The Ten Books on Architecture, 4.3.9

Vitruvius  Parallel editions

‹‹‹ Vitr. 4.3.8 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 4.3.10 ›››

Gwilt translation

9It is necessary that the columns should be wrought in twenty faces, which, if plane, will have twenty angles; but if channelled, they are to be so formed, that a square being described, whose side is equal to that of the channel or flute, if, in the middle of the square, the point of a pair of compasses be placed, and a segment of a circle be drawn, touching the angles of the square, such segment will determine their sinking. Thus is the Doric column properly chamfered.

Morgan translation

9The columns should be fluted with twenty flutes. If these are to be left plane, only the twenty angles need be marked off. But if they are to be channelled out, the contour of the channelling may be determined thus: draw a square with sides equal in length to the breadth of the fluting, and centre a pair of compasses in the middle of this square. Then describe a circle with a circumference touching the angles of the square, and let the channellings have the contour of the segment formed by the circumference and the side of the square. The fluting of the Doric column will thus be finished in the style appropriate to it.