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finishes and colours
BOOK VII
DE ARCHITECTURA
MARCUS VITRUVIUS POLLIO
1. The antients
by means of writing established the wise and useful practice of handing down to
posterity their sentiments on different subjects, so that not only those might
not be lost, but that by their works continually increasing, a gradual
advancement might be made to the highest point of learning. Our obligations to
them therefore are great and many, from their not having sullenly kept their
knowledge to themselves, but on the contrary, having recorded their opinions on
every subject.
2. Had they omitted to do this, we should not have known what happened in
Troy, nor the sentiments of Thales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, and
other physiologists respecting the nature of things; nor the system of ethics
laid down by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus and other philosophers.
Of the actions of Croesus, Alexander, Darius, and other kings, and the
principles on which they acted, we should have been uninformed, unless the
antients
had handed them down to posterity in their writings.
3. As we are indebted to these, so we are on the contrary bound to censure
those, who, borrowing from others, publish as their own that of which they are
not the authors; not less are they censurable, who, distorting the meaning of an
author, glory in their perversion of it; indeed they deserve punishment for
their dishonest conduct. It is said that this practice was strictly punished by
the antients;
I do not therefore think it foreign to the purpose to relate from history the
result of some examples made by them.
4. The Attalic kings, stimulated by their great love for philology, having
established an excellent public library at Pergamum,
 Ptolemy,
actuated by zeal and great desire for the furtherance of learning, collected
with no less care, a similar one for the same purpose at Alexandria, about the
same period. When by dint of great labour he had completed it, he was not
satisfied, unless, like the seed of the earth, it was to go on increasing. He
therefore instituted games to the Muses and Apollo, and in imitation of those in
which wrestlers contended, he decreed rewards and honors to the victorious in
literature.
5. These being established, when the time of the games arrived, learned
judges were to be selected for the decisions. The king having chosen six, and
not readily finding a seventh, applied to those persons who had the care of the
library, to ascertain whether they knew any one fit for the purpose. They told
him that there was a certain man named Aristophanes, who with great labour and
application was day after day reading through the books in the library. At the
celebration of the games, Aristophanes was summoned and took his seat among
those allotted for the judges.
6. The first that contended were the poets, who recited their compositions,
and the people unanimously signified to the judges the piece which they
preferred. When the judges were required to decide, six of them agreed to award
the first prize to him who had most pleased the multitude, and the second prize
to some other candidate. The opinion of Aristophanes being required, he observed
that the best poet had pleased the people the least.
7. The king and the whole multitude expressed their great indignation at
this opinion, but he rose and besought that they would allow him to speak.
Silence being obtained, he told them that one only of the competitors was a
poet, that the others had recited other men's compositions, and that the judges
ought not to decide upon thefts but upon compositions. The people were
astonished, and the king in doubt; but Aristophanes relying on his memory,
quoted a vast number of books on certain shelves in the library, and comparing
them with what had been recited, made the writers confess that they had stolen
from them. The king then ordered them to be proceeded against for the theft, and
after their condemnation dismissed them with ignominy. Aristophanes, however,
was honoured with great rewards, and appointed librarian.
8. Some time afterwards Zoilus of Macedonia, who assumed the
cognomen of Homeromastix,
came to Alexandria, and recited before the king his compositions in derogation
of the Iliad and Odyssey. When Ptolemy perceived that the father of poetry and
all philology, whose works are in esteem throughout all nations, was, because
out of the reach of reply, abused by this man, he was enraged and did not deign
to answer him. Zoilus, however, remaining some time longer in the country,
oppressed with poverty, besought the king to bestow something on him.
9. The king is said to have answered, that Homer, who had been dead more
than a thousand years, had been the means during that period of affording a
livelihood to thousands; that he, therefore, who boasted that he possessed
greater talent, ought to be able to support, not only himself, but many other
persons. Having been condemned as a parricide, his death is variously related.
Some have written that he was crucified by Philadelphus, some that he was stoned
at Chios, others that he was burnt alive at Smyrna. Whichever of these
circumstances occurred he richly deserved it, for that person does not seem to
have merited a better fate, who reflects on those that are beyond the reach of
hearing and explaining what is said of their writings.
10. I, therefore, O Cæsar, do not publish this work, merely prefixing my
name to a treatise which of right belongs to others, nor think of acquiring
reputation by finding fault with the works of any one. On the contrary, I own
myself under the highest obligations to all those authors, who by their great
ingenuity have at various times on different subjects, furnished us with copious
materials; from which, as from a fountain, converting them to our own use, we
are enabled to write more fully and expediently, and, trusting to whom we are
prepared to strike out something new.
11. Thus adhering to the principles which I found in those of their works
adapted to my purpose, I have endeavoured to advance further. Agatharcus, at the
time when Æschylus taught at Athens the rules of tragic poetry, was the first
who contrived scenery, upon which subject he left a treatise. This led
Democritus and Anaxagoras, who wrote thereon, to explain how the points of sight
and distance ought to guide the lines, as in nature, to a centre; so that by
means of pictorial deception, the real appearances of buildings appear on the
scene, which, painted on a flat vertical surface, seem, nevertheless, to advance
and recede.
