VITRUVIUS.
Is the breadh of the atiumn be twenty fet, deducing a thind part, the remainder i gien
to the soace of the tablinum: if from thity to forty fet, halthe beadch of the atium s
alloved to che tablinum: if from forty to fixty, the breadth is divided into five parts, and
tro pats are given to the tabinum ; for in fnaller triums the symmety must not be the
fame as in langer: hould the fymmety of the greater be used in che lesse, neicher the tabliqum -
nor the alae could be convenient; and if that of the lesser were used in the greater,
the members would be huge and enormous. Wherefore I have thought it proper to delcribe
exactly their respective proportions, regarding both their utility and appearance.
The height of the beams of the tablinum is an eighth part more than the breadth; to its
lacunariae, it is a third part of the breadth added to that height. The fauces, in lesser atriums,
are a third part, in greater, a half les than the breadth of the tablinum: the height that the
images, with their ornaments, are to be placed, must be according to the breadth of the ala.
Concerning the proportion of the breadth to the height of the portals, if Doric, they
where, after saying 360 columns had been brought to
Rome by M. Scaurus, the edile, for the scene of a temporary -
theatre, he adds, e etiamne tacuerunt maximas earum,
et atque adeo duodequadragenum pedum Lucullei mar¬« -
moris, in atrio Scauri collocari"—e the largest of them,
e thirty-eight feet long, of Luculleian marble, were
e placed in the atrium of Scaurus:” and chap. 3d, afte
expressing his opinion that the succeeding age will disapprove -
of such luxury, he says, * quis enim tantarum hodie
« columnarum atrium habet?"—“ for who at this day
* has an atrium with such columns?" At the ist chap.
of the 17th book, speaking of L. Crassus, Pliny adds,
a columnas quatuor Hymetti marmoris, aedilitatis gratia
« ad scenam ornandum advectus, in atrio ejus domus staet -
tuerat, cum in publico nondum essent ullae marmoreae;
ee tam recens est opulentia"—e four columns of Hymete -
tian marble, which he brought when edile to adorn a
« scene, he fixed in the atrium of his house, at a time
e when marble ones had never before been used in public;
* so recent is luxury:" and at the 3d chapter of the
36th book, he says, * these columns were each but twelve
* feet long." These quotations, although they do not
inform us how or in what manner columns were introduced -
in atriums, yet sufficiently prove, that it could
not be in the manner hitherto generally supposed, i. e.
arranged on each side, and being as high as the beams
of the atrium; for the smallest atrium Vitruvius describes
is not so low as twelve feet, and the largest is much
higher than thirty-eight feet, which was the height of
the greatest columns that ever had been used in any
private atrium at Pliny's time. Indeed the atriums of
Scaurus and Crassus, we must understand, were built before -
the columns were placed therein, so that the columns
could not be used to support the beams of the atriùms on
each side the lumen, as generally represented. It is therefore -
most probable that the columns of atriums, when any
were introduced, were disposed variously according as
circumstances would admit or might require, or as the
genius of the architect might suggest. Thave accordingly
made use of such liberty myself in the examples Fig.
LVII. and LVIII.
(4*) The tablinum is thought to have been a place
appropriated for the preservation of the family records.
Pliny, l. 35. c. 2. says, * tablina codicibus implebantur &
«e monumentis rerum in magistratu gestarum." We are
not told whether it be the breadth or length of the tablinum -
which is here spoken of; it is generally understood -
to be the breadth, and the following words,* altitudo
ee tablini ad trabem adjecta latitudinis octava constituaee -
tur, &c."—« the height to the beams of the tablinum
« is an eighth part more than the breadth," where the
breadth only of the tablinum is referred to, tend to corroborate -
that opinion.
(5*) The fauces are supposed to be the aperture or
door-way between the atrium and tablinum. See Fig.
LVII.
