
from fire. If something more refined is required in farmhouses, they may
be constructed on the principles of symmetry which have been given above
in the case of town houses, provided that there is nothing in such
buildings to interfere with their usefulness on a farm.
6. We must take care that all buildings are well lighted, but this is
obviously an easier matter with those which are on country estates,
because there can be no neighbour's wall to interfere, whereas in town
high party walls or limited space obstruct the light and make them dark.
Hence we must apply the following test in this matter. On the side from
which the light should be obtained let a line be stretched from the top
of the wall that seems to obstruct the light to the point at which it
ought to be introduced, and if a considerable space of open sky can be
seen when one looks up above that line, there will be no obstruction to
the light in that situation.
7. But if there are timbers in the way, or lintels, or upper stories,
then, make the opening higher up and introduce the light in this way.
And as a general rule, we must arrange so as to leave places for windows
on all sides on which a clear view of the sky can be had, for this will
make our buildings light. Not only in dining rooms and other rooms for
general use are windows very necessary, but also in passages, level or
inclined, and on stairs; for people carrying burdens too often meet and
run against each other in such places.
I have now set forth the plans used for buildings in our native country
so that they may be clear to builders. Next, I shall describe summarily
how houses are planned in the Greek fashion, so that these also may be
understood.
CHAPTER VII
THE GREEK HOUSE
1. The Greeks, having no use for atriums, do not build them, but make
passage-ways for people entering from the front door, not very wide,
with stables on one side and doorkeepers' rooms on the other, and shut
off by doors at the inner end. This place between the two doors is
termed in Greek [Greek: thyrôreion]. From it one enters the peristyle.
This peristyle has colonnades on three sides, and on the side facing the
south it has two antae, a considerable distance apart, carrying an
architrave, with a recess for a distance one third less than the space
between the antae. This space is called by some writers "prostas," by
others "pastas."
2. Hereabouts, towards the inner side, are the large rooms in which
mistresses of houses sit with their wool-spinners. To the right and left
of the prostas there are chambers, one of which is called the
"thalamos," the other the "amphithalamos." All round the colonnades are
dining rooms for everyday use, chambers, and rooms for the slaves. This
part of the house is termed "gynaeconitis."
3. In connexion with these there are ampler sets of apartments with more
sumptuous peristyles, surrounded by four colonnades of equal height, or
else the one which faces the south has higher columns than the others. A
peristyle that has one such higher colonnade is called a Rhodian
peristyle. Such apartments have fine entrance courts with imposing front
doors of their own; the colonnades of the peristyles are decorated with
polished stucco in relief and plain, and with coffered ceilings of
woodwork; off the colonnades that face the north they have Cyzicene
dining rooms and picture galleries; to the east, libraries; exedrae to
the west; and to the south, large square rooms of such generous
dimensions that four sets of dining couches can easily be arranged in
them, with plenty of room for serving and for the amusements.
4. Men's dinner parties are held in these large rooms; for it was not
the practice, according to Greek custom, for the mistress of the house
to be present. On the contrary, such peristyles are called the men's
apartments, since in them the men can stay without interruption from the
women. Furthermore, small sets of apartments are built to the right and
left, with front doors of their own and suitable dining rooms and
chambers, so that guests from abroad need not be shown into the
peristyles, but rather into such guests' apartments. For when the Greeks
became more luxurious, and their circumstances more opulent, they began
to provide dining rooms, chambers, and store-rooms of provisions for
their guests from abroad, and on the first day they would invite them to
dinner, sending them on the next chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and
other country produce. This is why artists called pictures representing
the things which were sent to guests "xenia." Thus, too, the heads of
families, while being entertained abroad, had the feeling that they were
not away from home, since they enjoyed privacy and freedom in such
guests' apartments.
5. Between the two peristyles and the guests' apartments are the
passage-ways called "mesauloe," because they are situated midway between
two courts; but our people called them "andrones."
This, however, is a very strange fact, for the term does not fit either
the Greek or the Latin use of it. The Greeks call the large rooms in
which men's dinner parties are usually held [Greek: andrônes], because
women do not go there. There are other similar instances as in the case
of "xystus," "prothyrum," "telamones," and some others of the sort. As a
Greek term, [Greek: xystos] means a colonnade of large dimensions in
which athletes exercise in the winter time. But our people apply the
term "xysta" to uncovered walks, which the Greeks call [Greek:
paradromides]. Again, [Greek: prothyra] means in Greek the entrance
courts before the front doors; we, however, use the term "prothyra" in
the sense of the Greek [Greek: diathyra].
