‹‹‹ Vitr. 2.0.4 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 2.1.1 ›››
5In the first book I have treated of architecture, and the parts into which it is divided; of the walls of a city, and the division of the space within the walls. The directions for the construction of sacred buildings, their proportions and symmetry, will follow and be explained: but I think they will be out of place, unless I previously give an account of the materials and workmanship used in their erection, together with an investigation of their several properties and application in different cases. Even this I must preface with an inquiry into the origin and various species of the earliest buildings, and their gradual advance to perfection. In this I shall follow the steps of Nature herself, and those who have written on the progress from savage to civilized life, and the inventions consequent on the latter state of society. Thus guided, I will proceed.
5In my first book, I have said what I had to say about the functions of architecture and the scope of the art, as well as about fortified towns and the apportionment of building sites within the fortifications. Although it would next be in order to explain the proper proportions and symmetry of temples and public buildings, as well as of private houses, I thought best to postpone this until after I had treated the practical merits of the materials out of which, when they are brought together, buildings are constructed with due regard to the proper kind of material for each part, and until I had shown of what natural elements those materials are composed. But before beginning to explain their natural properties, I will prefix the motives which originally gave rise to buildings and the development of inventions in this field, following in the steps of early nature and of those writers who have devoted treatises to the origins of civilization and the investigation of inventions. My exposition will, therefore, follow the instruction which I have received from them.