‹‹‹ Vitr. 5.0.2 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 5.0.4 ›››
3I am moreover inclined to be concise when I reflect on the constant occupation of the citizens in public and private affairs, so that in their few leisure moments they may read and understand as much as possible. Pythagoras and his followers wrote the precepts of their doctrines in cubical arrangement, the cube containing two hundred and sixteen verses, of which they thought that not more than three should be allotted to any one precept.
3Furthermore, since I have observed that our citizens are distracted with public affairs and private business, I have thought it best to write briefly, so that my readers, whose intervals of leisure are small, may be able to comprehend in a short time.
Then again, Pythagoras and those who came after him in his school thought it proper to employ the principles of the cube in composing books on their doctrines, and, having determined that the cube consisted of 216 lines, held that there should be no more than three cubes in any one treatise.