---
title: "On Architecture · De architectura"
author: "Vitruvius"
translator: "Morris Hicky Morgan"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 20 of 22
url: https://scriptura.si/works/vitruvius-on-architecture/20/
cite: "Vitruvius, tr. Morris Hicky Morgan, On Architecture · De architectura, section 20. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/vitruvius-on-architecture/20/"
---

# On Architecture · De architectura

*Vitruvius, tr. Morris Hicky Morgan*

The only architectural treatise to survive from antiquity: firmness, usefulness and beauty, temples and the proportions of the human body, water, sundials and machines.

> Latin: ed. Fritz Krohn, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi1056.phi001, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Morris Hicky Morgan, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi1056.phi001.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 20. Book X · preface, chapters 1–4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/vitruvius-on-architecture/20/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/vitruvius-on-architecture/20/#p-N

[¶0] pr.1. 1. IN the famous and important Greek city of Ephesus there is said to be an ancient ancestral law, the terms of which are severe, but its justice is not inequitable. When an architect accepts the charge of a public work, he has to promise what the cost of it will be. His estimate is handed to the magistrate, and his property is pledged as security until the work is done. When it is finished, if the outlay agrees with his statement, he is complimented by decrees and marks of honour. If no more than a fourth has to be added to his estimate, it is furnished by the treasury and no penalty is inflicted. But when more than one fourth has to be spent in addition on the work, the money required to finish it is taken from his property.

> Latin: pr.1. Nobili Graecorum et ampla civitate Ephesi lex vetusta dicitur a maioribus dura condicione sed iure esse non iniquo constituta. nam architectus, cum publicum opus curandum recipit, pollicetur, quanto sumptu id sit futurum. tradita aestimatione magistratui bona eius obligantur, donec opus sit perfectum. absoluto autem, cum ad dictum inpensa respondit, decretis et honoribus ornatur. item si non amplius quam quarta ad aestimationem est adicienda, de publico praestatur, neque ulla poena tenetur. cum vero amplius quam quarta in opere consumitur, ex eius bonis ad perficiendum pecunia exigitur.

[¶1] pr.2. 2. Would to God that this were also a law of the Roman people, not merely for public, but also for private buildings. For the ignorant would no longer run riot with impunity, but men who are well qualified by an exact scientific training would unquestionably adopt the profession of architecture. Gentlemen would not be misled into limitless and prodigal expenditure, even to ejectments from their estates, and the architects themselves could be forced, by fear of the penalty, to be more careful in calculating and stating the limit of expense, so that gentlemen would procure their buildings for that which they had expected, or by adding only a little more. It is true that men who can afford to devote four hundred thousand to a work may hold on, if they have to add another hundred thousand, from the pleasure which the hope of finishing it gives them; but if they are loaded with a fifty per cent increase, or with an even greater expense, they lose hope, sacrifice what they have already spent, and are compelled to leave off, broken in fortune and in spirit.

> Latin: pr.2. Utinam dii inmortales fecissent, ea lex etiam P.R. non modo publicis sed etiam privatis aedificiis esset constituta! namque non sine poena grassarentur inperiti, sed qui summa doctrinarum subtilitate essent prudentes, sine dubitatione profiterentur architecturam, neque patres familiarum inducerentur ad infinitas sumptuum profusiones, ut et e bonis eicerentur, ipsique architecti poenae timore coacti diligentius modum inpensarum ratiocinantes explicarent, uti patres familiarum ad id, quod praeparavissent, seu paulo amplius adicientes, aedificia expedirent. nam qui quadringenta ad opus possunt parare, si adicient centum, habendo spem perfectionis delectationibus tenentur; qui autem adiectione dimidia aut ampliore sumptu onerantur, amissa spe et inpensa abiecta, fractis rebus et animis desistere coguntur.

[¶2] pr.3. 3. This fault appears not only in the matter of buildings, but also in the shows given by magistrates, whether of gladiators in the forum or of plays on the stage. Here neither delay nor postponement is permissible, but the necessities of the case require that everything should be ready at a fixed time,—the seats for the audience, the awning drawn over them, and whatever, in accordance with the customs of the stage, is provided by machinery to please the eye of the people. These matters require careful thought and planning by a well trained intellect; for none of them can be accomplished without machinery, and without hard study skilfully applied in various ways.

> Latin: pr.3. Nec solum id vitium in aedificiis, sed etiam in muneribus, quae a magistratibus foro gladiatorum scaenisque ludorum dantur, quibus nec mora neque expectatio conceditur, sed necessitas finito tempore perficere cogit, id est sedes spectaculorum velorumque inductiones et ea omnia, quae scaenicis moribus per machinationem ad spectationes populo comparantur. in his vero opus est prudentia diligens et ingenii doctissimi cogitata, quod nihil eorum perficitur sine machinatione studiorumque vario ac sollerti vigore.

[¶3] pr.4. 4. Therefore, since such are our traditions and established practices, it is obviously fitting that the plans should be worked out carefully, and with the greatest attention, before the structures are begun. Consequently, as we have no law or customary practice to compel this, and as every year both praetors and aediles have to provide machinery for the festivals, I have thought it not out of place, Emperor, since I have treated of buildings in the earlier books, to set forth and teach in this, which forms the final conclusion of my treatise, the principles which govern machines.

