Ten Books on Architecture | Page 8

to the agreeable
effect of one's plan. Invention, on the other hand, is the solving of
intricate problems and the discovery of new principles by means of
brilliancy and versatility. These are the departments belonging under
Arrangement.
3. Eurythmy is beauty and fitness in the adjustments of the members.
This is found when the members of a work are of a height suited to
their breadth, of a breadth suited to their length, and, in a word, when
they all correspond symmetrically.
4. Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work
itself, and relation between the different parts and the whole general
scheme, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard. Thus in
the human body there is a kind of symmetrical harmony between
forearm, foot, palm, finger, and other small parts; and so it is with
perfect buildings. In the case of temples, symmetry may be calculated
from the thickness of a column, from a triglyph, or even from a module;
in the ballista, from the hole or from what the Greeks call the [Greek:
peritrêtos]; in a ship, from the space between the tholepins [Greek:
(diapêgma)]; and in other things, from various members.

5. Propriety is that perfection of style which comes when a work is
authoritatively constructed on approved principles. It arises from
prescription [Greek: (thematismô)], from usage, or from nature. From
prescription, in the case of hypaethral edifices, open to the sky, in
honour of Jupiter Lightning, the Heaven, the Sun, or the Moon: for
these are gods whose semblances and manifestations we behold before
our very eyes in the sky when it is cloudless and bright. The temples of
Minerva, Mars, and Hercules, will be Doric, since the virile strength of
these gods makes daintiness entirely inappropriate to their houses. In
temples to Venus, Flora, Proserpine, Spring-Water, and the Nymphs,
the Corinthian order will be found to have peculiar significance,
because these are delicate divinities and so its rather slender outlines,
its flowers, leaves, and ornamental volutes will lend propriety where it
is due. The construction of temples of the Ionic order to Juno, Diana,
Father Bacchus, and the other gods of that kind, will be in keeping with
the middle position which they hold; for the building of such will be an
appropriate combination of the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of
the Corinthian.
6. Propriety arises from usage when buildings having magnificent
interiors are provided with elegant entrance-courts to correspond; for
there will be no propriety in the spectacle of an elegant interior
approached by a low, mean entrance. Or, if dentils be carved in the
cornice of the Doric entablature or triglyphs represented in the Ionic
entablature over the cushion-shaped capitals of the columns, the effect
will be spoilt by the transfer of the peculiarities of the one order of
building to the other, the usage in each class having been fixed long
ago.
7. Finally, propriety will be due to natural causes if, for example, in the
case of all sacred precincts we select very healthy neighbourhoods with
suitable springs of water in the places where the fanes are to be built,
particularly in the case of those to Aesculapius and to Health, gods by
whose healing powers great numbers of the sick are apparently cured.
For when their diseased bodies are transferred from an unhealthy to a
healthy spot, and treated with waters from health-giving springs, they
will the more speedily grow well. The result will be that the divinity

will stand in higher esteem and find his dignity increased, all owing to
the nature of his site. There will also be natural propriety in using an
eastern light for bedrooms and libraries, a western light in winter for
baths and winter apartments, and a northern light for picture galleries
and other places in which a steady light is needed; for that quarter of
the sky grows neither light nor dark with the course of the sun, but
remains steady and unshifting all day long.
8. Economy denotes the proper management of materials and of site, as
well as a thrifty balancing of cost and common sense in the
construction of works. This will be observed if, in the first place, the
architect does not demand things which cannot be found or made ready
without great expense. For example: it is not everywhere that there is
plenty of pitsand, rubble, fir, clear fir, and marble, since they are
produced in different places and to assemble them is difficult and
costly. Where there is no pitsand, we must use the kinds washed up by
rivers or by the sea; the lack of fir and clear fir may be evaded by using
cypress, poplar, elm, or pine; and other problems we must solve in
similar ways.
9. A