‹‹‹ Vitr. 2.1.7 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 2.1.9 ›››
8Lest any one object that the order of my treatise on the matters in question be not well arranged, and that this book should have had precedence of the last, I think it proper to state, that in writing a Dissertation on Architecture I considered myself bound, in the first place, to set forth those branches of learning and science with which it is connected, to explain its origin and different species, and to enumerate the qualifications which an architect should possess. Hence, having first adverted to those principles on which the art depends, I shall now proceed to an explanation of the nature and use of the different materials employed in the practice of it. This work not being intended for a treatise on the origin of architecture; that origin, and the degrees by which it passed to its present state of perfection, is only incidentally mentioned.
8Some persons, however, may find fault with the position of this book, thinking that it should have been placed first. I will therefore explain the matter, lest it be thought that I have made a mistake. Being engaged in writing a complete treatise on architecture, I resolved to set forth in the first book the branches of learning and studies of which it consists, to define its departments, and to show of what it is composed. Hence I have there declared what the qualities of an architect should be. In the first book, therefore, I have spoken of the function of the art, but in this I shall discuss the use of the building materials which nature provides. For this book does not show of what architecture is composed, but treats of the origin of the building art, how it was fostered, and how it made progress, step by step, until it reached its present perfection.