> Latin: pr.4. Igitur quoniam haec ita sunt tradita et constituta, non videtur esse alienum, uti caute summaque diligentia, antequam instituantur opera, eorum expediantur rationes. ergo quoniam neque lex neque morum institutio id potest cogere et quotannis et praetores et aediles ludorum causa machinationes praeparare debent, visum mihi est, imperator, non esse alienum, quoniam de aedificiis in prioribus voluminibus exposui, in hoc, quod finitionem summam corporis habet constitutam, quae sint principia machinarum, ordinata praeceptis explicare.

[¶4] 1.1. 1. A MACHINE a combination of timbers fastened together, chiefly efficacious in moving great weights. Such a machine is set in motion on scientific principles in circular rounds, which the Greeks call κυκλικὴ κίνησις There is, however, a class intended for climbing, termed in Greek ἀκροβατικόν another worked by air, which with them is called πνευματικόν and a third for hoisting; this the Greeks named βαπουλκόςIn the climbing class are machines so disposed that one can safely climb up high, by means of timbers set up on end and connected by crossbeams, in order to view operations. In the pneumatic class, air is forced by pressure to produce sounds and tones as in an ὄργανον.

> Latin: 1.1. Machina est continens e materia coniunctio maximas ad onerum motus habens virtutes. ea movetur ex arte circulorum rotundationibus, quam Graeci κυκλικην` κίνησιν appellant. est autem unum genus scansorium, quod graece ἀκροβατικόν dicitur; alterum spirabile, quod apud eos πνευματικόν appellatur; tertium tractorium, id autem Graeci βαρουλκόν vocitant. scansorium autem ⟨est, cum⟩ machinae ita fuerint conlocatae, ut ad altitudinem tignis statutis et transversariis conligatis sine periculo scandatur [ad apparatus spectatione]; at spirabile, cum spiritus ex expressionibus inpulsus et plagae vocesque ὀργάνικως exprimantur;

[¶5] 1.2. 2. In the hoisting class, heavy weights are removed by machines which raise them up and set them in position. The climbing machine displays no scientific principle, but merely a spirit of daring. It is held together by dowels and crossbeams and twisted lashings and supporting props. A machine that gets its motive power by pneumatic pressure will produce pretty effects by scientific refinements. But the hoisting machine has opportunities for usefulness which are greater and full of grandeur, and it is of the highest efficacy when used with intelligence.

> Latin: 1.2. tractorium vero, cum onera machinis pertrahuntur, ut ad altitudinem sublata conlocentur. scansoria ratio non arte sed audacia gloriatur; ea catenationibus et transversariis et plexis conligationibus et erismatorum fulturis continentur. quae autem spiritus potestate adsumit ingressus, elegantes artis subtilitatibus consequetur effectus. tractoria autem maiores et magnificentia plenas habet ad utilitatem opportunitates et in agendo cum prudentia summas virtutes.

[¶6] 1.3. 3. Some of these act on the principle of the μηχανή, others on that of the ὄπγανον. The difference between “machines” and “engines” is obviously this, that machines need more workmen and greater power to make them take effect, as for instance ballistae and the beams of presses. Engines, on the other hand, accomplish their purpose at the intelligent touch of a single workman, as the scorpio or anisocycli when they are turned. Therefore engines, as well as machines, are, in principle, practical necessities, without which nothing can be unattended with difficulties.

> Latin: 1.3. Ex his sunt quae μηχανικώς, alia ὀργάνικως moventur. inter machinas et organa id videtur esse discrimen, quod machinae pluribus operis vel vi maiore coguntur effectus habere, uti ballistae torculariorumque prela; organa autem unius operae prudenti tactu perficiunt quod est propositum, uti scorpionis seu anisocyclorum versationes. ergo et organa et machinarum ratio ad usum sunt necessaria, sine quibus nulla res potest esse non inpedita.

[¶7] 1.4. 4. All machinery is derived from nature, and is founded on the teaching and instruction of the revolution of the firmament. Let us but consider the connected revolutions of the sun, the moon, and the five planets, without the revolution of which, due to mechanism, we should not have had the alternation of day and night, nor the ripening of fruits. Thus, when our ancestors had seen that this was so, they took their models from nature, and by imitating them were led on by divine facts, until they perfected the contrivances which are so serviceable in our life. Some things, with a view to greater convenience, they worked out by means of machines and their revolutions, others by means of engines, and so, whatever they found to be useful for investigations, for the arts, and for established practices, they took care to improve step by step on scientific principles.

> Latin: 1.4. Omnis autem est machinatio rerum natura procreata ac praeceptrice et magistra mundi versatione instituta. namque animadvertamus primum et aspiciamus continentem solis, lunae, quinque etiam stellarum natura … machinata versarentur, non habuissemus interdum lucem nec fructûm maturitates. cum ergo maiores haec ita esse animadvertissent, e rerum natura sumpserunt exempla et ea imitantes inducti rebus divinis commodas vitae perfecerunt explicationes. itaque comparaverunt, ut essent expeditiora, alia machinis et earum versationibus, nonnulla organis, et ita quae animadverterunt ad usum utilia esse studiis, artibus, institutis, gradatim augenda doctrinis curaverunt.

[¶8] 1.5. 5. Let us take first a necessary invention, such as clothing, and see how the combination of warp and woof on the loom, which does its work on the principle of an engine, not only protects the body by covering it, but also gives it honourable apparel. We should not have had food in abundance unless yokes and ploughs for oxen, and for all draught animals, had been invented. If there had been no provision of windlasses, pressbeams, and levers for presses, we could not have had the shining oil, nor the fruit of the vine to give us pleasure, and these things could not be transported on land without the invention of the mechanism of carts or waggons, nor on the sea without that of ships.

