The Ten Books on Architecture, 5.8.1

Vitruvius  translated by Joseph Gwilt

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8When these matters are arranged with great care and skill, particular attention must be bestowed on the choice of a place where the voice falls smoothly, and reaches the ear distinctly without an echo. Some places are naturally unfavourable to the diffusion of the voice. Such are the dissonant, which in Greek are called κατηχοῦντες; the circumsonant, which the Greeks call περιηχοῦντες; the resonant, which they call ἀντηχοῦντες; and the consonant, which they call συνηχοῦντες. The dissonant places are those in which the voice, rising first upwards, is obstructed by some hard bodies above, and, in its return downwards, checks the ascent of its following sounds.

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