12. Silenus afterwards produced a treatise on the symmetry of Doric
buildings; Theodorus, on the Doric temple of Jupiter in Samos; Ctesiphon
and Metagenes, on that of the Ionic order in the temple of Diana at Ephesus.
Pythius
wrote a volume on the Ionic temple of Minerva at Priene, and Ictinus and Carpion
on the Doric temple of Minerva at Athens, on the Acropolis; Theodorus Phoceus on
the vaulted temple at Delphi; Philo on the symmetry of temples, and on the
arsenal at the Piræus; Hermogenes on the Ionic pseudodipteral temple at
Magnesia, and the monopteral one of Father Bacchus at Teos. Argelius wrote on
the proportions of buildings of the Corinthian order, and on the Ionic temple of
Æsculapius at Tralles, which he is said to have built;
Satyrus and Phyteus, who were extremely fortunate, on the Mausoleum,
13. to which some contributed their exertions whose talents have been
admired in all ages, and who have gained lasting reputation. Each front was
assigned to a separate artist, to ornament and try his skill thereon. Those
employed were Leochares, Bryaxes, Scopas, Praxiteles; some say that Timotheus
was employed. The great art displayed by these men, caused this work to be
ranked among the seven wonders.
14. Besides these, many of less celebrity have written precepts on
proportions, as Nexaris, Theocydes, Demophilos, Pollis, Leonides, Silanion,
Melampus, Sarnacus, and Euphranor. Many on mechanics, as Cliades, Archytas,
Archimedes, Ctesibius, Nymphodorus, Philo Byzantius, Diphilus, Democles,
Charidas, Polyidus, Phyros, Agesistratus. From the commentaries of these, what
I thought useful I have thrown together, and that the more especially because
I observe that on this branch the Greeks have published much, and our own
countrymen very little. Fussitius,
however, and he was the first, produced an excellent work on the subject.
Terentius Varro, in is work on the nine sciences, includes one on architecture.
Publius Septimius wrote two.
15. Besides these, I do not recollect any one that up to this time has
written, though we have formerly produced great architects, and such as were
well qualified to have written with elegance. In fact the foundations of the
temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens were prepared by Antistates, Callæschrus,
Antimacides and Porinus, architects employed by Pisistratus, after whose death,
on account of the troubles which affected the republic, the work was abandoned.
About two hundred years afterwards, king Antiochus, having agreed to supply the
money for the work, a Roman citizen, named Cossutius, designed with great skill
and taste the cell, the dipteral arrangement of the columns, the cornices, and
other ornaments. This work is not only universally esteemed, but is accounted
one of the rarest specimens of magnificence.
16. For in four places only are the temples embellished with work in marble,
and from that circumstance the places are very celebrated, and their excellence
and admirable contrivance is pleasing to the gods themselves. The first is the
temple of Diana at Ephesus, of the Ionic order, built by Ctesiphon
of Gnosus, and his son Metagenes, afterwards completed by Demetrius, a priest of
Diana, and Pæonius, the Ephesian. The second is the temple of Apollo, at Miletus,
also of the Ionic order, built by the above-named Pæonius, and Daphnis, the
Milesian. The third is the Doric temple of Ceres and Proserpine, at Eleusis, the
cell of which was built by Ictinus, of extraordinary dimensions, for the greater
convenience of the sacrifices, and without an exterior colonnade.
17. This structure, when Demetrius Phalereus governed Athens, was turned by
Philus into a prostyle temple, with columns in front, and by thus enlarging the
vestibule, he not only provided accommodation for the noviciates, but gave great
dignity to its appearance. Lastly, in Athens it is said that Cossutius was the
architect of the temple of Jupiter Olympius, which was of large dimensions, and
of the Corinthian order and proportions, as above mentioned. From the pen of
this man no treatise is extant; nor is it from him alone that such would have
been less desirable, than from Caius Mutius, who with great science, and
according to the just rules of art, completed the cell, columns, and entablature
of the temples
of Honour and Virtue, near the trophy of Marius, a work, which, had it been of
marble, and thereby endowed with the splendour and richness which the material
must have added, would have been reckoned among the first and most excellent
temples.
18. It therefore appears that our own country can boast of as great
architects as Greece herself, many of them even within our own times, but since
few have left behind them any treatises, I thought it improper to omit any
thing, and to treat of the different branches in different books. In the sixth
book I have given rules for building private houses; in this, the seventh,
I shall describe their finishing, and how that is to be rendered both beautiful
and durable.
Chapter 1
1. I shall begin with pavements, which are the principal of the finishings,
and should be executed with the greatest care and attention to their solidity.
If the pavement be made on the ground itself, the soil must be examined, to
ascertain that it solid throughout, then over it is to be spread and levelled a
layer of rubbish. But if the whole or any part of the earth be loose, it is to
be made solid with a rammer. In timber floors care must be taken that no wall be
built under them, so as to touch the under side of the floors; but that a space
be rather left between them and the floors. For if they be made solid, the
timber of the floors drying and settling, whilst the wall remains in its place,
will cause fissures in the pavement to the right and left.
