Marcus Vitruvius Pollio:

de Architectura
Introduction and Table of Contents
Another orphan text that no one wanted to enter, but that many nevertheless will be glad to see
online. (Why is it that the self-aggrandizements of Cicero, the lecheries and whining of Ovid and
the blatherings of that debauched old goose Seneca made it onto the Net before the works that
give us solid technical information about what Rome was really good at, viz. the construction of
her great buildings and works of engineering?)
Anyway, the text has been thoroughly proofed, and I believe it to be errorfree (but if there are
errors, please report them). I've already provided a very few preliminary annotations, but much
other material remains to be added, first and foremost among which are the drawings.
If you are looking for information about the architecture of amphitheatres or circuses, or about
the engineering of bridges or roads, this is not the place for it, surprisingly: Vitruvius never so
much as mentions a bridge of any type, and as for his references to the others, they are very
infrequent and utterly incidental. His references are:
amphitheatres and circuses (once each, in the same sentence: 1.vii.1)
roads (8 times: 1.v.1 1.v.2 4.v.2 5.vi.3 8.iii.7 8.iii.9 10.ii.11 10.ix.1)
Good information can be found elsewhere for amphitheatres and circuses.

The Texts of Vitruvius on LacusCurtius

Text and Translations
The Latin text is that of the Teubner edition of 1899 by Valentin Rose. I examined the Augustus
Rode text (Berlin, 1800) only to reject it as obviously inferior; and I looked at the Teubner
edition of 1867. (The Loeb text, by the way, was published in 1931: it may or may not be in the
public domain, depending on whether U.S. copyright was renewed in 1959. Now that the
Teubner is entered, I intend to collate it with the Loeb text and see just what differences there
might be: this will wait, however, until the French translation is proofed and the drawings
added.)
I know of 4 complete English translations:
Vitruvius: De Architectura, translated by Frank Granger; Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard
University Press, 1931.
Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture, translated by Morris Hicky Morgan; Cambridge
(Mass.): Harvard University Press, 1914.
The Architecture of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, translated by Joseph Gwilt, London: Priestley and
Weale, 1826.
The Architecture of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, translated from the original Latin by W. Newton,
Architect, London: Dodsley, 1771 and 1791 (of which Gwilt says: "This Edition exhibits such a
mixture of ignorance of the original in the translation of the text, with so much intelligence in
some of the notes, that it is difficult to believe they are from the same hand.")
I examined the three most recent ones, and chose to enter the Gwilt translation of 1826.
Although it is based on a Latin text much earlier than the careful Teubner editions (the textual
differences are in fact rather minor) I feel, based on spot comparisons of various passages, that
on technical grounds it is the best, if only marginally. Where on closer inspection newer or better
Latin readings lead to different translations, I'll insert them myself as footnotes.

I should point out that in general, the more technical the subject, the more the translations
diverge. Those of you used to relying on the commonly available Loeb edition will find some of
its obscurities and mistakes rectified here (and almost certainly vice versa, unfortunately).
The French translation I selected is the Choisy translation of 1909. (A database-formatted
version of the 1547 translation by Jean Martin can be found offsite, by the way: it is the only
complete translation of Vitruvius online other than mine.)
NOTE: While THE WEB Online Library And Reading Room started out with just a single
book (Book 10) of the ten book series online, and only in the English Version, we have now
added the other 9 books in English, and we hope eventually to put all ten books up in all the
languages available.---Evian Blackthorn---

Chapter and Section Numbering, Headings, Greek

Although for the English text I used the Gwilt edition - without following later editors in the
very occasional transposition of small passages - I followed the numbering found in the Loeb
edition, since that makes this online edition easier to refer to. This affects several books.
Chapter headings will eventually be inserted. A reminder that they are of doubtful authority
since appearing in few manuscripts, and those late.
Section numbers also serve as links to the Latin text of that section, which open in another
window. The sections of the Latin text are in turn linked back to the other languages.
The unaccented Greek in the Latin text is in font Symbol, which most people should have. The
English translation uses accented Greek: it is in font Mounce, which few people have, but which
is burned in on those pages. Users of Netscape will thus read the Greek whether you have the
font or not. Users of MSIE will see gook, because the Microsoft product, typically, does not
follow standard coding.
NOTE: The last two paragraphs above do not apply to the version in THE WEB Online Library
And Reading Room. The links to the Latin text have been removed, at least until we have the
Latin text ready to go online. In all probabilities, we will simply put the Latin and other language
texts up with their own separate Introduction and Table of Contents. As for the font used for the
Greek, since the Mounce font did not download properly, I have had to convert all the Greek to
unaccented Greek using the Symbol font. I hope I did it right, as I do not read or write Greek.
---Evian Blackthorn---

