Ten Books on Architecture | Page 2

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 EXPOSURES OF THE DIFFERENT ROOMS 180
HOW THE ROOMS SHOULD BE SUITED TO THE STATION OF THE OWNER 181
THE FARMHOUSE 183
THE GREEK HOUSE 185
ON FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES 189
BOOK VII
INTRODUCTION 195
FLOORS 202
THE SLAKING OF LIME FOR STUCCO 204
VAULTINGS AND STUCCO WORK 205
ON STUCCO WORK IN DAMP PLACES, AND ON THE DECORATION OF DINING ROOMS 208
THE DECADENCE OF FRESCO PAINTING 210
MARBLE FOR USE IN STUCCO 213
NATURAL COLOURS 214
CINNABAR AND QUICKSILVER 215
CINNABAR (continued) 216
ARTIFICIAL COLOURS. BLACK 217
BLUE. BURNT OCHRE 218
WHITE LEAD, VERDIGRIS, AND ARTIFICIAL SANDARACH 219
PURPLE 219
SUBSTITUTES