Full text: Vitruvius: The architecture of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, in ten books

124 
Poetry, on the other hand, by its metre, the feet of its 
verses, the elegant arrangement of the words, the dia- 
logue introduced into it, and the distinct pronunciation of 
the lines, delighting the sense of the hearer, leads him to 
the close of the subject without fatigue. This cannot be 
accomplished in Architectural works, because the terms, 
which are unavoidably technical, necessarily throw an 
obscurity over the subject. These terms, moreover, 
are not of themselves intelligible, nor in common use; 
hence if the precepts which are delivered by authors 
extend to any length, and are otherwise explained 
than in few and perspicuous expressions, the mind of the 
reader is bewildered by the quantity and frequent re¬ 
currence of them. These reasons induce me to be brief 
in the explanation of unknown terms, and of the 
symmetry of the parts of a work, because the matter 
may thereby be more easily committed to and retained 
by the memory. I am moreover inclined to be con¬ 
cise when 1 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. A cube is a solid, with six 
equal square faces, which, however it falls, remains 
steady and immoveable till removed by force: such are 
the dice which are thrown on a table by gamesters. From 
this circumstance they seem to have adopted the cube, 
since like the cube, this number of verses makes a more 
lasting impression on the memory. The Greek comic
	        
Waiting...

Note to user

Dear user,

In response to current developments in the web technology used by the Goobi viewer, the software no longer supports your browser.

Please use one of the following browsers to display this page correctly.

Thank you.

powered by Goobi viewer