> Latin: 1.5. Attendamus enim primum inventum de necessitate, ut vestitus, quemadmodum telarum organicis administrationibus conexus staminis ad subtemen non modo corpora tegendo tueatur, sed etiam ornatus adiciat honestatem. cibi vero non habuissemus abundantiam, nisi iuga et aratra bubus iumentisque omnibus essent inventa. sucularumque et prelorum et vectium si non fuisset torculariis praeparatio, neque olei nitorem neque vitium fructum habere potuissemus ad iucunditatem, portationesque eorum non essent, nisi plostrorum seu serracorum per terram, navicularum per aquam inventae essent machinationes.

[¶9] 1.6. 6. The discovery of the method of testing weights by steelyards and balances saves us from fraud, by introducing honest practices into life. There are also innumerable ways of employing machinery about which it seems unnecessary to speak, since they are at hand every day; such as mills, blacksmiths' bellows, carriages, gigs, turning lathes, and other things which are habitually used as general conveniences. Hence, we shall begin by explaining those that rarely come to hand, so that they may be usderstood.

> Latin: 1.6. Trutinarum vero librarumque ponderibus examinatio reperta vindicat ab iniquitate iustis moribus vitam. non minusque sunt innumerabili modo rationes machinationum, de quibus non necesse videtur disputare, quod non sunt ⟨ignotae sed⟩ ad manum cotidianae, ut sunt molae, folles fabrorum, raedae, cisia, torni ceteraque, quae communes ad usum consuetudinibus habent opportunitates. Itaque incipiemus de îs, quae raro veniunt ad manus, ut nota sint, explicare.

[¶10] 2.1. 1. FIRST we shall treat of those machines which are of necessity made ready when temples and public buildings are to be constructed. Two timbers are provided, strong enough for the weight of the load. They are fastened together at the upper end by a bolt, then spread apart at the bottom, and so set up, being kept upright by ropes attached at the upper ends and fixed at intervals all round. At the top is fastened a block, which some call a “rechamus.” In the block two sheaves are enclosed, turning on axles. The traction rope is carried over the sheave at the top, then let fall and passed round a sheave in a block below. Then it is brought back to a sheave at the bottom of the upper block, and so it goes down to the lower block, where it is fastened through a hole in that block. The other end of the rope is brought back and down between the legs of the machine.

> Latin: 2.1. Primumque instituemus de îs, quae aedibus sacris ad operumque publicorum perfectionem necessitate comparantur. quae fiunt ita. tigna duo ad onerum magnitudinem ratione expediuntur. a capite ea fibula coniuncta et in imo divaricata eriguntur, funibus in capitibus conlocatis et circa dispositis erecta retinentur. alligatur in summo troclea, quem etiam nonnulli rechamum dicunt. in trocleam induntur orbiculi ⟨II⟩ per axiculos versationes habentes. per orbiculum ⟨summum⟩ traicitur ductarius funis, deinde demittitur et traducitur circa orbiculum trocleae inferioris. refertur autem ad orbiculum imum trocleae superioris et ita descendit ad inferiorem et in foramine eius religatur. altera pars funis refertur inter imas machinae partes.

[¶11] 2.2. 2. Socket-pieces are nailed to the hinder faces of the squared timbers at the point where they are spread apart, and the ends of the windlass are inserted into them so that the axles may turn freely. Close to each end of the windlass are two holes, so adjusted that handspikes can be fitted into them. To the bottom of the lower block are fastened shears made of iron, whose prongs are brought to bear upon the stones, which have holes bored in them. When one end of the rope is fastened to the windlass, and the latter is turned round by working the handspikes, the rope winds round the windlass, gets taut, and thus it raises the load to the proper height and to its place in the work.

> Latin: 2.2. In quadris autem tignorum posterioribus, quo loci sunt divaricata, figuntur chelonia, in quae coiciuntur sucularum capita, ut faciliter axes versentur. eae suculae proxime capita habent foramina bina ita temperata, ut vectes in ea convenire possint. ad rechamum autem imum ferrei forfices religantur, quorum dentes in saxa forata accommodantur. cum autem funis habet caput ad suculam religatum et vectes ducentes eam versant, funis ⟨se⟩ involvendo circum suculam extenditur et ita sublevat onera ad altitudinem et operum conlocationes.

[¶12] 2.3. 3. This kind of machinery, revolving with three sheaves, is called a trispast. When there are two sheaves turning in the block beneath and three in the upper, the machine is termed a pentaspast. But if we have to furnish machines for heavier loads, we must use timbers of greater length and thickness, providing them with correspondingly large bolts at the top, and windlasses turning at the bottom. When these are ready, let forestays be attached and left lying slack in front; let the backstays be carried over the shoulders of the machine to some distance, and, if there is nothing to which they can be fastened, sloping piles should be driven, the ground rammed down all round to fix them firmly, and the ropes made fast to them.

> Latin: 2.3. Haec autem ratio machinationis, quod per tres orbiculos circumvolvitur, trispastos appellatur. cum vero in ima troclea duo orbiculi, in superiore tres versantur, id pentaspaston dicitur. sin autem maioribus oneribus erunt machinae comparandae, amplioribus tignorum longitudinibus et crassitudinibus erit utendum ⟨et⟩ eadem ratione in summo fibulationibus, in imo sucularum versationibus expediendum. his explicatis antarii funes ante laxi conlocentur, retinacula super scapulas machinae longe disponantur, et si non erit, ubi religetur, pali resupinati defodiantur et circum fistucatione solidentur, quo funes alligentur.