2. Care must also be taken that holm timber be not used with oak; for as
soon as oak becomes damp, it warps, and causes cracks in the pavement. If,
however, holm is not to be had, and on that account it be absolutely necessary
to use oak, it should be cut very thin, by which means its power will be
diminished, and it will be more easily fastened with the nails. Then through the
edges of the boards two nails are to be driven into every joist, so that no part
of the edges may warp. I do not mention the chestnut, beech, or the
farnus, because neither of them are durable. The
floor being prepared, fern, if at hand, and if not, straw, is to be spread over
it, so that the timber may not be injured by the lime.
3. On this is placed a layer of stones, each of which is not to be less than
will fill a man's hand. These being spread, the pavement is laid thereon. If the
rubbish be new, let three parts of it be mixed with one of lime; but if from old
materials, the proportion is five parts to two of lime. It is then laid on, and
brought to a solid consistence with wooden beaters and the repeated blows of a
number of men, till its thickness is about three quarters of a foot. Over this
is spread the upper layer, composed of three parts of potsherd to one of lime,
of a thickness not less than
six inches. Over the upper layer the pavement is laid to rule and level, whether
composed of slabs or of tesseræ.
4. When laid with their proper inclination, they are to be rubbed off, so
that, if in slabs, there may be no rising edges of the ovals, triangles,
squares, or hexagons, but that the union of the different joints may be
perfectly smooth. If the pavement be composed of tesseræ, the edges of them
should be completely smoothed off, or the work cannot be said to be well
finished. So, also, the Tiburtine tiles, peaked at the points, should be laid
with care, that there may be neither hollows on them, nor ridges, but that they
be flat, and rubbed to a regular surface. After the rubbing and polishing,
marble dust is strewed over it, and over that a coat of lime and sand.
5. Pavements are, however, more fit to be used in the open air, inasmuch as
timbers expanding in a moist atmosphere, and contracting in a dry one, or
sagging in the middle, cause defects in the pavement by their settlements.
Moreover, frosts and ice soon ruin them. But as they are sometimes required,
they must be made as follows. Over the first flooring, boards, others crossing
them, must be laid, fastened with nails; thus giving a double covering to the
beams. The pavement is composed of two parts of fresh rubbish, one of potsherds,
and two of lime.
6. After the first layer of rubbish on the floor, this composition is spread
over it, and pounded into a mass not less than a foot thick. The upper layer
being then spread, as above directed, the pavement, consisting of tesseræ, each
about
two inches thick, is laid, with an inclination of two inches to ten feet:
if thus executed, and afterwards properly rubbed, it will not be liable to
defects. In order that the mortar at the joints may not suffer by the frost, at
the approach of winter every year it should be saturated with the dregs of oil,
which will prevent the frost affecting it.
7. If extraordinary care be required, the pavement is covered with tiles two
feet square,
properly jointed, having small channel, of the size of
an inch, cut on each edge. These are filled with lime tempered with oil, the
edges being rubbed and pressed together. Thus the lime in the channels growing
hard, suffers neither water nor any thing else to penetrate. After this
preparation the upper layer is spread and beaten with sticks. Over this either
large tesseræ or angle tiles are laid at the inclination above directed, and
work so executed will not be easily injured.
Chapter 2
1. Having given the necessary directions in respect of pavement, we shall
explain the method of stuccoing. This requires that the lime should be of the
best quality, and tempered a long time before it is wanted for use; so that if
any of it be not burnt enough, the length of time employed in slaking it may
bring the whole mass to the same consistence. If the lime be not thoroughly
slaked, but used fresh, it will when spread throw out blisters, from the crude
particles it contains, which, in execution, break and destroy the smoothness of
the stucco.
2. When the slaking is properly conducted, and care taken in the preparation
of the materials, a hatchet is used, similar to that with which timber is hewn,
and the lime is to be chopped with it, as it lies in the heap. If the hatchet
strikes upon lumps, the lime is not sufficiently slaked, and when the iron of
the instrument is drawn out dry and clean, it shews that the lime is poor and
weak; but if, when extracted, the iron exhibits a glutinous substance adhering
to it, that not only indicates the richness and thorough slaking of the lime,
but also shews that it has been well tempered. The scaffolding being then
prepared, the compartments of the rooms are executed, except the ceilings be
straight.
Chapter 3
1. When arched ceilings are introduced, they must be executed as follows.
Parallel ribs are set up, not more thantwo
feet apart: those of cypress are preferable, because fir is soon injured by the
rot and age. These ribs being got out to the shape of the curve, they are fixed
to the ties of the flooring or roof, as the case may require, with iron nails.
The ties should be of wood not liable to injury from rot, nor age nor damp, such
as box, juniper, olive, heart of oak, cypress, and the like, common oak always
excepted, which, from its liability to warp, causes cracks in the work whereon
it is employed.
2. The ribs having been fixed, Greek reeds, previously bruised, are tied to
them, in the required form, with cords made of the Spanish broom. On the upper
side of the arch a composition of lime and sand is to be laid, so that if any
water fall from the floor above or from the roof, it may not penetrate. If there
be no supply of Greek reeds, the common slender marsh-reeds may be substituted,
tied together with string in bundles of appropriate length, but of equal
thickness, taking care that the distance from one ligature to another be not
more than
two feet. These are bound with cord to the ribs, as above directed, and made
fast with wooden pins. All the remaining work is to be performed as above
described.
