The Ten Books on Architecture
Aquitaine, roofed with oak shingles or thatched. Among the Colchians in
Pontus, where there are forests in plenty, they lay down entire trees
flat on the ground to the right and the left, leaving between them a
space to suit the length of the trees, and then place above these
another pair of trees, resting on the ends of the former and at right
angles with them. These four trees enclose the space for the dwelling.
Then upon these they place sticks of timber, one after the other on the
four sides, crossing each other at the angles, and so, proceeding with
their walls of trees laid perpendicularly above the lowest, they build
up high towers. The interstices, which are left on account of the
thickness of the building material, are stopped up with chips and mud.
As for the roofs, by cutting away the ends of the crossbeams and making
them converge gradually as they lay them across, they bring them up to
the top from the four sides in the shape of a pyramid. They cover it
with leaves and mud, and thus construct the roofs of their towers in a
rude form of the "tortoise" style.
5. On the other hand, the Phrygians, who live in an open country, have
no forests and consequently lack timber. They therefore select a natural
hillock, run a trench through the middle of it, dig passages, and extend
the interior space as widely as the site admits. Over it they build a
pyramidal roof of logs fastened together, and this they cover with reeds
and brushwood, heaping up very high mounds of earth above their
dwellings. Thus their fashion in houses makes their winters very warm
and their summers very cool. Some construct hovels with roofs of rushes
from the swamps. Among other nations, also, in some places there are
huts of the same or a similar method of construction. Likewise at
Marseilles we can see roofs without tiles, made of earth mixed with
straw. In Athens on the Areopagus there is to this day a relic of
antiquity with a mud roof. The hut of Romulus on the Capitol is a
significant reminder of the fashions of old times, and likewise the
thatched roofs of temples or the Citadel.
6. From such specimens we can draw our inferences with regard to the
devices used in the buildings of antiquity, and conclude that they were
similar.
Furthermore, as men made progress by becoming daily more expert in
building, and as their ingenuity was increased by their dexterity so
that from habit they attained to considerable skill, their intelligence
was enlarged by their industry until the more proficient adopted the
trade of carpenters. From these early beginnings, and from the fact that
nature had not only endowed the human race with senses like the rest of
the animals, but had also equipped their minds with the powers of
thought and understanding, thus putting all other animals under their
sway, they next gradually advanced from the construction of buildings to
the other arts and sciences, and so passed from a rude and barbarous
mode of life to civilization and refinement.
7. Then, taking courage and looking forward from the standpoint of
higher ideas born of the multiplication of the arts, they gave up huts
and began to build houses with foundations, having brick or stone
walls, and roofs of timber and tiles; next, observation and application
led them from fluctuating and indefinite conceptions to definite rules
of symmetry. Perceiving that nature had been lavish in the bestowal of
timber and bountiful in stores of building material, they treated this
like careful nurses, and thus developing the refinements of life,
embellished them with luxuries. Therefore I shall now treat, to the best
of my ability, of the things which are suitable to be used in buildings,
showing their qualities and their excellencies.
8. Some persons, however, may find fault with the position of this book,
thinking that it should have been placed first. I will therefore explain
the matter, lest it be thought that I have made a mistake. Being engaged
in writing a complete treatise on architecture, I resolved to set forth
in the first book the branches of learning and studies of which it
consists, to define its departments, and to show of what it is composed.
Hence I have there declared what the qualities of an architect should
be. In the first book, therefore, I have spoken of the function of the
art, but in this I shall discuss the use of the building materials which
nature provides. For this book does not show of what architecture is
composed, but treats of the origin of the building art, how it was
fostered, and how it made progress, step by step, until it reached its
present perfection.
9. This book is, therefore, in its proper order and place.
I will now return to my subject, and with regard to the materials suited
to the construction of buildings will consider their natural formation
and in what proportions their elementary constituents were combined,
making it all clear and not obscure to my readers. For there is no kind
of material, no body, and no thing that can be produced or conceived of,
which is not made up of elementary particles; and nature does not admit
of a truthful exploration in accordance with the doctrines of the
physicists without an accurate demonstration of the primary causes of
things, showing how and why they are as they are.
CHAPTER II
ON THE PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE ACCORDING TO THE PHYSICISTS
1. First of all Thales thought that water was the primordial substance
of all things. Heraclitus of Ephesus, surnamed by the Greeks [Greek:
skoteinos] on account of the obscurity of his writings, thought that it
was fire. Democritus and his follower Epicurus thought that it was the
atoms, termed by our writers "bodies that cannot be cut up," or, by
some, "indivisibles." The school of the Pythagoreans added air and the
earthy to the water and fire. Hence, although Democritus did not in a
strict sense name them, but spoke only of indivisible bodies, yet he
seems to have meant these same elements, because when taken by
themselves they cannot be harmed, nor are they susceptible of
dissolution, nor can they be cut up into parts, but throughout time
eternal they forever retain an infinite solidity.