[¶13] 2.4. 4. A block should then be attached by a stout cord to the top of the machine, and from that point a rope should be carried to a pile, and to a block tied to the pile. Let the rope be put in round the sheave of this block, and brought back to the block that is fastened at the top of the machine. Round its sheave the rope should be passed, and then should go down from the top, and back to the windlass, which is at the bottom of the machine, and there be fastened. The windlass is now to be turned by means of the handspikes, and it will raise the machine of itself without danger. Thus, a machine of the larger kind will be set in position, with its ropes in their places about it, and its stays attached to the piles. Its blocks and traction ropes are arranged as described above.

> Latin: 2.4. Troclea in summo capite machinae rudenti contineatur, et ex eo funis perducatur ad palum et quae est in palo trocleam inligata. circa eius orbiculum funis indatur et referatur ad eam trocleam, quae erit ad caput machinae religata. circum autem orbiculum ab summo traiectus funis descendat et redeat ad suculam, quae est in ima machina, ibique religetur. vectibus autem coacta ⟨cum⟩ sucula versabitur, eriget per se machinam sine periculo. ita circa dispositis funibus et retinaculis in palis haerentibus ampliore modo machina conlocabitur. trocleae et ductarii funes, uti supra scriptum est, expediuntur.

[¶14] 2.5. 5. But if the loads of material for the work are still more colossal in size and weight, we shall not entrust them to a windlass, but set in an axle-tree, held by sockets as the windlass was, and carrying on its centre a large drum, which some term a wheel, but the Greeks call it ἀμφίεσις or περιθήκιον.

> Latin: 2.5. Sin autem colossicotera amplitudinibus et ponderibus onera in operibus fuerint, non erit suculae committendum, sed quemadmodum sucula cheloniis retinetur, ita axis includatur habens in medio tympanum amplum, quod nonnulli rotam appellant, Graeci autem ἀμφίεσις, alii περιθήκιον vocant.

[¶15] 2.6. 6. And the blocks in such machines are not arranged in the same, but in a different manner; for the rows of sheaves in them are doubled, both at the bottom and at the top. The traction rope is passed through a hole in the lower block, in such a way that the two ends of the rope are of equal length when it is stretched out, and both portions are held there at the lower block by a cord which is passed round them and lashed so that they cannot come out either to the right or the left. Then the ends of the rope are brought up into the block at the top from the outside, and passed down over its lower sheaves, and so return to the bottom, and are passed from the inside to the sheaves in the lowest block, and then are brought up on the right and left, and return to the top and round the highest set of sheaves.

> Latin: 2.6. In his autem machinis trocleae non eodem sed alio modo comparantur. habent enim et in imo et in summo duplices ordines orbiculorum. ita funis ductarius traicitur in inferioris trocleae foramen, uti aequalia duo capita sint funis, cum erit extensus, ibique secundum inferiorem trocleam resticula circumdata et contenta utraeque partes funis continentur, ut neque ⟨in dextram neque⟩ in sinistram partem possint prodire. deinde capita funis referuntur in summa troclea ab exteriore parte et deiciuntur circa orbiculos imos et redeunt ad imum coiciunturque infimae trocleae ad orbiculos ex interiore parte et referuntur dextra sinistra ⟨et⟩ ad caput circa orbiculos summos redeunt.

[¶16] 2.7. 7. Passing over these from the outside, they are then carried to the right and left of the drum on the axle-tree, and are tied there so as to stay fast. Then another rope is wound round the drum and carried to a capstan, and when that is turned, it turns the drum and the axle-tree, the ropes get taut as they wind round regularly, and thus they raise the loads smoothly and with no danger. But if a larger drum is placed either in the middle or at one side, without any capstan, men can tread in it and accomplish the work more expeditiously.

> Latin: 2.7. Traiecti autem ab exteriore parte feruntur dextra sinistra tympanum in axe ibique, ut haereant, conligantur. tum autem circa tympanum involutus alter funis refertur ad ergatam, et is circumactus tympanum et axem … se involvendo pariter extendunt, et ita leniter levant onera sine periculo. quodsi maius tympanum conlocatum aut in medio aut in una parte extrema fuerit, sine ergata ⟨per⟩ calcantes homines expeditiores habere poterit operis effectus.

[¶17] 2.8. 8. There is also another kind of machine, ingenious enough and easy to use with speed, but only experts can work with it. It consists of a single timber, which is set up and held in place by stays on four sides. Two cheeks are nailed on below the stays, a block is fastened by ropes above the cheeks, and a straight piece of wood about two feet long, six digits wide, and four digits thick, is put under the block. The blocks used have each three rows of sheaves side by side. Hence three traction ropes are fastened at the top of the machine. Then they are brought to the block at the bottom, and passed from the inside round the sheaves that are nearest the top of it. Then they are brought back to the upper block, and passed inwards from outside round the sheaves nearest the bottom.

