Ten Books on Architecture | Page 4

by an unseasonable interruption.
2. But when I saw that you were giving your attention not only to the
welfare of society in general and to the establishment of public order,
but also to the providing of public buildings intended for utilitarian
purposes, so that not only should the State have been enriched with
provinces by your means, but that the greatness of its power might
likewise be attended with distinguished authority in its public buildings,
I thought that I ought to take the first opportunity to lay before you my
writings on this theme. For in the first place it was this subject which
made me known to your father, to whom I was devoted on account of
his great qualities. After the council of heaven gave him a place in the
dwellings of immortal life and transferred your father's power to your
hands, my devotion continuing unchanged as I remembered him
inclined me to support you. And so with Marcus Aurelius, Publius
Minidius, and Gnaeus Cornelius, I was ready to supply and repair
ballistae, scorpiones, and other artillery, and I have received rewards
for good service with them. After your first bestowal of these upon me,
you continued to renew them on the recommendation of your sister.
3. Owing to this favour I need have no fear of want to the end of my
life, and being thus laid under obligation I began to write this work for
you, because I saw that you have built and are now building
extensively, and that in future also you will take care that our public
and private buildings shall be worthy to go down to posterity by the
side of your other splendid achievements. I have drawn up definite
rules to enable you, by observing them, to have personal knowledge of
the quality both of existing buildings and of those which are yet to be
constructed. For in the following books I have disclosed all the
principles of the art.
CHAPTER I
THE EDUCATION OF THE ARCHITECT
1. The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches
of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all

work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child of
practice and theory. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise of
employment where manual work is done with any necessary material
according to the design of a drawing. Theory, on the other hand, is the
ability to demonstrate and explain the productions of dexterity on the
principles of proportion.
2. It follows, therefore, that architects who have aimed at acquiring
manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a
position of authority to correspond to their pains, while those who
relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the
shadow, not the substance. But those who have a thorough knowledge
of both, like men armed at all points, have the sooner attained their
object and carried authority with them.
3. In all matters, but particularly in architecture, there are these two
points:--the thing signified, and that which gives it its significance.
That which is signified is the subject of which we may be speaking;
and that which gives significance is a demonstration on scientific
principles. It appears, then, that one who professes himself an architect
should be well versed in both directions. He ought, therefore, to be both
naturally gifted and amenable to instruction. Neither natural ability
without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can make the
perfect artist. Let him be educated, skilful with the pencil, instructed in
geometry, know much history, have followed the philosophers with
attention, understand music, have some knowledge of medicine, know
the opinions of the jurists, and be acquainted with astronomy and the
theory of the heavens.
4. The reasons for all this are as follows. An architect ought to be an
educated man so as to leave a more lasting remembrance in his treatises.
Secondly, he must have a knowledge of drawing so that he can readily
make sketches to show the appearance of the work which he proposes.
Geometry, also, is of much assistance in architecture, and in particular
it teaches us the use of the rule and compasses, by which especially we
acquire readiness in making plans for buildings in their grounds, and
rightly apply the square, the level, and the plummet. By means of

optics, again, the light in buildings can be drawn from fixed quarters of
the sky. It is true that it is by arithmetic that the total cost of buildings
is calculated and measurements are computed, but difficult questions
involving symmetry are solved by means of geometrical theories and
methods.
5. A wide knowledge of history is requisite because, among the
ornamental parts of an architect's design