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The Ten Books on Architecture
1. It was a wise and useful provision of the ancients to transmit their
thoughts to posterity by recording them in treatises, so that they should
not be lost, but, being developed in succeeding generations through publication
in books, should gradually attain in later times, to the highest refinement
of learning. And so the ancients deserve no ordinary, but unending thanks,
because they did not pass on in envious silence, but took care that their
ideas of every kind should be transmitted to the future in their writings.
2. If they had not done so, we could not have known what deeds were
done in Troy, nor what Thales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, and
the other physicists thought about nature, and what rules Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, and other philosophers laid down for the conduct
of human life; nor would the deeds and motives of Croesus, Alexander, Darius,
and other kings have been known, unless the ancients had compiled treatises,
and published them in commentaries to be had in universal remembrance with
3. So, while they deserve our thanks, those, on the contrary, deserve
our reproaches, who steal the writings of such men and publish them as
their own; and those also, who depend in their writings, not on their own
ideas, but who enviously do wrong to the works of others and boast of it,
deserve not merely to be blamed, but to be sentenced to actual punishment
for their wicked course of life. With the ancients, however, it is said
that such things did not pass without pretty strict chastisement. What
the results of their judgments were, it may not be out of place to set
forth as they are transmitted to us.
4. The kings of the house of Attalus having established, under the influence
of the great charms of literature, an excellent library at Pergamus to
give pleasure to the public, Ptolemy also was aroused with no end of enthusiasm
and emulation into exertions to make a similar provision with no less diligence
at Alexandria. Having done so with the greatest care, he felt that this
was not enough without providing for its increase and development, for
which he sowed the seed. He established public contests in honor of the
Muses and Apollo, and appointed prizes and honors for victorious authors
in general, as is done in the case of athletes.
5. These arrangements having been made, and the contests being at hand,
it became necessary to select literary men as judges to decide them. The
king soon selected six of the citizens, but could not so easily find a
proper person to be the seventh. He therefore turned to those who presided
over the library, and asked whether they knew anybody who was suitable
for the purpose. Then they told him that there was one Aristophanes who
was daily engaged in reading through all the books with the greatest enthusiasm
and the greatest care. Hence, when the gathering for the contests took
place, and separate seats were set apart for the judges, Aristophanes was
summoned with the rest, and sat down in the place assigned to him.
6. A group of poets was first brought in to contend, and, as they recited
their compositions, the whole audience by its applause showed the judges
what it approved. So, when they were individually asked for their votes,
the six agreed, and awarded the first prize to the poet who, as they observed,
had most pleased the multitude, and the second to the one who came next.
But Aristophanes, on being asked for his vote, urged that the poet who
had least pleased the audience should be declared to be the first.
7. As the king and the entire assembly showed great indignation, he
arose, and asked and received permission to speak. Silence being obtained,
he stated that only one of them his man was a poet, and that the rest had
recited things not their own; furthermore, that judges ought to give their
approval, not to thefts, but to original compositions. The people were
amazed, and the king hesitated, but Aristophanes, trusting to his memory,
had a vast number of volumes brought out from bookcases which he specified,
and, by comparing them with what had been recited, obliged the thieves
themselves to make confession. So, the king gave orders that they should
be accused of theft, and after condemnation sent them off in disgrace;
but he honored Aristophanes with the most generous gifts, and put him in
charge of the library.
8. Some years later, Zoilus, who took the surname of Homeromastix, came
from Macedonia to Alexandria and read to the king his writings directed
against the Iliad and Odyssey. Ptolemy, seeing the father of poets and
captain of all literature abused in his absence, and his works, to which
all the world looked up in admiration, disparaged by this person, made
no rejoinder, although he thought it an outrage. Zoilus, however, after
remaining in the kingdom some time, sank into poverty, and sent a message
to the king, requesting that something might be bestowed upon him.
9. But it is said that the king replied, that Homer, though dead a thousand
years ago, had all that time been the means of livelihood for many thousands
of men; similarly, a person who laid claim to higher genius ought to be
able to support not one man only, but many others. And in short, various
stories are told about his death, which was like that of one found guilty
of parricide. Some writers have said that he was crucified by Philadelphus;
others that he was stoned at Chios; others again that he was thrown alive
upon a funeral pyre at Smyrna. Whichever of these forms of death befell
him, it was a fitting punishment and his just due; for one who accuses
men that cannot answer and show, face to face, what was the meaning of
their writings, obviously deserves no other treatment.
10. But for my part, Caesar, I am not bringing forward the present treatise
after changing the titles of other men's books and inserting my own name,
nor has it been my plan to win approbation by finding fault with the ideas
of another. On the contrary, I express unlimited thanks to all the authors
that have in the past, by compiling from antiquity remarkable instances
of the skill shown by genius, provided us with abundant materials of different
kinds. Drawing from them as it were water from springs, and converting
them to our own purposes, we find our powers of writing rendered more fluent
and easy, and, relying upon such authorities, we venture to produce new
systems of instruction.
