Ten Books on Architecture | Page 2

to be followed in the translation.
Vitruvius was not a great literary personage, ambitious as he was to
appear in that character. As Professor Morgan has aptly said, "he has all
the marks of one unused to composition, to whom writing is a painful
task." In his hand the measuring-rod was a far mightier implement than
the pen. His turgid and pompous rhetoric displays itself in the
introductions to the different books, where his exaggerated effort to
introduce some semblance of style into his commonplace lectures on
the noble principles which should govern the conduct of the architect,
or into the prosaic lists of architects and writers on architecture, is
everywhere apparent. Even in the more technical portions of his work,
a like conscious effort may be detected, and, at the same time, a lack of
confidence in his ability to express himself in unmistakable language.
He avoids periodic sentences, uses only the simpler subjunctive
constructions, repeats the antecedent in relative clauses, and, not
infrequently, adopts a formal language closely akin to that of
specifications and contracts, the style with which he was, naturally,
most familiar. He ends each book with a brief summary, almost a
formula, somewhat like a sigh of relief, in which the reader
unconsciously shares. At times his meaning is ambiguous, not because
of grammatical faults, which are comparatively few and unimportant,
but because, when he does attempt a periodic sentence, he becomes
involved, and finds it difficult to extricate himself.
Some of these peculiarities and crudities of expression Professor
Morgan purposely imitated, because of his conviction that a translation
should not merely reproduce the substance of a book, but should also
give as clear a picture as possible of the original, of its author, and of
the working of his mind. The translation is intended, then, to be faithful
and exact, but it deliberately avoids any attempt to treat the language of
Vitruvius as though it were Ciceronian, or to give a false impression of
conspicuous literary merit in a work which is destitute of that quality.
The translator had, however, the utmost confidence in the sincerity of
Vitruvius and in the serious purpose of his treatise on architecture.

To those who have liberally given their advice and suggestions in
response to requests from Professor Morgan, it is impossible for me to
make adequate acknowledgment. Their number is so great, and my
knowledge of the indebtedness in individual cases is so small, that each
must be content with the thought of the full and generous
acknowledgment which he would have received had Professor Morgan
himself written this preface.
Personally I am under the greatest obligations to Professor H. L.
Warren, who has freely given both assistance and criticism; to
Professor G. L. Kittredge, who has read with me most of the proof; to
the Syndics of the Harvard University Press, who have made possible
the publication of the work; and to the members of the Visiting
Committee of the Department of the Classics and the classmates of
Professor Morgan, who have generously supplied the necessary funds
for the illustrations.
ALBERT A. HOWARD.

CONTENTS
BOOK I
PREFACE 3
THE EDUCATION OF THE ARCHITECT 5
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE 13
THE DEPARTMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE 16
THE SITE OF A CITY 17
THE CITY WALLS 21
THE DIRECTIONS OF THE STREETS; WITH REMARKS ON THE
WINDS 24

THE SITES FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS 31
BOOK II
INTRODUCTION 35
THE ORIGIN OF THE DWELLING HOUSE 38
ON THE PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE ACCORDING TO THE
PHYSICISTS 42
BRICK 42
SAND 44
LIME 45
POZZOLANA 46
STONE 49
METHODS OF BUILDING WALLS 51
TIMBER 58
HIGHLAND AND LOWLAND FIR 64
BOOK III
INTRODUCTION 69
ON SYMMETRY: IN TEMPLES AND IN THE HUMAN BODY 72
CLASSIFICATION OF TEMPLES 75
THE PROPORTIONS OF INTERCOLUMNIATIONS AND OF
COLUMNS 78
THE FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES OF TEMPLES 86

PROPORTIONS OF THE BASE, CAPITALS, AND
ENTABLATURE IN THE IONIC ORDER 90
BOOK IV
INTRODUCTION 101
THE ORIGINS OF THE THREE ORDERS, AND THE
PROPORTIONS OF THE CORINTHIAN CAPITAL 102
THE ORNAMENTS OF THE ORDERS 107
PROPORTIONS OF DORIC TEMPLES 109
THE CELLA AND PRONAOS 114
HOW THE TEMPLE SHOULD FACE 116
THE DOORWAYS OF TEMPLES 117
TUSCAN TEMPLES 120
CIRCULAR TEMPLES AND OTHER VARIETIES 122
ALTARS 125
BOOK V
INTRODUCTION 129
THE FORUM AND BASILICA 131
THE TREASURY, PRISON, AND SENATE HOUSE 137
THE THEATRE: ITS SITE, FOUNDATIONS, AND ACOUSTICS
137
HARMONICS 139

SOUNDING VESSELS IN THE THEATRE 143
PLAN OF THE THEATRE 146
GREEK THEATRES 151
ACOUSTICS OF THE SITE OF A THEATRE 153
COLONNADES AND WALKS 154
BATHS 157
THE PALAESTRA 159
HARBOURS, BREAKWATERS, AND SHIPYARDS 162
BOOK VI
INTRODUCTION 167
ON CLIMATE AS DETERMINING THE STYLE OF THE HOUSE
170
SYMMETRY, AND MODIFICATIONS IN IT TO SUIT THE SITE
174
PROPORTIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL ROOMS 176
THE PROPER