3. The arches being prepared and interwoven with the reeds, a coat is to be
laid on the underside. The sand is afterwards introduced on it, and it is then
polished with chalk or marble. After polishing, the cornices are to be run along
the springing: they are to be as slender and light as possible; for, when large,
they settle by their own weight, and are incapable of sustaining themselves. But
little plaster should be used in them, and the stuff should be of uniform
quality, such as marble-dust; for the former, by setting quickly, does not allow
the work to dry of one consistence. The practice of the antients,
in arched ceilings, is also to be avoided; for their cornices are dangerous,
from their great projection and consequent weight.
4. Some cornices are plain, others of carved, work. In small private rooms,
or where fire or many lights are used, they should be plain, to allow of being
more easily cleaned; in summer rooms, and exedræ,
where the smoke is in such small quantity that it can do no injury, carved
cornices may be used; for white works, from the delicacy of their colour, are
always soiled, not only with the smoke of the house itself, but also with that
of the neighbouring buildings.
5. The cornices being completed, the first coat of the wall is to be laid on
as roughly as possible, and, while drying, the sand coat thereon; setting it
out, in the direction of the length, by the rule and square; in that of the
height, perpendicularly; and in respect of the angles perfectly square; inasmuch
as plastering, thus finished, will be proper for the reception of paintings.
When the work has dried, a second and afterwards a third coat is laid on. The
sounder the sand coat is, the more durable will the work be.
6. When, besides the first coat, three sand coats at least have been laid,
the coat of marble-dust follows; and this is to be so prepared, that when used,
it does not stick to the trowel, but easily comes away from the iron. Whilst the
stucco is drying, another thin coat is to be laid on: this is to be well worked
and rubbed, and then still another, finer than the last. Thus, with three sand
coats, and the same number of marble-dust coats, the wall will be rendered
solid, and not liable to cracks or other defects.
7. When the work is well beaten, and the under coats made solid, and
afterwards well smoothed by the hardness and whiteness of the marble-powder, it
throws out the colours mixed therein with great brilliancy. Colours, when used
with care on damp stucco, do not fade, but are very durable; because the lime
being deprived of its moisture in the kiln, and having become porous and dry,
readily imbibes whatever is placed on it. From their different natures the
various particles unite in the mixture, and, wherever applied, grow solid; and
when dry, the whole seems composed of one body of the same quality.
8. Stucco, therefore, when well executed, does not either become dirty, or
lose its colour when washed, unless it has been carelessly done, or the colour
laid on after the work was dry: if however executed as above directed, it will
be strong, brilliant, and of great durability. When only one coat of sand and
one of marble-dust are used, it is easily broken, from its thinness; and is not,
on that account, capable of acquiring a brilliant appearance.
9. As a silver mirror, made from a thin plate, reflects the image confusedly
and weakly, whilst from a thick solid plate it takes a high polish, and reflects
the image brilliantly and strongly; so plastering, when thin in substance, not
only cracks, but soon decays. On the contrary, that which is well covered with
plaster and stucco, and closely laid on, when well polished, not only shines,
but reflects to the spectators the images falling on it.
10. The plasterers of the Greeks thus not only make their work hard, by
adhering to the above directions, but, when the plaster is mixed, cause it to be
beaten with wooden staves by a great number of men, and use it after this
preparation. Hence, some persons, cutting slabs of plaster from the antient
walls, use them for tables;
and the pieces of plaster so cut out for tables and mirrors, are, of themselves,
very beautiful in appearance.
11. If stucco be used on timber partitions, which are necessarily
constructed with spaces between the upright and cross pieces, and thence, when
smeared with the clay, the reeds, by the side of each other, are to be nailed
thereon with bossed nails; and clay having been laid over these, and another
layer of reeds nailed on the former, but crossed in their direction, so that one
set is nailed upright, and the other horizontally; then, as above described, the
sand and marble coats and finishing are to be followed up. The double row of
reeds thus crossed on walls prevents all cracks and fissures.
Chapter 4
1. I have explained how plastering is executed in dry situations; now
I shall give directions for it, that it may be durable in those that are damp.
First, in apartments on the ground-floor; a height of
three feet from the pavement is to have its first coat of potsherds, instead of
sand, so that this part of the plastering may not be injured by the damp. But if
a wall is liable to continual moisture, another thin wall should be carried up
inside it, as far within as the case will admit; and between the two wall a
cavity is to be left lower than the level of the floor of the apartment, with
openings for air. At the upper part, also, openings must be left; for if the
damp do not evaporate through these holes above and below, it will extend to the
new work. The wall is then to be plastered with the potsherd mortar, made
smooth, and then polished with the last coat.