11. Hence, as I saw that such beginnings on their part formed an introduction
suited to the nature of my own purpose, I set out to draw from them, and
to go somewhat further. In the first place Agatharcus, in Athens, when
Aeschylus was bringing out a tragedy, painted a scene, and left a commentary
about it. This led Democritus and Anaxagoras to write on the same subject,
showing how, given a center in a definite place, the lines should naturally
correspond with due regard to the point of sight and the divergence of
the visual rays, so that by this deception a faithful representation of
the appearance of buildings might be given in painted scenery, and so that,
though all is drawn on a vertical flat fa?ade, some parts may seem to be
withdrawing into the background, and others to be standing out in front.
12. Afterwards Silenus published a book on the proportions of Doric
structures; Theodorus, on the Doric temple of Juno which is in Samos; Chersiphron
and Metagenes, on the Ionic temple at Ephesus which is Diana's; Pytheos,
on the Ionic fane of Minerva which is at Priene; Ictinus and Carpion, on
the Doric temple of Minerva which is on the acropolis of Athens; Theodorus
the Phocian, on the Round Building which is at Delphi; Philo, on the proportions
of temples, and on the naval arsenal which was at the port of Peiraeus;
Hermogenes, on the Ionic temple of Diana which is at Magnesia, a pseudodipteral,
and on that of Father Bacchus at Teos, a monopteral; Arcesius, on the Corinthian
proportions, and on the Ionic temple of Aesculapius at Tralles, which it
is said that he built with his own hands; on the Mausoleum, Satyrus and
Pytheos who were favored with the greatest and highest good fortune.
13. For men whose artistic talents are believed to have won them the
highest renown for all time, and laurels forever green, devised and executed
works of supreme excellence in this building. The decoration and perfection
of the different fa?ades were undertaken by different artists in emulation
with each other: Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas, Praxiteles, and, as some think,
Timotheus; and the distinguished excellence of their art made that building
famous among the seven wonders of the world.
14. Then, too, many less celebrated men have written treatises on the
laws of symmetry, such as Nexaris, Theocydes, Demophilus, Pollis, Leonidas,
Silanion, Melampus, Sarnacus, and Euphranor; others again on machinery,
such as Diades, Archytas, Archimedes, Ctesibius, Nymphodorus, Philo of
Byzantium, Diphilus, Democles, Charias, Polyidus, Pyrrus, and Agesistratus.
From their commentaries I have gathered what I saw was useful for the present
subject, and formed it into one complete treatise, and this principally,
because I saw that many books in this field had been published by the Greeks,
but very few indeed by our countrymen. Fuficius, in fact, was the first
to undertake to publish a book on this subject. Terentius Varro, also,
in his work "On the Nine Sciences" has one book on architecture, and Publius
15. But to this day nobody else seems to have bent his energies to this
branch of literature, although there have been, even among our fellow citizens
in old times, great architects who could also have written with elegance.
For instance, in Athens, the architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides,
and Pormus laid the foundations when Peisistratus began the temple of Olympian
Jove, but after his death they abandoned the undertaking, on account of
political troubles. Hence it was that when, about four hundred years later,
King Antiochus promised to pay the expenses of that work, the huge cella,
the surrounding columns in dipteral arrangement, and the architraves and
other ornaments, adjusted according to the laws of symmetry, were nobly
constructed with great skill and supreme knowledge by Cossutius, a citizen
of Rome. Moreover, this work has a name for its grandeur, not only in general,
but also among the select few.
16. There are, in fact, four places possessing temples embellished with
workmanship in marble that causes them to be mentioned in a class by themselves
with the highest renown. To their great excellence and the wisdom of their
conception they owe their place of esteem in the ceremonial worship of
the gods. First there is the temple of Diana at Ephesus, in the Ionic style,
undertaken by Chersiphron of Gnosus and his son Metagenes, and said to
have been finished later by Demetrius, who was himself a slave of Diana,
and by Paeonius the Milesian. At Miletus, the temple of Apollo, also Ionic
in its proportions, was the undertaking of the same Paeonius and of the
Ephesian Daphnis. At Eleusis, the cella of Ceres and Proserpine, of vast
size, was completed to the roof by Ictinus in the Doric style, but without
exterior columns and with plenty of room for the customary sacrifices.
17. Afterwards, however, when Demetrius of Phalerum was master of Athens,
Philo set up columns in front before the temple, and made it prostyle.
Thus, by adding an entrance hall, he gave the initiates more room, and
imparted the greatest dignity to the building. Finally, in Athens, the
temple of the Olympion with its dimensions on a generous scale, and built
in the Corinthian style and proportions, is said to have been constructed,
as written above, by Cossutius, no commentary by whom has been found. But
Cossutius is not the only man by whom we should like to have writings on
our subject. Another is Gaius Mucius, who, having great knowledge on which
to rely, completed the cella, columns, and entablature of the Marian temple
of Honor and Valor, in symmetrical proportions according to the accepted
rules of the art. If this building had been of marble, so that besides
the refinement of its art it possessed the dignity coming from magnificence
and great outlay, it would be reckoned among the first and greatest of
18. Since it appears, then, that our architects in the old days, and
a good many even in our own times, have been as great as those of the Greeks,
and nevertheless only a few of them have published treatises, I resolved
not to be silent, but to treat the different topics methodically in different
books. Hence, since I have given an account of private houses in the sixth
book, in this, which is the seventh in order, I shall treat of polished
finishings and the methods of giving them both beauty and durability.