> Latin: 2.8. Est autem aliud genus machinae satis artificiosum et ad usum celeritatis expeditum, sed in eo dare operam non possunt nisi periti. est enim tignum, quod erigitur et distenditur retinaculis quadrifariam. sub retinaculo chelonia duo figuntur, troclea funibus supra chelonia religatur, sub troclea regula longa circiter pedes duos, lata digitos sex, crassa quattuor supponitur. trocleae ternos ordines orbiculorum in latitudine habentes conlocantur. ita tres ductarii funes in ⟨summa⟩ machina religantur. deinde referuntur ad imam trocleam et traiciuntur ex interiore parte per eius orbiculos summos. deinde referuntur ad superiorem trocleam et traiciuntur ab exteriore parte Cum descenderint ad imum, ex interiore parte et per secundos orbiculos traducuntur in extremum et referuntur in summum ad orbiculos secundos;

[¶18] 2.9. 9. On coming down to the block at the bottom, they are carried round its second row of sheaves from the inside to the outside, and brought back to the second row at the top, passing round it and returning to the bottom; then from the bottom they are carried to the summit, where they pass round the highest row of sheaves, and then return to the bottom of the machine. At the foot of the machine a third block is attached. The Greeks call it ἐπάγων but our people “artemon.” This block fastened at the foot of the machine has three sheaves in it, round which the ropes are passed and then delivered to men to pull. Thus, three rows of men, pulling without a capstan, can quickly raise the load to the top.

> Latin: 2.9. traiecti redeunt ad imum et ab imo referuntur ad caput; traiecti per summos redeunt ad machinam imam. in radice autem machinae conlocatur tertia troclea; eam autem Graeci ἐπάγοντα, nostri artemonem appellant. ea troclea religatur ad [trocleae] radicem habens orbiculos tres, per quos traiecti funes traduntur hominibus ad ducendum. ita tres ordines hominum ducentes sine ergata celeriter onus ad summum perducunt.

[¶19] 2.10. 10. This kind of machine is called a polyspast, because of the many revolving sheaves to which its dexterity and despatch are due. There is also this advantage in the erection of only a single timber, that by previously inclining it to the right or left as much as one wishes, the load can be set down at one side. All these kinds of machinery described above are, in their principles, suited not only to the purposes mentioned, but also to the loading and unloading of ships, some kinds being set upright, and others placed horizontally on revolving platforms. On the same principle, ships can be hauled ashore by means of arrangements of ropes and blocks used on the ground, without setting up timbers.

> Latin: 2.10. Hoc genus machinae polyspaston appellatur, quod multis orbiculorum circumitionibus et facilitatem summam praestat et celeritatem. una autem statutio tigni hanc habet utilitatem, quod ante quantum velit et dextra ac sinistra ab latere proclinando onus deponere potest. Harum machinationum omnium, quae supra sunt scriptae, rationes non modo ad has res, sed etiam ad onerandas et exonerandas naves sunt paratae, aliae erectae, aliae planae in carchesiis versatilibus conlocatae. non minus sine tignorum erectionibus in plano etiam eadem ratione et temperatis funibus et trocleis subductiones navium efficiuntur.

[¶20] 2.11. 11. It may also not be out of place to explain the ingenious procedure of Chersiphron. Desiring to convey the shafts for the temple of Diana at Ephesus from the stone quarries, and not trusting to carts, lest their wheels should be engulfed on account of the great weights of the load and the softness of the roads in the plain, he tried the following plan. Using four-inch timbers, he joined two of them, each as long as the shaft, with two crosspieces set between them, dovetailing all together, and then leaded iron gudgeons shaped like dovetails into the ends of the shafts, as dowels are leaded, and in the woodwork he fixed rings to contain the pivots, and fastened wooden cheeks to the ends. The pivots, being enclosed in the rings, turned freely. So, when yokes of oxen began to draw the four-inch frame, they made the shaft revolve constantly, turning it by means of the pivots and rings.

> Latin: 2.11. Non est autem alienum etiam Chersiphronos ingeniosam rationem exponere. is enim scapos columnarum e lapidicinis cum deportare vellet Ephesi ad Dianae fanum, propter magnitudinem onerum et viarum campestrem mollitudinem non confisus carris, ne rotae devorarentur, sic est conatus. de materia trientali scapos quattuor, … duos transversarios interpositos, quanta longitudo scapi fuerat, complectit et compegit et ferreos cnodacas uti subscudes in capitibus scaporum inplumbavit et armillas in materia ad cnodacas circumdandos infixit; cnodaces autem in armillis inclusi liberam habuerunt versationem. iamiam ita, cum boves ducerent subiuncti, scapi versando in cnodacibus et armillis sine fine volvebantur.

[¶21] 2.12. 12. When they had thus transported all the shafts, and it became necessary to transport the architraves, Chersiphron's son Metagenes extended the same principle from the transportation of the shafts to the bringing down of the architraves. He made wheels, each about twelve feet in diameter, and enclosed the ends of the architraves in the wheels. In the ends he fixed pivots and rings in the same way. So when the four-inch frames were drawn by oxen, the wheels turned on the pivots enclosed in the rings, and the architraves, which were enclosed like axles in the wheels, soon reached the building, in the same way as the shafts. The rollers used for smoothing the walks in palaestrae will serve as an example of this method. But it could not have been employed unless the distance had been short; for it is not more than eight miles from the stone-quarries to the temple, and there is no hill, but an uninterrupted plain.

> Latin: 2.12. Cum autem scapos omnes ita vexerant et instabant epistyliorum vecturae, filius Chersiphronos Metagenes transtulit ex scaporum vectura etiam in epistyliorum deductione. fecit enim rotas circiter pedum duodenûm et epistyliorum capita in medias rotas inclusit; item bucculis ligneis capita religavit; eadem ratione cnodaces in capitibus armillis inclusit: ita cum trientes a bubus ducerentur, in armillis inclusi cnodaces versabant rotas, epistylia vero inclusa uti axes in rotis eadem ratione, qua scapi, sine mora ad opus pervenerunt. exemplar autem erit eius, quemadmodum in palaestris cylindri exaequant ambulationes. neque hoc potuisset fieri, nisi primum propinquitas esset—non enim plus sunt ab lapidicinis ad fanum milia passuum octo—nec ullus est clivus sed perpetuus campus.