2. If, however, there be not space for another wall, channels should
nevertheless be made, and holes therefrom to the open air. Then tiles of the
size of two feet
are placed on one side, over the side of the channel, and, on the other side,
piers are built, of eight-inch bricks,
on which the angles of two tiles may lie, that they may not be more distant than
one
palm from each other. Over them other tiles, with returning edges, are fixed
upright, from the bottom to the top of the wall; and the inner surfaces of these
are to be carefully pitched over, that they may resist the moisture; they are,
moreover, to have air-holes at bottom, and at top above the vault.
3. They are then to be whited over with lime and water, that the first coat
may adhere to them; for, from the dryness they acquire in burning, they would
neither take that coat nor sustain it, but for the lime thus interposed, which
joins and unites them. The first coat being laid on, the coat of pounded
potsherds is spread, and the remainder is finished according to the rules above
given.
4. The ornaments for polished stuccos ought to be used with a regard to
propriety, suitable to the nature of the place, and should be varied in their
composition. In winter triclinia, neither large
pictures nor delicate ornaments in the cornice, under the vault, are to be
introduced, because they are soon injured by the smoke of the fire, and of the
quantity of lights used therein. In these, above the podium,
polished pannels of a black colour
are introduced, with yellow or red margins round them. The method of finishing
plain as well as enriched ceilings having been described, it will not be amiss,
in case any one should wish to know it, to explain the construction of the
pavements used in the Grecian winter rooms; which is not only economical but
useful.
5. The floor of the triclinium is excavated to
the depth of about
two feet; and after the bottom is well rammed, a pavement of rubbish or
potsherds is spread over it, with a declivity towards the holes of the drain.
A composition of pounded coals, lime, sand, and ashes, is mixed up and spread
thereover, half a foot in thickness, perfectly smooth and level. The surface
being then rubbed with stone, it as the appearance of a black pavement. Thus, at
their banquets, the liquor that is spilt, and the expectoration which falls on
it, immediately dry up; and the persons who wait on the guests, though
barefooted, do not suffer from cold on this sort of pavement.
Chapter 5
1. In the other rooms, namely, those for vernal, autumnal and summer use: in
atria also, and peristylia,
certain kinds of pictures were used by the ancients. Painting represents
subjects which exist or may exist, such as men, houses, ships, and other things,
the forms and precise figures of which are transferred to their representations.
Hence those of the ancients who first used polished coats of plastering,
originally imitated the variety and arrangement of inlaid marbles. Afterwards
the variety was extended to the cornices, and the yellow and red frames of
pannels,
2. from which they proceeded to the representations of buildings, columns,
and the projections of roofs. In spacious apartments, such as
exedræ, on account of their extent, they decorated
the wall with scenery, after the tragic, comic or satyric mode; and galleries
from their extended length, they decorated with varied landscapes, the
representations of particular spots. In these they also painted ports,
promontories, the coasts of the sea, rivers, fountains, straits, groves,
mountains, cattle, shepherds, and sometimes figures representing gods, and
stories, such as the Trojan battles, or the wanderings of Ulysses over different
countries, and other subjects, founded on real history.
3. But those which were used by the ancients are now tastelessly laid aside:
inasmuch as monsters are painted in the present day rather than objects whose
prototype are to be observed in nature. For columns reeds are substituted; for
pediments the stalks, leaves, and tendrils of plants; candelabra are made to
support the representations of small buildings, from whose summits many stalks
appear to spring with absurd figures thereon. Not less so are those stalks with
figures rising from them, some with human heads, and others with the heads of
beasts;
4. because similar forms never did, do, nor can exist in nature. These new
fashions have so much prevailed, that for want of competent judges, true art is
little esteemed. How is it possible for a reed to support a roof, or a
candelabrum to bear a house with the ornaments on its roof, or a small and
pliant stalk to carry a sitting figure; or, that half figures and flowers at the
same time should spring out of roots and stalks? And yet the public, so far from
discouraging these falsehoods, are delighted with them, not for a moment
considering whether such things could exist. Hence the minds of the multitude,
misled by improper judges, do not discern that which is founded on reason and
the rules of propriety. No pictures should be tolerated but those established on
the basis of truth; and although admirably painted, they should be immediately
discarded, if they transgress the rules of propriety and perspicuity as respects
the subject.
5. At Tralles, a town of Lydia, when Apaturius of Alabanda had painted an
elegant scene for the little theatre which they call
e)kklhsiasth/rion, in which, instead of columns, he introduced statues
and centaurs to support the epistylium, the circular
end of the dome, and angles of the pediments, and ornamented the cornice with
lions' heads, all which are appropriate as ornaments of the roofing and eaves of
edifices; he painted above them, in the episcenium, a
repetition of the domes, porticos, half pediments, and other parts of roofs and
their ornaments. Upon the exhibition of this scene, which on account of its
richness gave great satisfaction, every one was ready to applaud, when Licinius,
the mathematician, advanced, and thus addressed them:
6. "The Alabandines are sufficiently informed in civil matters, but are
without judgment on subjects of less moment; for the statues in their Gymnasium
are all in the attitude of pleading causes, whilst those in the forum are
holding the discus, or in the attitude of running, or playing with balls, so
that the impropriety of the attitudes of the figures in such places disgraces
the city. Let us therefore, be careful by our treatment of the scene of
Apaturius, not to deserve the appellation of Alabandines or Abderites; for who
among you would place columns or pediments on the tiles which cover the roofs of
your houses? These things stand on the floors, not on the tiles. If, then,
approbation is conferred on representations in painting which cannot exist in
fact, we of this city shall be like those who for a similar error are accounted
illiterate."