1. First I shall begin with the concrete flooring, which is the most
important of the polished finishings, observing that great pains and the
utmost precaution must be taken to ensure its durability. If this concrete
flooring is to be laid level with the ground, let the soil be tested to
see whether it is everywhere solid, and if it is, level it off and upon
it lay the broken stone with its bedding. But if the floor is either wholly
or partly filling, it should be rammed down hard with great care. In case
a wooden framework is used, however, we must see that no wall which does
not reach up to the top of the house is constructed under the floor. Any
wall which is there should preferably fall short, so as to leave the wooden
planking above it an unsupported span. If a wall comes up solid, the unyielding
nature of its solid structure must, when the joists begin to dry, or to
sag and settle, lead to cracks in the floor on the right and left along
the line of wall.
2. We must also be careful that no common oak gets in with the winter
oak boards, for as soon as common oak boards get damp, they warp and cause
cracks in floors. But if there is no winter oak, and necessity drives,
for lack of this it seems advisable to use common oak boards cut pretty
thin; for the less thick they are, the more easily they can be held in
place by being nailed on. Then, at the ends of every joist, nail on two
boards so that they shall not be able to warp and stick up at the edges.
As for Turkey oak or beech or ash, none of them can last to a great age.
When the wooden planking is finished, cover it with fern, if there is
any, otherwise with straw, to protect the wood from being hurt by the lime.
3. Then, upon this lay the bedding, composed of stones not smaller than
can fill the hand. After the bedding is laid, mix the broken stone in the
proportions, if it is new, of three parts to one of lime; if it is old
material used again, five parts may answer to two in the mixture. Next,
lay the mixture of broken stone, bring on your gangs, and beat it again
and again with wooden beetles into a solid mass, and let it be not less
than three quarters of a foot in thickness when the beating is finished.
On this lay the nucleus, consisting of pounded tile mixed with lime in
the proportions of three parts to one, and forming a layer not less than
six digits thick. On top of the nucleus, the floor, whether made of cut
slips or of cubes, should be well and truly laid by rule and level.
4. After it is laid and set at the proper inclination, let it be rubbed
down so that, if it consists of cut slips, the lozenges, or triangles,
or squares, or hexagons may not stick up at different levels, but be all
jointed together on the same plane with one another; if it is laid in cubes,
so that all the edges may be level; for the rubbing down will not be properly
finished unless all the edges are on the same level plane. The herring-bone
pattern, made of Tibur burnt brick, must also be carefully finished, so
as to be without gaps or ridges sticking up, but all flat and rubbed down
to rule. When the rubbing down is completely finished by means of the smoothing
and polishing processes, sift powdered marble on top, and lay on a coating
of lime and sand.
5. In the open air, specially adapted kinds of floors must be made,
because their framework, swelling with dampness, or shrinking from dryness,
or sagging and settling, injures the floors by these changes; besides,
the frost and rime will not let them go unhurt. Hence, if necessity drives,
we must proceed as follows in order to make them as free from defects as
possible. After finishing the plank flooring, lay a second plank flooring
over it at right angles, and nail it down so as to give double protection
to the framework. Then, mix with new broken stone one third the quantity
of pounded tile, and let lime be added to the mixture in the mortar trough
in the proportion of two parts to five.
6. Having made the bedding, lay on this mixture of broken stone, and
let it be not less than a foot thick when the beating is finished. Then,
after laying the nucleus, as above described, construct the floor of large
cubes cut about two digits each way, and let it have an inclination of
two digits for every ten feet. If it is well put together and properly
rubbed down, it will be free from all flaws. In order that the mortar in
the joints may not suffer from frosts, drench it with oil dregs every year
before winter begins. Thus treated, it will not let the hoarfrost enter
7. If, however, it seems needful to use still greater care, lay twofer
tiles, jointed together in a bed of mortar, over the broken stone, with
little channels of one finger's breadth cut in the faces of all the joints.
Connect these channels and fill them with a mixture of lime and oil; then,
rub the joints hard and make them compact. Thus, the lime sticking in the
channels will harden and solidify into a mass, and so prevent water or
anything else from penetrating through the joints. After this layer is
finished, spread the nucleus upon it, and work it down by beating it with
rods. Upon this lay the floor, at the inclination above described, either
of large cubes or burnt brick in herring-bone pattern, and floors thus
constructed will not soon be spoiled.
The Slaking of Lime for Stucco
1. Leaving the subject of floors, we must next treat of stucco work.
This will be all right if the best lime, taken in lumps, is slaked a good
while before it is to be used, so that if any lump has not been burned
long enough in the kiln, it will be forced to throw off its heat during
the long course of slaking in the water, and will thus be thoroughly burned
to the same consistency. When it is taken not thoroughly slaked but fresh,
it has little crude bits concealed in it, and so, when applied, it blisters.
When such bits complete their slaking after they are on the building, they
break up and spoil the smooth polish of the stucco.