6. Again, figures in the form of men supporting mutules or coronae, we
term "telamones"--the reasons why or wherefore they are so called are
not found in any story--but the Greeks name them [Greek: atlantes]. For
Atlas is described in story as holding up the firmament because, through
his vigorous intelligence and ingenuity, he was the first to cause men
to be taught about the courses of the sun and moon, and the laws
governing the revolutions of all the constellations. Consequently, in
recognition of this benefaction, painters and sculptors represent him
as holding up the firmament, and the Atlantides, his daughters, whom we
call "Vergiliae" and the Greeks [Greek: Pleiades], are consecrated in
the firmament among the constellations.
7. All this, however, I have not set forth for the purpose of changing
the usual terminology or language, but I have thought that it should be
explained so that it may be known to scholars.
I have now explained the usual ways of planning houses both in the
Italian fashion and according to the practices of the Greeks, and have
described, with regard to their symmetry, the proportions of the
different classes. Having, therefore, already written of their beauty
and propriety, I shall next explain, with reference to durability, how
they may be built to last to a great age without defects.
CHAPTER VIII
ON FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES
1. Houses which are set level with the ground will no doubt last to a
great age, if their foundations are laid in the manner which we have
explained in the earlier books, with regard to city walls and theatres.
But if underground rooms and vaults are intended, their foundations
ought to be thicker than the walls which are to be constructed in the
upper part of the house, and the walls, piers, and columns of the latter
should be set perpendicularly over the middle of the foundation walls
below, so that they may have solid bearing; for if the load of the walls
or columns rests on the middle of spans, they can have no permanent
durability.
2. It will also do no harm to insert posts between lintels and sills
where there are piers or antae; for where the lintels and beams have
received the load of the walls, they may sag in the middle, and
gradually undermine and destroy the walls. But when there are posts set
up underneath and wedged in there, they prevent the beams from settling
and injuring such walls.
3. We must also manage to discharge the load of the walls by means of
archings composed of voussoirs with joints radiating to the centre. For
when arches with voussoirs are sprung from the ends of beams, or from
the bearings of lintels, in the first place they will discharge the load
and the wood will not sag; secondly, if in course of time the wood
becomes at all defective, it can easily be replaced without the
construction of shoring.
4. Likewise in houses where piers are used in the construction, when
there are arches composed of voussoirs with joints radiating to the
centre, the outermost piers at these points must be made broader than
the others, so that they may have the strength to resist when the
wedges, under the pressure of the load of the walls, begin to press
along their joints towards the centre, and thus to thrust out the
abutments. Hence, if the piers at the ends are of large dimensions, they
will hold the voussoirs together, and make such works durable.
5. Having taken heed in these matters to see that proper attention is
paid to them, we must also be equally careful that all walls are
perfectly vertical, and that they do not lean forward anywhere.
Particular pains, too, must be taken with substructures, for here an
endless amount of harm is usually done by the earth used as filling.
This cannot always remain of the same weight that it usually has in
summer, but in winter time it increases in weight and bulk by taking up
a great deal of rain water, and then it bursts its enclosing walls and
thrusts them out.
6. The following means must be taken to provide against such a defect.
First, let the walls be given a thickness proportionate to the amount of
filling; secondly, build counterforts or buttresses at the same time as
the wall, on the outer side, at distances from each other equivalent to
what is to be the height of the substructure and with the thickness of
the substructure. At the bottom let them run out to a distance
corresponding to the thickness that has been determined for the
substructure, and then gradually diminish in extent so that at the
surface their projection is equal to the thickness of the wall of the
building.
7. Furthermore, inside, to meet the mass of earth, there should be
saw-shaped constructions attached to the wall, the single teeth
extending from the wall for a distance equivalent to what is to be the
height of the substructure, and the teeth being constructed with the
same thickness as the wall. Then at the outermost angles take a distance
inwards, from the inside of the angle, equal to the height of the
substructure, and mark it off on each side; from these marks build up a
diagonal structure and from the middle of it a second, joined on to the
angle of the wall. With this arrangement, the teeth and diagonal
structures will not allow the filling to thrust with all its force
against the wall, but will check and distribute the pressure.
8. I have now shown how buildings can be constructed without defects,
and the way to take precautions against the occurrence of them. As for