Apparatus, Explanatory Material and Figures, Commentary

I have no plans to put an apparatus criticus online, except for a very small section of Book X
involving numbers.
On the other hand, the subject matter is such that a bare text is often very difficult to follow;
and even where it is clear, the interest of the work is enhanced if examples can be shown.
I am therefore committed to providing the ample illustration required. Fortunately there is no
shortage of figures and architectural drawings in any number of editions of the De Architectura:
it should be a matter of using the clearest ones possible, consistent with a uniform look, and
presenting them systematically. Also by good fortune, it turns out I've taken quite a few
photographs that can illustrate a number of Vitruvius' points: little by little, they'll be popped in
as well.
Similarly, this is a text that generally speaking cries out for annotation, and has already been
subjected to it at the hands of many. Vitruvius fails for example to define many of his technical
terms, some of which must have been obscure to the layperson in his time, let alone now. An
explanatory glossary and/or some kind of running notes are thus essential. It will be interesting to

see what I can come up with.

In this regard, Auguste Choisy's notes to his own translation are sometimes very valuable: I
have added them or will be adding them, translated into English of course, to Gwilt's text.

Background Material
Additional material on Vitruvius will eventually appear here, but I'm not about to let that delay
anything: I'm getting the texts online first.
All of this takes time!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Book I (52 kb)
Dedication to the Emperor; branches of knowledge that an architect must be acquainted with; the
factors involved in siting a town and designing its walls, including a rather odd extended
explanation of the various winds.
Book II (64 kb)
A story about Dinocrates, architect to Alexander the Great, serves as prologue. Second prologue,
on the origins of architecture; but most of the book is about materials: bricks, sand, lime,
pozzolan concrete; kinds of stone and types of stone masonry; timber.
Book III (48 kb)
Some comments on the chance nature of fame in the arts serve as a rather irrelevant prologue: it
seems clear Vitruvius felt he had to have one. The book then proceeds to temples, setting forth
some basic definitions, then describing a canon for the construction of temples of the Ionic order.
Book IV (41 kb)
Corinthian and Doric temples; temple doors and altars; the Tuscan order, which Vitruvius seems
to find primitive.
Book V (60 kb)
In which the author warns you that architecture is highly technical, then proves it in spades in his
exposition of civil public spaces: the forum, the basilica, the theatre and its porticos, the palaestra
and the baths; harbors. Vitruvius takes particular delight in the acoustics of the theatre about
which he seems to know much, much more than he has allowed himself to tell us for fear of
boring us: it's a pity.
Book VI (53 kb)
Prologue: poor but honest makes a good architect. A second sort of prologue on the diversity of
mankind from climate to climate, easing into the topic of private houses: their construction
should depend on the climate as well. Layout of the Roman house and the Greek house;
considerations of weather, function of the rooms, social position of the owner.
Book VII (61 kb)
Long prologue on the importance of sharing knowledge, and, conversely, not plagiarizing. True
to his word, Vitruvius then shares with us his recipes for interior decoration: the preparation and
execution of wall paintings: lime, stucco, plaster, pigments.

Book VIII (65 kb)

Water: how to find it, where it comes from, types of water, how to judge its quality; how to
transport it (aqueducts). A disappointing book though, since most of it is given over to anecdotal
material, cribbed from other authors, about the effects of waters from various sources.
Book IX (76 kb)
Prologue: architects deserve more honour than wrestlers. Useful technical achievements of
architects: a method of doubling a square, a method of constructing a right triangle, Archimedes
and the crown. Sundials and water-clocks, preceded by a long section on the planets and the
constellations.
Book X (81 kb)
Prologue: a proposal on how to deal with cost overruns. The book then details many kinds of
machines used in civil and military engineering: pulley-based machines for lifting and
transporting weights; the principle of the lever; machines that convert rotary to linear motion and
vice-versa, including the water-screw. The hydraulic organ. An odometer of sorts. Catapults,
scorpions, balistae, tortoises and how to defend against them.