2. But when the proper attention has been paid to the slaking, and greater
pains have thus been employed in the preparation for the work, take a hoe,
and apply it to the slaked lime in the mortar bed just as you hew wood.
If it sticks to the hoe in bits, the lime is not yet tempered; and when
the iron is drawn out dry and clean, it will show that the lime is weak
and thirsty; but when the lime is rich and properly slaked, it will stick
to the tool like glue, proving that it is completely tempered. Then get
the scaffolding ready, and proceed to construct the vaultings in the rooms,
unless they are to be decorated with flat coffered ceilings.
Vaulting and Stucco Work
1. When vaulting is required, the procedure should be as follows. Set
up horizontal furring strips at intervals of not more than two feet apart,
using preferably cypress, as fir is soon spoiled by decay and by age. Arrange
these strips so as to form a curve, and make them fast to the joists of
the floor above or to the roof, if it is there, by nailing them with many
iron nails to ties fixed at intervals. These ties should be made of a kind
of wood that neither decay nor time nor dampness can spoil, such as box,
juniper, olive, oak, cypress, or any other similar wood except common oak;
for this warps, and causes cracks in work in which it is used.
2. Having arranged the furring strips, take cord made of Spanish broom,
and tie Greek reeds, previously pounded flat, to them in the required contour.
Immediately above the vaulting spread some mortar made of lime and sand,
to check any drops that may fall from the joists or from the roof. If a
supply of Greek reed is not to be had, gather slender marsh reeds, and
make them up with silk cord into bundles all of the same thickness and
adjusted to the proper length, provided that the bundles are not more than
two feet long between any two knots. Then tie them with cord to the beams,
as above described, and drive wooden pegs into them. Make all the other
preparations as above described.
3. Having thus set the vaultings in their places and interwoven them,
apply the rendering coat to their lower surface; then lay on the sand mortar,
and afterwards polish it off with the powdered marble. After the vaultings
have been polished, set the impost moldings directly beneath them. These
obviously ought to be made extremely slender and delicate, for when they
are large, their weight carries them down, and they cannot support themselves.
Gypsum should by no means be used in their composition, but powdered marble
should be laid on uniformly, lest gypsum, by setting too quickly should
keep the work from drying uniformly. We must also beware of the ancients'
scheme for vaultings; for in their moldings the soffits overhang very heavily,
and are dangerous.
4. Some moldings are flat, others in relief. In rooms where there has
to be a fire or a good many lights, they should be flat, so that they can
be wiped off more easily. In summer apartments and in exedrae where there
is no smoke nor soot to hurt them, they should be made in relief. It is
always the case that stucco, in the pride of its dazzling white, gathers
smoke not only from its own house but also from others.
5. Having finished the moldings, apply a very rough rendering coat to
the walls, and afterwards, when the rendering coat gets pretty dry, spread
upon it the layers of sand mortar, exactly adjusted in length to rule and
line, in height to the plummet, and at the angles to the square. The stucco
will thus present a faultless appearance for paintings. When it gets pretty
dry, spread on a second coat and then a third. The better the foundation
of sand mortar that is laid on, the stronger and more durable in its solidity
will be the stucco.
6. When not less than three coats of sand mortar, besides the rendering
coat, have been laid on, then, we must make the mixture for the layers
of powdered marble, the mortar being so tempered that when mixed it does
not stick to the trowel, but the iron comes out freely and clean from the
mortar trough. After this powdered marble has been spread on and gets dry,
lay on a medium second coat. When that has been applied and well rubbed
down, spread on a finer coat. The walls, being thus rendered solid by three
coats of sand mortar and as many of marble, will not possibly be liable
to cracks or to any other defect.
7. And further, such walls, owing to the solid foundation given by thorough
working with polishing instruments, and the smoothness of it, due to the
hard and dazzling white marble, will bring out in brilliant splendor the
colors which are laid on at the same time with the polishing.
These colors, when they are carefully laid on stucco still wet, do not
fade but are permanent. This is because the lime, having had its moisture
burned out in the kiln, becomes porous and loses its strength, and its
dryness makes it take up anything that may come in contact with it. On
mixing with the seeds or elements that come from other substances, it forms
a solid mass with them and, no matter what the constituent parts may then
be, it must, obviously, on becoming dry, possess the qualities which are
peculiar to its own nature.
8. Hence, stucco that is properly made does not get rough as time goes
on, nor lose its colors when it is wiped off, unless they have been laid
on with little care and after it is dry. So, when the stucco on walls is
made as described above, it will have strength and brilliancy, and an excellence
that will last to a great age. But when only one coat of sand mortar and
one of fine marble have been spread on, its thin layer is easily cracked
from want of strength, and from its lack of thickness it will not take
on the brilliance, due to polishing, which it ought to have.
9. Just as a silver mirror that is formed of a thin plate reflects indistinctly
and with a feeble light, while one that is substantially made can take
on a very high polish, and reflects a brilliant and distinct image when
one looks therein, so it is with stucco. When the stuff of which it is
formed is thin, it not only cracks but also soon fades; when, however,
it has a solid foundation of sand mortar and of marble, thickly and compactly
applied, it is not only brilliant after being subjected to repeated polishings,
but also reflects from its surface a clear image of the beholder.