2. All things therefore appear to be made up and produced by the coming
together of these elements, so that they have been distributed by nature
among an infinite number of kinds of things. Hence I believed it right
to treat of the diversity and practical peculiarities of these things as
well as of the qualities which they exhibit in buildings, so that
persons who are intending to build may understand them and so make no
mistake, but may gather materials which are suitable to use in their
buildings.
CHAPTER III
BRICK
1. Beginning with bricks, I shall state of what kind of clay they ought
to be made. They should not be made of sandy or pebbly clay, or of fine
gravel, because when made of these kinds they are in the first place
heavy; and, secondly, when washed by the rain as they stand in walls,
they go to pieces and break up, and the straw in them does not hold
together on account of the roughness of the material. They should rather
be made of white and chalky or of red clay, or even of a coarse grained
gravelly clay. These materials are smooth and therefore durable; they
are not heavy to work with, and are readily laid.
2. Bricks should be made in Spring or Autumn, so that they may dry
uniformly. Those made in Summer are defective, because the fierce heat
of the sun bakes their surface and makes the brick seem dry while inside
it is not dry. And so the shrinking, which follows as they dry, causes
cracks in the parts which were dried before, and these cracks make the
bricks weak. Bricks will be most serviceable if made two years before
using; for they cannot dry thoroughly in less time. When fresh undried
bricks are used in a wall, the stucco covering stiffens and hardens into
a permanent mass, but the bricks settle and cannot keep the same height
as the stucco; the motion caused by their shrinking prevents them from
adhering to it, and they are separated from their union with it. Hence
the stucco, no longer joined to the core of the wall, cannot stand by
itself because it is so thin; it breaks off, and the walls themselves
may perhaps be ruined by their settling. This is so true that at Utica
in constructing walls they use brick only if it is dry and made five
years previously, and approved as such by the authority of a magistrate.
3. There are three kinds of bricks. First, the kind called in Greek
Lydian, being that which our people use, a foot and a half long and one
foot wide. The other two kinds are used by the Greeks in their
buildings. Of these, one is called [Greek: pentadôron], the other
[Greek: tetradôron]. [Greek: Dôron] is the Greek for "palm," for in
Greek [Greek: dôron] means the giving of gifts, and the gift is always
presented in the palm of the hand. A brick five palms square is called
"pentadoron"; one four palms square "tetradoron." Public buildings are
constructed of [Greek: pentadôra], private of [Greek: tetradôra].
4. With these bricks there are also half-bricks. When these are used in
a wall, a course of bricks is laid on one face and a course of
half-bricks on the other, and they are bedded to the line on each face.
The walls are bonded by alternate courses of the two different kinds,
and as the bricks are always laid so as to break joints, this lends
strength and a not unattractive appearance to both sides of such walls.
In the states of Maxilua and Callet, in Further Spain, as well as in
Pitane in Asia Minor, there are bricks which, when finished and dried,
will float on being thrown into water. The reason why they can float
seems to be that the clay of which they are made is like pumice-stone.
So it is light, and also it does not, after being hardened by exposure
to the air, take up or absorb liquid. So these bricks, being of this
light and porous quality, and admitting no moisture into their texture,
must by the laws of nature float in water, like pumice, no matter what
their weight may be. They have therefore great advantages; for they are
not heavy to use in building and, once made, they are not spoiled by bad
weather.
CHAPTER IV
SAND
1. In walls of masonry the first question must be with regard to the
sand, in order that it may be fit to mix into mortar and have no dirt in
it. The kinds of pitsand are these: black, gray, red, and carbuncular.
Of these the best will be found to be that which crackles when rubbed in
the hand, while that which has much dirt in it will not be sharp enough.
Again: throw some sand upon a white garment and then shake it out; if
the garment is not soiled and no dirt adheres to it, the sand is
suitable.
2. But if there are no sandpits from which it can be dug, then we must
sift it out from river beds or from gravel or even from the sea beach.
This kind, however, has these defects when used in masonry: it dries
slowly; the wall cannot be built up without interruption but from time
to time there must be pauses in the work; and such a wall cannot carry
vaultings. Furthermore, when sea-sand is used in walls and these are
coated with stucco, a salty efflorescence is given out which spoils the
surface.
3. But pitsand used in masonry dries quickly, the stucco coating is
permanent, and the walls can support vaultings. I am speaking of sand
fresh from the sandpits. For if it lies unused too long after being
taken out, it is disintegrated by exposure to sun, moon, or hoar frost,
and becomes earthy. So when mixed in masonry, it has no binding power on
the rubble, which consequently settles and down comes the load which the