CHAP. I. VITRUVIUS

the Princess your sister This refers to Octavia the Younger, the sister of Augustus, who was a significant patron of the arts and architecture in Rome., you have had the kindness to grant me the same rewards I received while serving with Marcus Aurelius, Publius Minidius, and Gnaeus Cornelius on the commission given to me for the construction and maintenance of Ballistae, Scorpions These were ancient torsion engines used as artillery; Ballistae threw large stones, while Scorpions fired heavy bolts or arrows., and other engines of war; I feel obliged by such great benefits, which have placed me beyond the fear of want for the rest of my days, to devote them to writing about this science. I do so with all the more reason as I see that you have always taken pleasure in building, and that you continue with the intent to complete several Edifices, both public and private, to leave to posterity illustrious monuments of your noble actions.

This Book contains the designs of several Edifices and all the necessary precepts to reach perfection in Architecture, so that you may judge for yourself the beauty of the Buildings you have made and those you will make in the future.

CHAPTER I.

A ARCHITECTURE is a science that must be accompanied by a great diversity of studies and knowledge, by means of which it judges all the works B Practice and Reasoning original: "Fabrica Ratiocinatio" of the other arts belonging to it. This science is acquired through Practice and Theory. Practice consists of a continual application to the execution of the designs one has proposed, according to which the appropriate form is given to the material from which C all sorts of works are made. Theory explains and demonstrates the fitness of the proportions that the things one wishes to manufacture must have. This is why Architects who have tried to reach the perfection of their art through the exercise of the hand alone have made little progress, however great their labor, no more than those who believed that the mere knowledge of letters and reasoning alone could lead them there; for they have never seen more than the shadow of it. But those who have joined Practice to Theory were the only ones who succeeded in their enterprise, having equipped themselves with everything necessary to achieve their goal.

D In Architecture, as in every other science, two things are noted: that which is signified and that which signifies. The thing signified is the subject under discussion, and that which signifies is the demonstration of it given through reasoning supported by science. This is why it is necessary for the Architect to know both perfectly. Thus, he must be both ingenious and industrious; for spirit without labor, nor labor without spirit, never made any craftsman perfect. He must therefore know how to write and draw, * E be instructed in Geometry, and not be ignorant of Optics, have learned Arithmetic, and know much of History, have well-studied Philosophy, have knowledge of Music, and some tincture of Medicine, Law, and Astrology.

1. ARCHITECTURE IS A SCIENCE. This definition does not seem precise enough to me because it only explains the name of Architecture according to the Greek, and it even attributes to it a broader meaning than that of the Greek word by giving it the direction of all kinds of Craftsmen, of which there may be many who are not included in the word Tecton original Greek: τέκτων, meaning a builder or carpenter., which only signifies the craftsmen employed in buildings. But Vitruvius's intention was to exaggerate the merit and dignity of this science, as he explains in the rest of the chapter, where he wishes to imply that all sciences are necessary to an Architect. Indeed, Architecture is the only science to which the Greeks gave a name signifying superiority and superintendence over the others; and when Cicero gives examples of a science with a vast scope, he cites Architecture, Medicine, and Morality. Plato was of the same opinion when he said that Greece, as learned as it was in his time, would have had difficulty providing one Architect.

2. WHICH BELONG TO IT. These words are not expressly in the text, but they must be there because it is not true that Architecture judges all other Arts, but only those belonging to it; and it is not believable that Vitruvius wished to push the praise of Architecture so far.

3. THIS SCIENCE IS ACQUIRED BY PRACTICE AND THEORY. The words Fabrica and Ratiocinatio, in the way Vitruvius explains them, could not be translated otherwise than by Practice and Theory, because reasoning is too general a word, and "Fabrique" is not used in this sense in French.

4. TWO THINGS ARE NOTED. I believe Vitruvius means by the thing "signified" that which is considered absolutely and simply as it appears to be, and by the thing that "signifies," that which makes one know the internal nature of a thing by its own causes. Thus, in Architecture, a Building that appears well-built is the thing signified; and the reasons that make this Building well-built are the thing that signifies—that is to say, which makes known the merit of the work.

5. HE MUST KNOW HOW TO WRITE. I did not believe I should translate the word Literatus Latin: "literatus" usually means well-educated or scholarly. literally, which properly signifies one who is provided with uncommon erudition and who at least knows Grammar perfectly. Vitruvius explains himself sufficiently on this when he reduces all this literature of the Architect to being capable of making his estimates and memoirs, and when he explains in the following section the examination by having him read, which signifies knowing how to write. It is in this sense that Nero once said, when at the beginning of his empire he was made to sign a death sentence, "I wish I did not know how to write" original Latin: "vellem nescire literas.".