7. Apaturius dared not reply, but took down and altered the scene, so as to
make it consistent with truth, and then it was approved. O that the gods would
restore Licinius to life, that he might correct the folly, and fashionable
inconsistency in our stucco work. It is not foreign to my purpose to show how
inconsistency overcomes truth. The ancients laboured to accomplish and render
pleasing by dint of art, that which in the present day is obtained by means of
strong and gaudy colouring, and for the effect which was formerly obtained only
by the skill of the artist, a prodigal expense is now substituted,
8. Who in former times used minium otherwise than as a medicine?
In the present age, however, walls are every where covered with it
 To this may be
added the use of chrysocolla, purple, and azure decorations, which, without the
aid of real art, produce a splendid effect. These are so costly, that unless
otherwise stated in agreements, they are to be, by law, charged to the account
of the employer. To my utmost I have described the means for avoiding defective
plastering, and as lime has previously been sufficiently treated of, it now
remains to treat of marble.
Chapter 6
1. Marble is not alike in all countries. In some places it contains pellucid
particles, similar to those of salt, which, when bruised and ground, impart
great solidity to plastering cornices. When these are not to be obtained, the
chips (assulæ), as they are denominated, which the
workers in marble throw off in working, may be substituted after being pounded
and sifted. They are to be separated into three sorts, of which that which
contains the larger particles, is, as we have above directed, to be laid on with
the sand and lime: then follows the second coat, and afterwards, the third which
is finer in texture. After this preparation, and a careful polishing of the
work, the colours which it is to receive are to be considered, so that they may
be brilliant. Their variety and the method of preparing them will be found in
the following pages.
Chapter 7
1. Some are found in certain places in a native state, and thence dug up,
whilst others are composed of different substances, ground and mixed together,
so as to answer the same purpose.
First we shall
explain the nature of that which is found native, called by the Greeks
w}xra. This, as in Italy, is discovered in many
places, but the best is the Attic sort, which cannot now be procured, for in
working the silver mines at Athens, if by chance they fell upon a vein of ochre,
they followed it up as they would one of silver. Hence the ancients used
abundance of ochre in their finishings.
2. Red ochre is also found in many places, but the best only in a few, as at
Sinope, in Pontus; in Egypt; in the Balearic Islands, near the coast of Spain;
also in Lemnos, the revenue of which island the senate and people of Rome
granted to the Athenians. The Parætonion takes its name from the place where it
is dug up. The Melinon on a similar account is so called, from its abundance in
Melos, one of the Cyclades. Green chalk is also found in many places; but the
best comes from Smyrna, and is called by the Greeks yeodo/tion,
because Theodotus was the owner of the land in which it was first discovered.
Orpiment, which is called a)rse/nikon in Greek, is
obtained from Pontus. Red lead is also obtained from many places, but the best
comes from Pontus, near the river Hypanis. In other spots as in the country
between the borders of Magnesia and Ephesus, it is procured from the earth in
such a state as to want neither grinding nor sifting, but quite as fine as that
which is ground and pounded by hand.
Chapter 8
1. I shall now speak of vermilion. This is said to have been first found in
the Cilbian fields of the Ephesians, and the manner of procuring and preparing
it is very curious. A clod of earth is selected, which, before it is
manufactured into vermilion, is called Anthrax,
wherein are veins resembling iron, but of a red colour, and having a red dust
round them. When dug up, it is beaten with iron bars till a great number of
drops of quicksilver exude from it; these are immediately collected by the
excavators.
2. The clods, when collected in the laboratory, are thrown into a furnace to
dry; and the fumes that rise from them through the action of the fire fall
condensed on the floor of the furnace, and are found to be quicksilver. But as,
from the smallness of the drops which thus remain, they cannot be gathered up,
they are swept into a vessel of water, in which they run together and re-unite.
These, when they fill a vessel of the capacity of
four
sextarii, weigh
one
hundred pounds.
3. If quicksilver be placed in a vessel, and a stone of a hundred pounds
weight be placed on it, it will swim at the top, and will, notwithstanding its
weight, be incapable of pressing the liquid so as to break or separate it. If
this be taken out, and only a single scruple of gold put in, that will not swim,
but immediately descend to the bottom. This is a proof that the gravity of a
body does not depend on its weight, but on its nature.
4. Quicksilver is used for many purposes; without it, neither silver nor
brass can be properly gilt. When gold is embroidered on a garment which is worn
out and no longer fit for use, the cloth is burnt over the fire in earthen pots;
the ashes are thrown into water, and quicksilver added to them: this collects
all the particles of gold, and unites with them. The water is then poured off,
and the residuum placed in a cloth: which, when squeezed with the hands, suffers
the liquid quicksilver to pass through the pores of the cloth, but retains the
gold in a mass within it.
