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CHAPTER II. 
OF THE PROPORTIONS OF PRIVATE BUILDINGS TO 
SUIT THE NATURE OF THEIR SITES. 
NOTHING requires the architect’s care more than the due 
proportions of buildings. When the proportions are ad- 
justed, and the dimensions found by calculation, then 
it is the part of a skilful man to consider the nature of 
the place, the purpose of the building, and the beauty of 
it; and either by diminutions or additions to find expe- 
dients, by means of which the appearance may not be 
injured by the additions to, or diminutions of, the esta- 
blished proportions that may be necessary. For an 
object under the eye will appear very different from the 
same object placed above it ; in an inclosed space, very 
different from the same in an open space. In all these 
matters it requires great judgment to adopt the proper 
means, since the eye does not always form to itself the 
true image of an object, and the mind is often deceived 
by the false impression. Thus in painted scenery, 
though the surface is a perfect plane, the columns seem 
to advance forward, the projections of the mutuli are re- 
presented, and figures seem to stand out. The oars of 
ships, also, though the parts immersed in the water are 
really straight, have the appearance of being broken; 
those parts only appearing straight which are above the 
level of the water. This arises from the part immersed 
in the water reflecting its image in an undulating state 
up to the surface of the water, through a transparent 
medium, which, being there agitated, gives the oar a 
broken appearance. But whether the sight arises from 
the impression which images make on the eye, or by an 
effusion of visual rays from the eye, as naturalists con- 
tend, it is certain that, in some way or other, the eye is 
often deceived. Since, then, some images are falsely