10. The Greek stucco workers not only employ these methods to make their
works durable, but also construct a mortar trough, mix the lime and sand
in it, bring on a gang of men, and beat the stuff with wooden beetles,
and do not use it until it has been thus vigorously worked. Hence, some
cut slabs out of old walls and use them as panels, and the stucco of such
panels and "reflectors" has projecting beveled edges all round it.
11. But if stucco has to be made on "wattle and daub," where there must
be cracks at the uprights and acrostic's, because they must take in moisture
when they are daubed with the mud, and cause cracks in the stucco when
they dry and shrink, the following method will prevent this from happening.
After the whole wall has been smeared with the mud, nail rows of reeds
to it by means of "flannels," then spread on the mud a second time, and,
if the first rows have been nailed with the shafts transverse, nail on
a second set with the shafts vertical, and then, as above described, spread
on the sand mortar, the marble, and the whole mass of stucco. Thus, the
double series of reeds with their shafts crossing on the walls will prevent
any chipping or cracking from taking place.
On Stucco Work in Damp Places and On the Decoration
of Dining Rooms
1. Having spoken of the method by which stucco work should be done in
dry situations, I shall next explain how the polished finish is to be accomplished
in places that are damp, in such a way that it can last without defects.
First, in apartments which are level with the ground, apply a rendering
coat of mortar, mixed with burnt brick instead of sand, to a height of
about three feet above the floor, and then lay on the stucco so that those
portions of it may not be injured by the dampness. But if a wall is in
a state of dampness all over, construct a second thin wall a little way
from it on the inside, at a distance suited to circumstances, and in the
space between these two walls run a channel, at a lower level than that
of the apartment, with vents to the open air. Similarly, when the wall
is brought up to the top, leave airless there. For if the moisture has
no means of getting out by vents at the bottom and at the top, it will
not fail to spread all over the new wall. This done, apply a rendering
coat of mortar made with burnt brick to this wall, spread on the layer
of stucco, and polish it.
2. But if there is not room enough for the construction of a wall, make
channels with their vents extending to the open air. Then lay twofer tiles
resting on the margin of the channel on one side, and on the other side
construct a foundation of pillars for them, made of eighteenth bricks,
on top of each of which the edges of two tiles may be supported, each pillar
being not more than a hand's breadth distant from the wall. Then, above,
set hooked tiles fastened to the wall from bottom to top, carefully covering
the inner sides of them with pitch so that they will reject moisture. Both
at the bottom and at the top above the vaulting they should have airless.
3. Then, whitewash them with lime and water so that they will not reject
the rendering coat of burnt brick. For, as they are dry from the loss of
water burnt out in the kiln, they can neither take nor hold the rendering
coat unless lime has been applied beneath it to stick the two substances
together, and make them unite. After spreading the rendering coat upon
this, apply layers of burnt brick mortar instead of sand mortar, and finish
up all the rest in the manner described above for stucco work.
4. The decorations of the polished surfaces of the walls ought to be
treated with due regard to propriety, so as to be adapted to their situations,
and not out of keeping with differences in kind. In winter dining rooms,
neither paintings on grand subjects nor delicacy of decoration in the cornice
work of the vaultings is a serviceable kind of design, because they are
spoiled by the smoke from the fire and the constant soot from the lamps.
In these rooms there should be panels above the dadoes, worked in black,
and polished, with yellow ochre or vermilion blocks interposed between
them. After the vaulting has been treated in the flat style, and polished,
the Greek method of making floors for use in winter dining rooms may not
be unworthy of one's notice, as being very inexpensive and yet serviceable.
5. An excavation is made below the level of the dining room to a depth
of about two feet, and, after the ground has been rammed down, the mass
of broken stones or the pounded burnt brick is spread on, at such an inclination
that it can find vents in the drain. Next, having filled in with charcoal
compactly trodden down, a mortar mixed of gravel, lime, and ashes is spread
on to a depth of half a foot. The surface having been made true to rule
and level, and smoothed off with whetstone, gives the look of a black pavement.
Hence, at their dinner parties, whatever is poured out of the cups, or
spirited from the mouth, no sooner falls than it dries up, and the servants
who wait there do not catch cold from that kind of floor, although they
may go barefoot.
The Decadence of Fresco Painting
1. For the other apartments, that is, those intended to be used in Spring,
Autumn, and Summer, as well as for atriums and peristyles, the ancients
required realistic pictures of real things. A picture is, in fact, a representation
of a thing which really exists or which can exist: for example, a man,
a house, a ship, or anything else from whose definite and actual structure
copies resembling it can be taken. Consequently the ancients who introduced
polished finishings began by representing different kinds of marble slabs
in different positions, and then cornices and blocks of yellow ochre arranged
in various ways.