Chapter 9
1. I now return to the preparation of vermilion. When the clods are dry,
they are pounded and reduced to powder with iron beaters, and then, by means of
repeated washings and dryings, the colour is produced. When this is effected,
the vermilion, deprived of the quicksilver, loses its natural tenacity, and
becomes soft and disconnected; and used in the last coat of the plastering of
rooms, keeps its colour without fading.
2. But in open places, such as peristylia or
exedræ, and similar situations whereto the rays of
the sun and moon penetrate, the brilliancy of the colour is destroyed by contact
with them, and it becomes black. Thus, as it has happened to many others,
Faberius, the scribe, wising to have his house on the Aventine elegantly
finished, coloured the wall of the peristylia with
vermilion. In the course of thirty days they turned to a disagreeable uneven
colour; on which account he was obliged to agree with the contractors to lay on
other colours.
3. Those who are particular in this respect, and are desirous that the
vermilion should retain its colour, should, when the wall is coloured and dry,
rub it with a hard brush charged with Punic wax melted and tempered with oil:
then, with live coals in an iron pan, the wall should be thoroughly heated, so
as to melt the wax and make it lie even, and then rubbed with a candle and clean
cloth, as they do marble statues. This practice is called
kau=sij by the Greeks.
4. The coat of Punic wax prevents the effect of the moon's as well as that
of the suns' rays thereon which injure and destroy the colours in work of this
nature. The laboratories which were formerly carried on at the mines in Ephesus
are now transferred to Rome, on account of mines of the same sort having been
discovered in some parts of Spain, whence the clods are brought and worked by
manufacturers at Rome. These laboratories are situated between the temples of
Flora and
Quirinus.
5. Vermilion is occasionally adulterated with lime. The following is a
method by which its goodness may be proved. Let the vermilion be placed on an
iron plate over the fire, and remain till the plate is red hot: when the heat
has changed the colour, and it appears black, let the plate be removed from the
fire. If, when cooled, it returns to its original colour, it may be considered
pure. but if it remain of a black colour, it is quite clear that it has been
adulterated.
6. I have written all that I remember respecting vermilion. Chrysocolla
comes from Macedonia, and is found in the vicinity of copper mines. Minium and
indigo, by their names, indicate the places from whence they are obtained.
Chapter 10
1. I have now to speak of those bodies which, from particular treatment,
change their qualities, and acquire the properties of colours; and first, of
black, which is much employed in different works, in order that it may be known
how it is prepared for use.
2. An apartment is built similar to a laconicum,
plastered with marble stucco, and polished. In front of it is built a furnace,
which communicates with the laconicum; the mouth of
this is to be very carefully closed, for the purpose of preventing the escape of
the flame. Resin is then placed in the furnace, whose smoke, when the material
is set on fire, passes by means of communications into the
laconicum, and therein adheres to the wall and the arched ceiling. It is
then collected, and some part of it is tempered with gum, to make ink for
transcribers; the remainder is used by stuccoers in colouring wall, being
previously mixed with size.
3. But if this cannot be procured, in order to prevent delay, the following
expedient may be adopted. Pine branches or chips must be burnt, and, when
thoroughly charred, pounded in a mortar with size. Thus the plasterer will
procure an agreeable black colour.
4. A black colour, not less pleasing, is made by drying and burning lees of
wine in a furnace, and grinding the result with size. Indeed, this makes a very
agreeable black. The better the wine whose lees are used, the better will be the
black colour; which will, in such case, approach the colour of indigo.
Chapter 11
1. Blue was first manufactured at Alexandria, and afterwards by Vestorius at
Puzzuoli. The method of making it, and the nature of the ingredients, merit our
attention. Sand is ground with flowers of sulphur, till the mixture is as fine
as flour, to which coarse filings of Cyprian copper are added, so as to make a
paste when moistened with water; this is rolled into balls with the hand, and
dried. The balls are then put into an earthen vessel, and that is placed in a
furnace. Thus the copper and sand heating together by the intensity of the fire,
impart to each other their different qualities, and thereby acquire their blue
colour.
2. Burnt yellow, which is much used in stuccos, is thus made. A lump of good
yellow earth is heated red hot; it is then quenched in vinegar, by which it
acquires a purple colour.
Chapter 12
1. It will be proper to explain in what manner white lead is made, and also
verdigrease, which we call æruca. The Rhodians place,
in the bottoms of large vessels, a layer of twigs, over which they pour vinegar,
and on the twigs they lay masses of lead. The vessels are covered, to prevent
evaporation; and when, after a certain time, they are opened, the masses are
found changed into white lead. In the same way they make verdigrease, which is
called æruca, by means of plates of copper.
2. The white lead is roasted in a furnace, and, by the action of the fire,
becomes red lead. This invention was the result of observation in the case of an
accidental fire; and, by the process, a much better material is obtained than
that which is procured from mines.
Chapter 13
1. I shall now speak of purple, which, above all other colours, has a
delightful effect, not less from its rarity than from its excellence. It is
procured from the marine shell which yields the scarlet dye, and possesses
qualities not less extraordinary than those of any of the body whatever. It does
not in all places where it is found possess the same quality of colour; but
varies in that respect according to the sun's course.