[¶22] 2.13. 13. In our own times, however, when the pedestal of the colossal Apollo in his temple had cracked with age, they were afraid that the statue would fall and be broken, and so they contracted for the cutting of a pedestal from the same quarries. The contract was taken by one Paconius. This pedestal was twelve feet long, eight feet wide, and six feet high. Paconius, with confident pride, did not transport it by the method of Metagenes, but determined to make a machine of a different sort, though on the same principle.

> Latin: 2.13. Nostra vero memoria cum colossici Apollinis in fano basis esset a vetustate diffracta, [et] metuentes, ne caderet ea statua et frangeretur, locaverunt ex eisdem lapidicinis basim excidendam. conduxit quidam Paconius. haec autem basis erat longa pedes duodecim, lata pedes VIII, alta pedes sex. quam Paconius gloria fretus non uti Metagenes adportavit, sed eadem ratione alio genere constituit machinam facere.

[¶23] 2.14. 14. He made wheels of about fifteen feet in diameter, and in these wheels he enclosed the ends of the stone; then he fastened two-inch crossbars from wheel to wheel round the stone, encompassing it, so that there was an interval of not more than one foot between bar and bar. Then he coiled a rope round the bars, yoked up his oxen, and began to draw on the rope. Consequently as it uncoiled, it did indeed cause the wheels to turn, but it could not draw them in a line straight along the road, but kept swerving out to one side. Hence it was necessary to draw the machine back again. Thus, by this drawing to and fro, Paconius got into such financial embarrassment that he became insolvent.

> Latin: 2.14. Rotas enim circiter pedum XV fecit et in his rotis capita lapidis inclusit, deinde circa lapidem fusos sextantales ab rota ad rotam ad circinum compegit, ita uti fusus a fuso non distaret pedem [esse] unum. deinde circa fusos funem involvit et bubus iunctis funem ducebant. ita cum explicaretur, volvebat rotas, sed non poterat ad lineam via recta ducere, sed exibat in unam partem. ita necesse erat rursus retroducere. sic Paconius ducendo et reducendo pecuniam contricavit, ut ad solvendum non esset.

[¶24] 2.15. 15. I will digress a bit and explain how these stone-quarries were discovered. Pixodorus was a shepherd who lived in that vicinity. When the people of Ephesus were planning to build the temple of Diana in marble, and debating whether to get the marble from Paros, Proconnesus, Heraclea, or Thasos, Pixodorus drove out his sheep and was feeding his flock in that very spot. Then two rams ran at each other, and, each passing the other, one of them, after his charge, struck his horns against a rock, from which a fragment of extremely white colour was dislodged. So it is said that Pixodorus left his sheep in the mountains and ran down to Ephesus carrying the fragment, since that very thing was the question of the moment. Therefore they immediately decreed honours to him and changed his name, so that instead of Pixodorus he should be called Evangelus. And to this day the chief magistrate goes out to that very spot every month and offers sacrifice to him, and if he does not, he is punished.

> Latin: 2.15. Pusillum extra progrediar et de his lapidicinis, quemadmodum sint inventae, exponam. Pixodarus fuerat pastor. is in his locis versabatur. cum autem cives Ephesiorum cogitarent fanum Dianae ex marmore facere decernerentque, a Paro, Proconnenso, Heraclea, Thaso uti marmor peteretur, propulsis ovibus Pixodarus in eodem loco pecus pascebat, ibique duo arietes inter se concurrentes alius alium praeterierunt et impetu facto unus cornibus percussit saxum, ex quo crusta candidissimo colore fuerat deiecta. ita Pixodarus dicitur oves in montibus reliquisse et crustam cursim Ephesum, cum maxime de ea re ageretur, detulisse. ita statim honores decreverunt ei et nomen mutaverunt: pro Pixodaro Euangelus nominaretur. hodieque quotmensibus magistratus in eum locum proficiscitur et ei sacrificium facit, et si non fecerit, poena tenetur.

[¶25] 3.1. 1. I HAVE briefly set forth what I thought necessary about the principles of hoisting machines. In them two different things, unlike each other, work together, as elements of their motion and power, to produce these effects. One of them is the right line, which the Greeks call εὐθεῖα the other is the circle, which call κυκλωτή but in point of fact, neither rectilinear without circular motion, nor revolutions, without rectilinear motion, can accomplish the raising of loads. I will explain this, so that it may be understood.

> Latin: 3.1. De tractoriis rationibus quae necessaria putavi, breviter exposui. quorum motus et virtutes duae res diversae et inter se dissimiles ⟨efficiunt⟩, ubi congruentes uti principia pariunt eos perfectus: una porrecti, quam Graeci εὐθεῖαν vocitant, altera rotunditatis, quam Graeci κυκλωτην ́ appellant. sed vero neque sine rotunditate motus porrecti nec sine porrecto rotationis versationes onerum possunt facere levationes.

[¶26] 3.2. 2. As centres, axles are inserted into the sheaves, and these are fastened in the blocks; a rope carried over the sheaves, drawn straight down, and fastened to a windlass, causes the load to move upward from its place as the handspikes are turned. The pivots of this windlass, lying as centres in right lines in its socket-pieces, and the handspikes inserted in its holes, make the load rise when the ends of the windlass revolve in a circle like a lathe. Just so, when an iron lever is applied to a weight which a great many hands cannot move, with the fulcrum, which the Greek call ὑπομόχλιον, lying as a centre in a right line under the lever, and with the tongue of the lever placed under the weight, one man's strength, bearing down upon the head of it, heaves up the weight.

