Introduction
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 posterity.
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 honour of the Muses and Apollo, and appointed
prizes and honours 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 honoured 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 centre 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 façade,
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 favoured 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 façades 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 Septimius, two.
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 Honour and Valour, 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 works.
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.
Chapter One
Floors
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 it.
7. If, however, it seems needful to use still greater care, lay two-foot
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.
Chapter Three
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 mouldings 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
mouldings the soffits overhang very heavily, and are dangerous.
4. Some mouldings 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 mouldings, 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 splendour the colours
which are laid on at the same time with the polishing.
These colours, 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 colours 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 bevelled 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 cross-sticks, 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
"fly-nails," 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.
Chapter Four
On Stucco Work in Damp Places, and on the Decoration of Dinning 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 airholes 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 two-foot 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 eight-inch 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 airholes.
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 spirted 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.
Chapter Five
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 façades 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 harbours, 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 over 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 skilful hand
the scaena of the little theatre which is there called the ἑκκλησιαστἡριον,
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[213] 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
endeavoured to attain by working hard and taking pains, is now attempted by the
use of colours 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 colours 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 the
beginning.