The Ten Books on Architecture
Resin is placed in the furnace. The force of the fire in burning it
compels it to give out soot into the Laconicum through the vents, and
the soot sticks to the walls and the curved vaulting. It is gathered
from them, and some of it is mixed and worked with gum for use as
writing ink, while the rest is mixed with size, and used on walls by
fresco painters.
3. But if these facilities are not at hand, we must meet the exigency as
follows, so that the work may not be hindered by tedious delay. Burn
shavings and splinters of pitch pine, and when they turn to charcoal,
put them out, and pound them in a mortar with size. This will make a
pretty black for fresco painting.
4. Again, if the lees of wine are dried and roasted in an oven, and then
ground up with size and applied to a wall, the result will be a colour
even more delightful than ordinary black; and the better the wine of
which it is made, the better imitation it will give, not only of the
colour of ordinary black, but even of that of India ink.
CHAPTER XI
BLUE. BURNT OCHRE
1. Methods of making blue were first discovered in Alexandria, and
afterwards Vestorius set up the making of it at Puzzuoli. The method of
obtaining it from the substances of which it has been found to consist,
is strange enough. Sand and the flowers of natron are brayed together so
finely that the product is like meal, and copper is grated by means of
coarse files over the mixture, like sawdust, to form a conglomerate.
Then it is made into balls by rolling it in the hands and thus bound
together for drying. The dry balls are put in an earthern jar, and the
jars in an oven. As soon as the copper and the sand grow hot and unite
under the intensity of the fire, they mutually receive each other's
sweat, relinquishing their peculiar qualities, and having lost their
properties through the intensity of the fire, they are reduced to a blue
colour.
2. Burnt ochre, which is very serviceable in stucco work, is made as
follows. A clod of good yellow ochre is heated to a glow on a fire. It
is then quenched in vinegar, and the result is a purple colour.
CHAPTER XII
WHITE LEAD, VERDIGRIS, AND ARTIFICIAL SANDARACH
1. It is now in place to describe the preparation of white lead and of
verdigris, which with us is called "aeruca." In Rhodes they put shavings
in jars, pour vinegar over them, and lay pieces of lead on the shavings;
then they cover the jars with lids to prevent evaporation. After a
definite time they open them, and find that the pieces of lead have
become white lead. In the same way they put in plates of copper and make
verdigris, which is called "aeruca."
2. White lead on being heated in an oven changes its colour on the fire,
and becomes sandarach. This was discovered as the result of an
accidental fire. It is much more serviceable than the natural sandarach
dug up in mines.
CHAPTER XIII
PURPLE
1. I shall now begin to speak of purple, which exceeds all the colours
that have so far been mentioned both in costliness and in the
superiority of its delightful effect. It is obtained from a marine
shellfish, from which is made the purple dye, which is as wonderful to
the careful observer as anything else in nature; for it has not the
same shade in all the places where it is found, but is naturally
qualified by the course of the sun.
2. That which is found in Pontus and Gaul is black, because those
countries are nearest to the north. As one passes on from north to west,
it is found of a bluish shade. Due east and west, what is found is of a
violet shade. That which is obtained in southern countries is naturally
red in quality, and therefore this is found in the island of Rhodes and
in other such countries that are nearest to the course of the sun.
3. After the shellfish have been gathered, they are broken up with iron
tools, the blows of which drive out the purple fluid like a flood of
tears, and then it is prepared by braying it in mortars. It is called
"ostrum" because it is taken from the shells of marine shellfish. On
account of its saltness, it soon dries up unless it has honey poured
over it.
CHAPTER XIV
SUBSTITUTES FOR PURPLE, YELLOW OCHRE, MALACHITE GREEN, AND INDIGO
1. Purple colours are also manufactured by dyeing chalk with madder root
and with hysginum. Other colours are made from flowers. Thus, when
fresco painters wish to imitate Attic yellow ochre, they put dried
violets into a vessel of water, and heat them over a fire; then, when
the mixture is ready, they pour it onto a linen cloth, and squeeze it
out with the hands, catching the water which is now coloured by the
violets, in a mortar. Into this they pour chalk and bray it, obtaining
the colour of Attic yellow ochre.
2. They make a fine purple colour by treating bilberry in the same way
and mixing it with milk. Those who cannot use malachite green on account
of its dearness, dye blue with the plant called dyer's weed, and thus
obtain a most vivid green. This is called dyer's malachite green. Again,
for want of indigo, they dye Selinusian or anularian chalk with woad,
which the Greeks call [Greek: isatis], and make an imitation of indigo.
3. In this book I have written down, so far as I could recall them, the
methods and means of attaining durability in polished finishings, how
pictures that are appropriate should be made, and also the natural
qualities of all the colours. And so, having prescribed in seven books
the suitable principles which should govern the construction of all
kinds of buildings, I shall treat in the next of water, showing how it
may be found in places where it is wanting, by what method it may be
conducted, and by what means its wholesomeness and fitness may be
tested.