> Latin: 3.2. Id autem ut intellegatur, exponam. inducuntur uti centra axiculi in orbiculos et in trocleis conlocantur, per quos orbiculos funis circumactus directis ductionibus et in sucula conlocatus vectium versationibus onerum facit egressus in altum. cuius suculae cardines uti centra porrecti in cheloniis, foraminibusque eius vectes conclusi capitibus ad circinum circumactis torni ratione versando faciunt oneris elationes. quemadmodum etiam ferreus vectis cum est admotus ad onus, quod manuum multitudo non potest movere, supposita uti centro ⟨ultro⟩ citro porrecta pressione, quod Graeci ὑπομόχλιον appellant, et lingua sub onus subdita, caput eius unius hominis viribus pressum id onus extollit.

[¶27] 3.3. 3. For, as the shorter fore part of the lever goes under the weight from the fulcrum that forms the centre, the head of it, which is farther away from that centre, on being depressed, is made to describe a circular movement, and thus by pressure brings to an equilibrium the weight of a very great load by means of a few hands. Again, if the tongue of an iron lever is placed under a weight, and its head is not pushed down, but, on the contrary, is heaved up, the tongue, supported on the surface of the ground, will treat that as the weight, and the edge of the weight itself as the fulcrum. Thus, not so easily as by pushing down, but by motion in the opposite direction, the weight of the load will nevertheless be raised. If, therefore, the tongue of a lever lying on a fulcrum goes too far under the weight, and its head exerts its pressure too near the centre, it will not be able to elevate the weight, nor can it do so unless, as described above, the length of the lever is brought to equilibrium by the depression of its head.

> Latin: 3.3. Id autem ⟨eo facilius fit⟩, quo brevior pars prior vectis ab ea pressione, quod est centrum, subit sub onus, et quo longius ab eo centro distans caput eius deducitur. per id faciundo motus circinationis cogit pressionibus examinare paucis manibus oneris maximi pondus. item si sub onus vectis ferrei lingula subiecta fuerit neque eius caput pressione in imum, sed adversus in altitudinem extolletur, lingula fulta in areae solo habebit eam pro onere, oneris autem ipsius angulum pro pressione. ita non tam faciliter quam per oppressionem, sed adversus nihilominus pondus oneris erit excitatum. igitur si plus lingula vectis supra hypomochlion posita sub onus subierit et caput eius propius centrum pressiones habuerit, non poterit onus elevare, nisi, quemadmodum supra scriptum est, examinatio vectis longitudinis per caput neque ⟨in imum⟩ ductionibus fuerit facta.

[¶28] 3.4. 4. This may be seen from the balances that we call steelyards. When the handle is set as a centre close to the end from which the scale hangs, and the counterpoise is moved along towards the other arm of the beam, shifting from point to point as it goes farther or even reaches the extremity, a small and inferior weight becomes equal to a very heavy object that is being weighed, on account of the equilibrium that is due to the levelling of the beam. Thus, as it withdraws from the centre, a small and comparatively light counterpoise, slowly turning the scale, makes a greater amount of weight rise gently upwards from below.

> Latin: 3.4. Id autem ex trutinis, quae staterae dicuntur, licet considerare. cum enim ansa propius caput, unde lancula pendet, ibi ut centrum est conlocata et aequipondium in alteram partem scapi, per puncta vagando quo longius paulatim ad extremum perducitur, paulo et inpari pondere amplissimam pensionem parem perficit per scapi librationem, et examinato longius ab centro recedens ista inbecillior aequipondii brevitas maiorem vim ponderis momento deducens sine vehementia molliter ab imo susum versum egredi cogit [futurum].

[¶29] 3.5. 5. So, too, the pilot of the biggest merchantman, grasping the steering oar by its handle, which the Greeks call ὄιαξ, and with one hand bringing it to the turning point, according to the rules of his art, by pressure about a centre, can turn the ship, although she may be laden with a very large or even enormous burden of merchandise and provisions. And when her sails are set only halfway up the mast, a ship cannot run quickly; but when the yard is hoisted to the top, she makes much quicker progress, because then the sails get the wind, not when they are too close to the heel of the mast, which represents the centre, but when they have moved farther away from it to the top.

> Latin: 3.5. Quemadmodum etiam navis onerariae maximae gubernator ansam gubernaculi tenens, qui οἴαξ a Graecis appellatur, una manu momento per centrum ratione pressionibus aptis agitans, versat eam amplissimis et inmanibus mercis et penus ponderibus oneratam. eiusque vela cum sunt per altitudinem mediam mali pendentia, non potest habere navis celerem cursum, cum autem in summo cacumine antemnae subductae sunt, tunc vehementiore progreditur impetu, quod non proxime calcem mali, quod est loco centri, sed in summo longius et ab eo progressa recipiunt in se vela ventum.

[¶30] 3.6. 6. As a lever thrust under a weight is harder to manage, and does not put forth its strength, if the pressure is exerted at the centre, but easily raises the weight when the extreme end of it is pushed down, so sails that are only halfway up have less effect, but when they get farther away from the centre, and are hoisted to the very top of the mast, the pressure at the top forces the ship to make greater progress, though the wind is no stronger but just the same. Again, take the case of oars, which are fastened to the tholes by loops,—when they are pushed forward and drawn back by the hand, if the ends of the blades are at some distance from the centre, the oars foam with the waves of the sea and drive the ship forward in a straight line with a mighty impulse, while her prow cuts through the rare water.