2. Thus, that which is obtained in Pontus and in Galatia, from the nearness
of those countries to the north, is brown; in those between the south and the
west, it is pale; that which is found in the equinoctial regions, east and west,
is of a violet hue; lastly, that which comes from southern countries possesses a
red quality: the red sort is also found in the island of Rhodes, and other
places near the equator.
3. After the shells are gathered they are broken into small pieces with iron
bars; from the blows of which, the purple dye oozes out like tears, and is
drained into mortars and ground. It is called ostrum,
because extracted from marine shells. Inasmuch as this colour, from its saltness,
soon dries, it is prepared for use with honey.
Chapter 14
1. Purple colours are also made by tinging chalk with madder-root and
hysginum. Divers colours are also made from flowers.
Thus, when dyers are desirous of imitating the Attic ochre, they put dry violets
into a vessel, and boil them. When so prepared, they pour the contents of the
vessel on to a cloth, and, squeezing it with their hands, receive in a mortar
the water thus coloured by the violet, and then, mixing Eretrian earth with it,
and grinding it, the colour of Attic ochre is produced.
2. In the same way an excellent purple is obtained by preparing
vaccinium, and mixing it with milk. So also, those
who cannot afford the use of chrysocolla, mix blue with the herb weld, and thus
obtain a brilliant green. These are called factitious colours. On account of the
dearness of indigo, Selinusian chalk, or that used for making rings, is mixed
with glass, which the Greeks call u#aloj; and thus
they imitate indigo.
3. In this book I have explained, as they have occurred to me, the methods
of making colours for painting, so that they may be durable and appropriate.
Thus, in seven books, are methodically laid down all the rules that relate to
the perfection and convenience of buildings. In the following book I shall treat
of water, how it is to be found and conveyed to any place; as also how to
ascertain its salubrity, and fitness for the purposes to which it is to be
applied.
Thayer's Notes:
temples of Honor and Virtue: Almost certainly a translation error,
although an excusable one. The Latin text has aedis Honoris
et Virtutis, which does appear to be a plural — except that
aedes is one of those words that is plural in form
while usually meaning a singular. Ancient authors provide an abundance of
testimony, however, that only one temple is meant; the clearest such passage
I've found is in Plutarch's Life of Marcellus
(chapter 28).
Actually, there were at least two such temples in Rome, but each one was to
both Honor and Virtue: for details, see
the articles in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome.)
Who in former times used minium otherwise than as a medicine?: On the
surface, this curious translation might seem to be what the Latin says, but it
skips over parce, possibly because of an inferior
manuscript, and misses the point altogether.
To start with, the ancients before Vitruvius had been using minium for a
long time, and not only as a medicine: Pliny
(N.H. 35.xx.38) tells us in fact that it was first used as a pigment by the
Athenian painter Nicias.
Granger (Loeb edition) therefore translates this passage: "For who of the
ancients is not found to use minium as sparingly as the apothecary?"; while
Choisy's translation
is best of all, succeeding both in getting the meaning across and in following
the Latin text exactly: "En effet, qui des anciens paraît avoir fait usage du vermillon
autrement qu'avec parcimonie, comme (on use) d'un médicament?"
Minium was used as a medicine alright (see for example Cels. de Med.
IV.22.5,
V.20.3 and passim,
VI.6.19 and passim), but very sparingly indeed:
it's toxic. Pliny
(N.H. 29.viii.25) says that because of its toxicity you should watch out
when you add minium to medicines, and
(N.H. 33.xl.122) that factory workers wear masks to avoid dangerous exposure
to minium dust. In our own day, since the substance is still used medicinally
today in plasters and ointments, see The Merck Index, s.v. "Lead Tetroxide":
where it is marked Poisonous!
Vitruvius is saying that a very little garish bright red goes a long way as
an accent color, and too much will 'poison' the artistic result.
. . . will be found in the following pages: This sentence, the Latin
original of which, by the way, is not in Teubner (probably rejected as a gloss,
although there is nothing to that effect in the apparatus of the 1867 edition),
is either a gross anachronism of the translator's, or of some interest.
In Vitruvius' time, books still almost universally took the form of
parchment rolls: there are therefore no "pages", and Vitruvius almost certainly
did not write this.
Now although Joseph Gwilt our translator never states which edition of the
Latin text he is using, he writes of the last Latin text listed by him in his
introductory material, that of G. J. Göschen (Lepizig, 1807), that it "is the
best edition of the Author which has appeared." If then the reading of this
passage in that edition is based on a particular manuscript which does indeed
have pagina, someone along the line was writing in a
codex rather on a parchment roll. Since by the early Middle Ages the codex was
universal, the question then becomes at what point this phrase crept into the
manuscript.
I have not seen the Göschen edition.
This practice is called kau=sij: Although the
general principles of encaustic (in which heated wax serves as a binder or
fixative for the pigments) are known, the art as practiced by the ancients is
now lost. This is one of the key passages to unraveling its secrets. For a
series of interesting experiments by Josiah Colebrooke, Fellow of the Royal
Society, including his translation of this passage, with empirical commentary,
see
this page of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 51,
1759. (Note: if in going to the next page, the arrow at that site yields a
supposed error, increment the last number in the URL manually.)
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