FREFACE.
ege i enien eanh ene n ae e oe ien en ane en nes .
Sangallo.
IN 16.9. uahae elien e en, eicheonen eraie sen Paikander, Bariane angse ae aehe
eneaher, a ese a aegelan . 4 Lan and ele hrshan en oeni a eie n
anereth, Fre Venen ehieckere, urene h anr canthnen er keng Poiton, and e Canen lae
Reibonin Preoies ; e beseriaen Vebele Gelähnan on e buie Pahte; and he Leien Peranchin
Balde, egläitig he angsal o d an ehnel ern nad Pirevin, eiker ei i Treis n ie
Scamilli Impares, mentioned in the third chapter of the third book.
AFTER thir comer the ponpous French traulanion, ercuted by ibe kearned Claude Praul, Pbyscian and
arechieck, at the command and ergene af Leuvis ihe Fourtenb, enriched with mnunerois comment and elegant engravigt. -
Ths war pubibed in 1673, and indted much erceled al ibe preceding tragsaions: i war again daeblishesh.
with corrections, in 1684.
SINCE thi, divers men of eradition and ingenuiy have uurote comment on the uritings of Virvis, particularh¬1be -
Marquis Poleni, in his treatije syled Exercitationes Viruviane, publisbed in 1739 and 174t. An edlition af ihe
text bas been long expected from the same hand, but has never yet appeared.
OOR countryman, John Evelyn, Esq. F. R. S. mast not be wboly omitted. He has given some pertinent remark on
ihe fermt of Vitravius, in his trapstation of the Parallel of the Ancient Architecture with the Modern, which be hubliched
in 1664, and dedicated to Charles the Second.
ROBERT Castel, in bis Villas ef the Ancients, wbich be publijbed in 1728, and dedicated to Richard Earl o
Burlingion, professes that he undertock that treatise as a preparative to a transtation of Vitruvius into ibe Englisb language; -
a work he had long entertained a desire of performing. This intention of Robert Castel was mentioned in the
Aicta Erudit. Lipsiae, 1731: he, however, never fulfilled his promise; and it is probable that bis immature death
prevented bis design.
LASTLY, in 1758 appeared, at Naples, an edition of the text, joined with an Italian transtation, dedicated to
ihe King of Naples, by the Marquis Berardo Galiani; this performance has eclipsed all the preceding. The Marquis
has made several new and useful illustrations; he very strictly adheres to the text; and his comments are judicious, and
chiesy relative to the principal subject, architecture, which most of the former commentators have too much neglected.
To the labours of this author I must acknowledge myself much indebted; they have been of considerable service to me
in the course of this undertaking, although our sentiments have not in every circumstance coincided.
I is now necessary to speak of this transtation, and to give some account of the methods pursued in the conduct thereof,
in order to render it more intelligible to the reader.
I HAVE made use of the printed editions of Barbaro, De Laet, and Galiani; and, when occasion required, of sundry
manuscripis. I have in no place, as I recollect, taken the liberty to alter or depart from the text; but, if any difficulty
er ambiguity has occurred, have remarked it in the notes, and given the opinions of the commentators, or my own
thoughts, thereon. Many reasons concurred to induce me to be as literal in the translation as possible: this has osten
occasioned me to run into the Latin idiom; which, although it may read less fluently, will not be less intelligible; and, by