2. Afterwards they made such progress as to represent the forms of buildings,
and of columns, and projecting and overhanging pediments; in their open
rooms, such as exedrae, on account of the size, they depicted the fa?ades
of scenes in the tragic, comic, or satyric style; and their walks, on account
of the great length, they decorated with a variety of landscapes, copying
the characteristics of definite spots. In these paintings there are harbors,
promontories, seashores, rivers, fountains, straits, fanes, groves, mountains,
flocks, shepherds; in some places there are also pictures designed in the
grand style, with figures of the gods or detailed mythological episodes,
or the battles at Troy, or the wanderings of Ulysses, with landscape backgrounds,
and other subjects reproduced on similar principles from real life.
3. But those subjects which were copied from actual realities are scorned
in these days of bad taste. We now have fresco paintings of monstrosities,
rather than truthful representations of definite things. For instance,
reeds are put in the place of columns, fluted appendages with curly leaves
and volutes, instead of pediments, candelabra supporting representations
of shrines, and on top of their pediments numerous tender stalks and volutes
growing up from the roots and having human figures senselessly seated upon
them; sometimes stalks having only half length figures, some with human
heads, others with the heads of animals.
4. Such things do not exist and cannot exist and never have existed.
Hence, it is the new taste that has caused bad judges of poor art to prevail
true artistic excellence. For how is it possible that a reed should really
support a roof, or a candelabrum a pediment with its ornaments, or that
such a slender, flexible thing as a stalk should support a figure perched
upon it, or that roots and stalks should produce now flowers and now half
length figures? Yet when people see these frauds, they find no fault with
them but on the contrary are delighted, and do not care whether any of
them can exist or not. Their understanding is darkened by decadent critical
principles, so that it is not capable of giving its approval authoritatively
and on the principle of propriety to that which really can exist. The fact
is that pictures which are unlike reality ought not to be approved, and
even if they are technically fine, this is no reason why they should offhand
be judged to be correct, if their subject is lacking in the principles
of reality carried out with no violations.
5. For instance, at Tralles, Apaturius of Alabanda designed with skillful
hand the scaena of the little theater representing columns in it and statues,
Centaurs supporting the architraves, rotundas with round roofs on them,
pediments with overhanging returns, and cornices ornamented with lions'
heads, which are meant for nothing but the rainwater from the roofs, and
then on top of it all he made an episcaenium in which were painted rotundas,
porticoes, half pediments, and all the different kinds of decoration employed
in a roof. The effect of high relief in this scaena was very attractive
to all who beheld it, and they were ready to give their approval to the
work, when Licymnius the mathematician came forward and said that (6.)
the Alabandines were considered bright enough in all matters of politics,
but that on account of one slight defect, the lack of the sense of propriety,
they were believed to be unintelligent. "In their gymnasium the statues
are all pleading causes, in their forum, throwing the discus, running,
or playing ball. This disregard of propriety in the interchange of statues
appropriate to different places has brought the state as a whole into disrepute.
Let us then beware lest this scaena of Apaturius make Alabandines or Abderites
of us. Which of you can have houses or columns or extensive pediments on
top of his tiled roof? Such things are built above the floors, not above
the tiled roofs. Therefore, if we give our approval to pictures of things
which can have no reason for existence in actual fact, we shall be voluntarily
associating ourselves with those communities which are believed to be unintelligent
on account of just such defects."
7. Apaturius did not venture to make any answer, but removed the scaena,
altered it so that it conformed to reality, and gave satisfaction with
it in its improved state. Would to God that Licymnius could come to life
again and reform the present condition of folly and mistaken practices
in fresco painting! However, it may not be out of place to explain why
this false method prevails over the truth. The fact is that the artistic
excellence which the ancients endeavored to attain by working hard and
taking pains, is now attempted by the use of colors and the brave show
which they make, and expenditure by the employer prevents people from missing
the artistic refinements that once lent authority to works.
8. For example, which of the ancients can be found to have used vermilion
otherwise than sparingly, like a drug? But today whole walls are commonly
covered with it everywhere. Then, too, there is malachite green, purple,
and Armenian blue. When these colors are laid on, they present a brilliant
appearance to the eye even although they are inartistically applied, and
as they are costly, they are made exceptions in contracts, to be furnished
by the employer, not by the contractor.
I have now sufficiently explained all that I could suggest for the avoidance
of mistakes in stucco work. Next, I shall speak of the components as they
occur to me, and first I shall treat of marble, since I spoke of lime at
Marble for Use In Stucco
Marble is not produced everywhere of the same kind. In some places the
lumps are found to contain transparent grains like salt, and this kind
when crushed and ground is extremely serviceable in stucco work. In places
where this is not found, the broken bits of marble or "chips," as they
are called, which marble workers throw down as they work, may be crushed
and ground and used in stucco after being sifted. In still other place,
for example, on the borderland of Magnesia and Ephesus there are places
where it can be dug out all ready to use, without the need of grinding
or sifting, but as fine as any that is crushed and sifted by hand.
As for colors, some are natural products found in fixed places, and
dug up there, while others are artificial compounds of different substances
treated and mixed in proper proportions so as to be equally serviceable.
1. We shall first set forth the natural colors that are dug up as such,
like yellow ochre. This is found in many places, including Italy, but Attic,
which was the best, is not now to be had because in the times when there
were slaves in the Athenian silver mines, they would dig galleries underground
in order to find the silver. Whenever a vein of ochre was found there,
they would follow it up like silver, and so the ancients had a fine supply
of it to use in the polished finishings of their stucco work.
