Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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1Diſtempers: They ought to have Places en­
tirely ſeperate.
The Ancients dedicated their
Buildings of this Nature to Æculapius, Apollo,
and Health, Gods among them to whom they
aſcribed the Cure of Sickneſs and Preſervation
Health, and ſituated them in the beſt Air they
could find out, and near Plenty of the cleareſt
Water, where the Sick might recover their
Health, not ſo much by the Aſſiſtanc of thoſe
Gods, as the natural Healthineſs of the Place:
And certainly nothing can be more reaſonable
than to carry the Sick, whether under a private
or a publick Cure, into the moſt healthy Places;
and perhaps none are more ſo, than thoſe which
are very dry and ſtony, fanned with continual
Breezes, not burnt up by the Sun, but cool and
temperate: Since we find that all Moiſture is
the Mother of Corruption.
We ſee that Na­
ture in every Thing loves a Medium; and even
Health itſelf is nothing but a due Moderation
of the Qualities of the Body; and indeed no­
thing that is in Extreams can pleaſe.
For the
Reſt, thoſe who are ſeized with Diſeaſes which
are contagious, ſhould be taken Care of not on­
ly without the City, but remote even from any
high Road; the others may be kept in the
City.
The Apartments for all theſe ſhould be
ſo laid out and diſtributed, that there may be
diſtinct Places for thoſe who are curable, and
thoſe whom you take in rather to maintain
them for the Remainder of their unhappy
Days, than to cure them: Of this Sort are the
Superannuated, and thoſe who want their
Senſes.
Add further, that the Men and Wo­
men, as well the Patients, as the Perſons that
attend them, ſhould have Apartments ſeparate
from one another; and as ſome Parts of the
Building ſhould be for Particulars, others ſhould
be in common, according as it ſhall be found
neceſſary for the Management of the Patients,
and the more eaſy cohabiting together: Of
which there is no Occaſion to ſay more in this
Place.
We ſhall only obſerve that all theſe
Conveniencies are to be contrived according to
the Rules hereafter to be laid down for the
Houſes of private Perſons.
We ſhall there­
fore now proceed according to the Method
which we have preſcribed to ourſelves.
CHAP. IX.
Of the Senate-houſe, the Temple, and the Tribunals for the Adminiſtration of
Juſtice.
Having already obſerved that the Re­
publick conſiſts of two Parts, the Sacred
and the Profane, and having treated of the
Sacred as much as was requiſite, and in a good
Meaſure too of the Profane, where we took
Notice of the Place in the Palace of the Prince
where the Senate was to meet, and where
Cauſes were to be heard; we ſhall now very
briefly ſpeak of thoſe Things which ſeem neceſ­
ſary to be further added, then proceed to In­
campments and Fleets, and laſtly treat of
Things relating to the Uſes of private Perſons.
The Ancients uſed to call their Senates together
in Temples, and afterwards it grew a Cuſtom
for them to meet ſomewhere out of the City.
But at length, both for greater Dignity and
Conveniency in tranſacting the publick Affairs,
it was found neceſſary to raiſe Structures for
this Purpoſe only; where neither the Length
of the Way, nor any Inconveniency in the
Place itſelf, might deter the aged Fathers from
meeting often, and continuing a good while
together; and for this Reaſon they placed the
Senate-houſe in the Middle of the City, with
the Place for the Adminiſtration of Juſtice and
the Temple near adjoining, that not only thoſe
who made Intereſt for Offices, or were obliged
to attend Law-ſuits, might with greater Con­
venience, and without loſing their Time or
Opportunity, look after their Affairs of both
Natures; but alſo that the Fathers (as Men are
generally moſt devoted to Religion in their old
Age) might firſt pay their Devotions in the
Temple, and afterwards repair immediately to
the Tranſaction of the publick Buſineſs.
Add
to all this, that when any Ambaſſador or fo­
reign Prince deſires Audience of the Senate, it
becomes the Republick to have a Place ſuitable
to the Dignity both of the Stranger and of the
City, to receive them in, while they wait for
Introduction.
Laſtly, in publick Buildings of
this Sort, you muſt neglect none of thoſe Rules
which belong to the convenient and honoura­
ble Reception of a Multitude of Citizens, and
their eaſy Diſmiſſion: And above all you muſt
take particular Care, that there is not the leaſt

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