BOOK VIII
INTRODUCTION
1. Among the Seven Sages, Thales of Miletus pronounced for water as the
primordial element in all things; Heraclitus, for fire; the priests of
the Magi, for water and fire; Euripides, a pupil of Anaxagoras, and
called by the Athenians "the philosopher of the stage," for air and
earth. Earth, he held, was impregnated by the rains of heaven and, thus
conceiving, brought forth the young of mankind and of all the living
creatures in the world; whatever is sprung from her goes back to her
again when the compelling force of time brings about a dissolution; and
whatever is born of the air returns in the same way to the regions of
the sky; nothing suffers annihilation, but at dissolution there is a
change, and things fall back to the essential element in which they were
before. But Pythagoras, Empedocles, Epicharmus, and other physicists and
philosophers have set forth that the primordial elements are four in
number: air, fire, earth, and water; and that it is from their coherence
to one another under the moulding power of nature that the qualities of
things are produced according to different classes.
2. And, in fact, we see not only that all which comes to birth is
produced by them, but also that nothing can be nourished without their
influence, nor grow, nor be preserved. The body, for example, can have
no life without the flow of the breath to and fro, that is, unless an
abundance of air flows in, causing dilations and contractions in regular
succession. Without the right proportion of heat, the body will lack
vitality, will not be well set up, and will not properly digest strong
food. Again, without the fruits of the earth to nourish the bodily
frame, it will be enfeebled, and so lose its admixture of the earthy
element.
3. Finally, without the influence of moisture, living creatures will be
bloodless and, having the liquid element sucked out of them, will
wither away. Accordingly the divine intelligence has not made what is
really indispensable for man either hard to get or costly, like pearls,
gold, silver, and so forth, the lack of which neither our body nor our
nature feels, but has spread abroad, ready to hand through all the
world, the things without which the life of mortals cannot be
maintained. Thus, to take examples, suppose there is a deficiency of
breath in the body, the air, to which is assigned the function of making
up the deficiency, performs that service. To supply heat, the mighty sun
is ready, and the invention of fire makes life more secure. Then again,
the fruits of the earth, satisfying our desires with a more than
sufficient store of food stuffs, support and maintain living beings with
regular nourishment. Finally, water, not merely supplying drink but
filling an infinite number of practical needs, does us services which
make us grateful because it is gratis.
4. Hence, too, those who are clothed in priesthoods of the Egyptian
orders declare that all things depend upon the power of the liquid
element. So, when the waterpot is brought back to precinct and temple
with water, in accordance with the holy rite, they throw themselves upon
the ground and, raising their hands to heaven, thank the divine
benevolence for its invention.
Therefore, since it is held by physicists and philosophers and priests
that all things depend upon the power of water, I have thought that, as
in the former seven books the rules for buildings have been set forth,
in this I ought to write on the methods of finding water, on those
special merits which are due to the qualities of localities, on the ways
of conducting it, and how it may be tested in advance. For it is the
chief requisite for life, for happiness, and for everyday use.
CHAPTER I
HOW TO FIND WATER
1. This will be easier if there are open springs of running water. But
if there are no springs which gush forth, we must search for them
underground, and conduct them together. The following test should be
applied. Before sunrise, lie down flat in the place where the search is
to be made, and placing the chin on the earth and supporting it there,
take a look out over the country. In this way the sight will not range
higher than it ought, the chin being immovable, but will range over a
definitely limited height on the same level through the country. Then,
dig in places where vapours are seen curling and rising up into the air.
This sign cannot show itself in a dry spot.
2. Searchers for water must also study the nature of different
localities; for those in which it is found are well defined. In clay the
supply is poor, meagre, and at no great depth. It will not have the best
taste. In fine gravel the supply is also poor, but it will be found at a
greater depth. It will be muddy and not sweet. In black earth some
slight drippings and drops are found that gather from the storms of
winter and settle down in compact, hard places. They have the best
taste. Among pebbles the veins found are moderate, and not to be
depended upon. These, too, are extremely sweet. In coarse grained gravel
and carbuncular sand the supply is surer and more lasting, and it has a
good taste. In red tufa it is copious and good, if it does not run down
through the fissures and escape. At the foot of mountains and in lava it
is more plentiful and abundant, and here it is also colder and more
wholesome. In flat countries the springs are salt, heavy-bodied, tepid,
and ill-flavoured, excepting those which run underground from mountains,
and burst forth in the middle of a plain, where, if protected by the
shade of trees, their taste is equal to that of mountain springs.
3. In the kinds of soil described above, signs will be found growing,
such as slender rushes, wild willows, alders, agnus castus trees, reeds,
ivy, and other plants of the same sort that cannot spring up of
themselves without moisture. But they are also accustomed to grow in
depressions which, being lower than the rest of the country, receive
water from the rains and the surrounding fields during the winter, and