2. Red earths are found in abundance in many places, but the best in
only a few, for instance at Sinope in Pontus, in Egypt, in the Balearic
islands of Spain, as well as in Lemnos, an island the enjoyment of whose
revenues the Senate and Roman people granted to the Athenians.
3. Paraetonium white gets its name from the place where it is dug up.
The same is the case with Melian white, because there is said to be a mine
of it in Melos, one of the islands of the Cyclades.
4. Green chalk is found in numerous places, but the best at Smyrna.
This kind of chalk was first found on the estate of a person named Theodotus.
5. Orpiment is dug up in Pontus. Sandarach, in many places, but the
best is mined in Pontus close by the river Hypanis.
Cinnabar and Quicksilver
1. I shall now proceed to explain the nature of cinnabar. It is said
that it was first found in the Cilbian country belonging to Ephesus, and
both it and its properties are certainly very strange. First, before getting
to the vermilion itself by methods of treatment, they dig out what is called
the clod, an ore like iron, but rather of a reddish color and covered with
a red dust. During the digging it sheds, under the blows of the tools,
tear after tear of quicksilver, which is at once gathered up by the diggers.
2. When these clods have been collected, they are so full of moisture
that they are thrown into an oven in the laboratory to dry, and the fumes
that are sent up from them by the heat of the fire settle down on the floor
of the oven, and are found to be quicksilver. When the clods are taken
out, the drops which remain are so small that they cannot be gathered up,
but they are swept into a vessel of water, and there they run together
and combine into one. Four pints of it, when measured and weighed, will
be found to be one hundred pounds.
3. If the quicksilver is poured into a vessel, and a stone weighing
one hundred pounds is laid upon it, the stone swims on the surface, and
cannot depress the liquid, nor break through, nor separate it. If we remove
the hundred pound weight, and put on a scruple of gold, it will not swim,
but will sink to the bottom of its own accord. Hence, it is undeniable
that the gravity of a substance depends not on the amount of its weight,
but on its nature.
4. Quicksilver is a useful thing for many purposes. For instance, neither
silver nor copper can be gilded properly without it. And when gold has
been woven into a garment, and the garment becomes worn out with age so
that it is no longer respectable to use, the pieces of cloth are put into
earthen pots, and burned up over a fire. The ashes are then thrown into
water and quicksilver added thereto. This attracts all the bits of gold,
and makes them combine with itself. The water is then poured off, and the
rest emptied into a cloth and squeezed in the hands, whereupon the quicksilver,
being a liquid, escapes through the loose texture of the cloth, but the
gold, which has been brought together by the squeezing, is found inside
in a pure state.
1. I will now return to the preparation of vermilion. When the lumps
of ore are dry, they are crushed in iron mortars, and repeatedly washed
and heated until the impurities are gone, and the colors come. When the
cinnabar has given up its quicksilver, and thus lost the natural virtues
that it previously had, it becomes soft in quality and its powers are feeble.
2. Hence, though it keeps its color perfectly when applied in the polished
stucco finish of closed apartments, yet in open apartments, such as peristyles
or exedrae or other places of the sort, where the bright rays of the sun
and moon can penetrate, it is spoiled by contact with them, loses the strength
of its color, and turns black. Among many others, the secretary Faberius,
who wished to have his house on the Aventine finished in elegant style,
applied vermilion to all the walls of the peristyle; but after thirty days
they turned to an ugly and mottled color. He therefore made a contract
to have other colors applied instead of vermilion.
3. But anybody who is more particular, and who wants a polished finish
of vermilion that will keep its proper color, should, after the wall has
been polished and is dry, apply with a brush Pontic wax melted over a fire
and mixed with a little oil; then after this he should bring the wax to
a sweat by warming it and the wall at close quarters with charcoal enclosed
in an iron vessel; and finally he should smooth it all off by rubbing it
down with a wax candle and clean linen cloths, just as naked marble statues
4. The protecting coat of Pontic wax prevents the light of the moon
and the rays of the sun from licking up and drawing the color out of such
The manufactories which were once at the mines of the Ephesians have
now been transferred to Rome, because this kind of ore was later discovered
in Spain. The clods are brought from the mines there, and treated in Rome
by public contractors. These manufactories are between the temples of Flora
5. Cinnabar is adulterated by mixing lime with it. Hence, one will have
to proceed as follows, if one wishes to prove that it is unadulterated.
Take an iron plate, put the cinnabar upon it, and lay it on the fire until
the plate gets red hot. When the glowing heat makes the color change and
turn black, remove the plate from the fire, and if the cinnabar when cooled
returns to its former color, it will be proved to be unadulterated; but
if it keeps the black color, it will show that it has been adulterated.
6. I have now said all that I could think of about cinnabar. Malachite
green is brought from Macedonia, and is dug up in the neighborhood of copper
mines. The names Armenian blue and India ink show in what places these
substances are found.