> Latin: 3.6. Itaque uti vectis sub onere subiectus, si per medium premitur, durior est neque incumbit, cum autem caput eius summum deducitur, faciliter onus extollit, similiter vela, cum sunt per medium temperata, minorem habent virtutem, quae autem in capite mali summo conlocantur discedentia longius a centro, non acriore sed eodem flatu, pressione cacuminis vehementius cogunt progredi navem. etiam remi circa scalmos strophis religati, cum manibus inpelluntur et reducuntur, extremis progredientibus a centro †parmis maris undis spumam inpulsu vehementi protrudunt porrectam navem, secante prora liquoris raritatem.

[¶31] 3.7. 7. And when the heaviest burdens are carried on poles by four or six porters at a time, they find the centres of balance at the very middle of the poles, so that, by distributing the dead weight of the burden according to a definitely proportioned division, each labourer may have an equal share to carry on his neck. For the poles, from which the straps for the burden of the four porters hang, are marked off at their centres by nails, to prevent the straps from slipping to one side. If they shift beyond the mark at the centre, they weigh heavily upon the place to which they have come nearer, like the weight of a steelyard when it moves from the point of equilibrium towards the end of the weighing apparatus.

> Latin: 3.7. Onerum vero maxima pondera, cum feruntur a phalangariis hexaphoris et tetraphoris, examinantur per ipsa media centra phalangarum, uti diviso oneris solido pondere certa quadam divisionis ratione aequas partes collis singuli ferant operarii. mediae enim partes phalangarum, quibus lora tetraphororum invehuntur, clavis sunt finitae, ne labantur in unam partem. cum enim extra finem centri promoventur, premunt eum locum, ad quem propius accesserunt, quemadmodum in statera pondus, cum examine progreditur ad fines ponderationum.

[¶32] 3.8. 8. In the same way, oxen have an equal draught when their yoke is adjusted at its middle by the yokestrap to the pole. But when their strength is not the same, and the stronger outdoes the other, the strap is shifted so as to make one side of the yoke longer, which helps the weaker ox. Thus, in the case of both poles and yokes, when the straps are not fastened at the middle, but at one side, the farther the strap moves from the middle, the shorter it makes one side, and the longer the other. So, if both ends are carried round in circles, using as a centre the point to which the strap has been brought, the longer end will describe a larger, and the shorter end a smaller circle.

> Latin: 3.8. Eadem ratione iumenta, cum iuga eorum subiugiis loris per medium temperantur, aequaliter trahunt onera. cum autem inpares sunt eorum virtutes et unum plus valendo premit alterum, loro traiecto fit una pars iugi longior, quae inbecilliori auxiliatur iumento. ita in phalangis et iugis cum in medio lora non sunt conlocata sed in una parte, qua progreditur lorum ab medio, unam breviorem, alteram efficit partem longiorem. ea ratione si per id centrum, quo loci perductum est lorum, utraque capita circumaguntur, longior pars ampliorem, brevior minorem agit circinationem.

[¶33] 3.9. 9. Just as smaller wheels move harder and with greater difficulty than larger ones, so, in the case of the poles and yokes, the parts where the interval from centre to end is less, bear down hard upon the neck, but where the distance from the same centre is greater, they ease the burden both for draught and carriage. As in all these cases motion is obtained by means of right lines at the centre and by circles, so also farm waggons, travelling carriages, drums, mills, screws, scorpiones, ballistae, pressbeams, and all other machines, produce the results intended, on the same principles, by turning about a rectilinear axis and by the revolution of a circle.

> Latin: 3.9. Quemadmodum vero minores rotae duriores et difficiliores habent motus, sic phalangae et iuga, in quibus partibus habent minora a centro ad capita intervalla, premunt duriter colla, qua autem longiora habent ab eodem centro spatia, levant oneribus et trahentes et ferentes. cum haec ita ad centrum porrectionibus et circinationibus reciperent motus, tunc vero etiam plostra, raedae, tympana, rotae, cocleae, scorpiones, ballistae, prela ceteraeque machinae eisdem rationibus per porrectum centrum et rotationem circum versantem faciunt ad propositum effectus.

[¶34] 4.1. 1. I SHALL now explain the making of the different kinds of engines which have been invented for raising water, and will first speak of the tympanum. Although it does not lift the water high, it raises a great quantity very quickly. An axle is fashioned on a lathe or with the compasses, its ends are shod with iron hoops, and it carries round its middle a tympanum made of boards joined together. It rests on posts which have pieces of iron on them under the ends of the axle. In the interior of this tympanum there are eight crosspieces set at intervals, extending from the axle to the circumference of the tympanum, and dividing the space in the tympanum into equal compartments.

> Latin: 4.1. Nunc de organis, quae ad hauriendam aquam inventa sunt, quemadmodum variis generibus comparentur, exponam. et primum dicam de tympano. id autem non alte tollit aquam, sed exhaurit expeditissime multitudinem magnam. ad tornum aut circinum fabricatus ⟨axis,⟩ capitibus lamna ferratis, habens in medio circa se tympanum ex tabulis inter se coagmentatis, conlocatur in stipitibus habentibus in se sub capita axis ferreas lamminas. in eius tympani cavo interponuntur octo tabulae transversae tangentes axem et extremam tympani circumitionem, quae dividunt aequalia in tympano spatia.