‹‹‹ Vitr. 2.8.4 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 2.8.6 ›››
5In these respects one cannot refrain from admiring the walls of the Greeks. They make no use of soft stone in their buildings: when, however, they do not employ squared stone, they use either flint or hard stone; and, as though building with brick, they cross or break the upright joints, and thus produce the most durable work. There are two sorts of this species of work; one called ISODOMUM, the other PSEUDISODOMUM.
5Consequently, the method of construction employed by the Greeks is not to be despised. They do not use a structure of soft rubble polished on the outside, but whenever they forsake dimension stone, they lay courses of lava or of some hard stone, and, as though building with brick, they bind the upright joints by interchanging the direction of the stones as they lie in the courses. Thus they attain to a perfection that will endure to eternity. These structures are of two kinds. One of them is called “isodomum,” the other “pseudisodomum.”