Artificial Colors Black
1. I shall now pass to those substances which by artificial treatment
are made to change their composition, and to take on the properties of
colors; and first I shall treat of black, the use of which is indispensable
in many works, in order that the fixed technical methods for the preparation
of that compound may be known.
2. A place is built like a Laconicum, and nicely finished in marble,
smoothly polished. In front of it, a small furnace is constructed with
vents into the Laconicum, and with a stoke hole that can be very carefully
closed to prevent the flames from escaping and being wasted. Resin is placed
in the furnace. The force of the fire in burning it compels it to give
out soot into the Laconicum through the vents, and the soot sticks to the
walls and the curved vaulting. It is gathered from them, and some of it
is mixed and worked with gum for use as writing ink, while the rest is
mixed with size, and used on walls by fresco painters.
3. But if these facilities are not at hand, we must meet the exigency
as follows, so that the work may not be hindered by tedious delay. Burn
shavings and splinters of pitch pine, and when they turn to charcoal, put
them out, and pound them in a mortar with size. This will make a pretty
black for fresco painting.
4. Again, if the lees of wine are dried and roasted in an oven, and
then ground up with size and applied to a wall, the result will be a color
even more delightful than ordinary black; and the better the wine of which
it is made, the better imitation it will give, not only of the color of
ordinary black, but even of that of India ink.
Blue Burnt Ochre
1. Methods of making blue were first discovered in Alexandria, and afterwards
Vestorius set up the making of it at Puzzuoli. The method of obtaining
it from the substances of which it has been found to consist, is strange
enough. Sand and the flowers of natron are brayed together so finely that
the product is like meal, and copper is grated by means of coarse files
over the mixture, like sawdust, to form a conglomerate. Then it is made
into balls by rolling it in the hands and thus bound together for drying.
The dry balls are put in an earthen jar, and the jars in an oven. As soon
as the copper and the sand grow hot and unite under the intensity of the
fire, they mutually receive each other's sweat, relinquishing their peculiar
qualities, and having lost their properties through the intensity of the
fire, they are reduced to a blue color.
2. Burnt ochre, which is very serviceable in stucco work, is made as
follows. A clod of good yellow ochre is heated to a glow on a fire. It
is then quenched in vinegar, and the result is a purple color.
White Lead, Verdigris and Artificial Sandarach
1. It is now in place to describe the preparation of white lead and
of verdigris, which with us is called "aeruca." In Rhodes they put shavings
in jars, pour vinegar over them, and lay pieces of lead on the shavings;
then they cover the jars with lids to prevent evaporation. After a definite
time they open them, and find that the pieces of lead have become white
lead. In the same way they put in plates of copper and make verdigris,
which is called "aeruca."
2. White lead on being heated in an oven changes its color on the fire,
and becomes sandarach. This was discovered as the result of an accidental
fire. It is much more serviceable than the natural sandarach dug up in
1. I shall now begin to speak of purple, which exceeds all the colors
that have so far been mentioned both in costliness and in the superiority
of its delightful effect. It is obtained from a marine shellfish, from
which is made the purple dye, which is as wonderful to the careful observer
as anything else in nature; for it has not the same shade in all the places
where it is found, but is naturally qualified by the course of the sun.
2. That which is found in Pontus and Gaul is black, because those countries
are nearest to the north. As one passes on from north to west, it is found
of a bluish shade. Due east and west, what is found is of a violet shade.
That which is obtained in southern countries is naturally red in quality,
and therefore this is found in the island of Rhodes and in other such countries
that are nearest to the course of the sun.
3. After the shellfish have been gathered, they are broken up with iron
tools, the blows of which drive out the purple fluid like a flood of tears,
and then it is prepared by braying it in mortars. It is called "ostrum"
because it is taken from the shells of marine shellfish. On account of
its saltness, it soon dries up unless it has honey poured over it.
Substitutes for Purple, Yellow, Ochre, Malachite Green
1. Purple colors are also manufactured by dyeing chalk with madder root
and with hysginum. Other colors are made from flowers. Thus, when fresco
painters wish to imitate Attic yellow ochre, they put dried violets into
a vessel of water, and heat them over a fire; then, when the mixture is
ready, they pour it onto a linen cloth, and squeeze it out with the hands,
catching the water which is now colored by the violets, in a mortar. Into
this they pour chalk and bray it, obtaining the color of Attic yellow ochre.
2. They make a fine purple color by treating bilberry in the same way
and mixing it with milk. Those who cannot use malachite green on account
of its dearness, dye blue with the plant called dyer's weed, and thus obtain
a most vivid green. This is called dyer's malachite green. Again, for want
of indigo, they dye Selinusian or anularian chalk with wood, and make an
imitation of indigo.
3. In this book I have written down, so far as I could recall them,
the methods and means of attaining durability in polished finishings, how
pictures that are appropriate should be made, and also the natural qualities
of all the colors. And so, having prescribed in seven books the suitable
principles which should govern the construction of all kinds of buildings,
I shall treat in the next of water, showing how it may be found in places
where it is wanting, by what method it may be conducted, and by what means
its wholesomeness and fitness may be tested.
How To Build Catapults >> Vitruvius
Ten Books of Architecture >> Book 7