Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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1
CHAP. II.
The Ancients, and particularly the He­
trurians
, built their Walls of ſquare
Stones
, and the Largeſt that could be got.
The Athenians, as we are informed by Themiſ­
tocles
, did the ſame in their Pireum. There
are
ſome very ancient Caſtles ſtill to be ſeen in
Tuſcany, and in the Territory of Spoleto, and
near
Piperno in Campania, built of huge un­
wrought
Stone; which Sort of Work pleaſes
me
extremely, becauſe it gives the Building a
rugged
Air of the antique Severity, which is a
very
great Ornament to a Town.
I would
have
the Walls of a City built in ſuch a Man­
ner
, that the Enemy at the bare Sight of them
may
be ſtruck with Terror, and be ſent away
with
a Diſtruſt of his own Forces.
There is
a
good deal of Majeſty too in very broad deep
Ditches
cloſe to the Foot of the Wall, with
very
ſteep Sides, like thoſe which we are told
were
at Babylon, which were fifty royal Cubits
broad
and above an hundred deep.
There is
alſo
much Majeſty in the Height and Thick­
neſs
of the Walls themſelves, ſuch as we are
told
were built by Ninus, Semiramis and Ti­
granes
, and moſt of thoſe whoſe Minds were
inclined
to Magnificence.
In the Towers and
Corridors
of the Walls of Rome, I have ſeen
Pavements
of Moſaic Work, and Walls incruſ­
tated
with the handſomeſt Materials; but all
Ornaments
are not ſuitable to all Cities alike.
Delicate Cornices and Incruſtations are not ſo
proper
for the Walls of a Town; but inſtead of
a
Cornice let there be a projecting Row of long
Stones
, ſomewhat more regularly wrought than
the
Reſt, and ſet by the Level and Plum-line;
and
inſtead of Incruſtations, tho' I would have
the
Front preſerve its rugged and threatning
Aſpect
, yet I would have the Stones ſo well fit­
ted
to one another, that there may be no
Cracks
in the Building.
The beſt Way to fit
ſuch
Stones together is by Means of the Doric
Rule
; like which Ariſtotle uſed to ſay, the
Laws
ought to be made; for it was of Lead
and
pliable; becauſe having very hard Stones
and
difficult to be wrought, for the ſaving of
Expence
and Labour, they did not take the
Pains
to ſquare them, but ſet them in the Wall
without
any certain Order and where-ever they
would
fit in; and finding it an endleſs Task
to
remove them from Place to Place till they
could
fit them in exactly, they invented this
Rule
which would bend any Way, which they
moulded
to the Sides and Corners of the Stone
which
they had already ſet, and to which they
were
to fit the next, and made uſe of the Rule
thus
moulded for chuſing out ſuch Stones as
would
fit the Vacancies they were to fill up,
and
anſwer beſt to the Stones which they had
already
ſet in the Wall.
Moreover, for a ſtill
greater
Addition of Reverence and Dignity, I
would
have a very handſome open Space left
both
within and without the Walls, and dedi­
cated
to the publick Liberty; which ſhould
not
be cumbered up by any Perſon whatſoever,
either
with Trench, Wall, Hedge, or Shrub,
under
very great Penalties.
Let us now pro­
ceed
to the Temple.
The firſt Builders of
Temples
I find to have been in Italy, Father
Janus, and for that Reaſon the Ancients, in
their
Sacrifices, uſed always to begin with a
Prayer
to Janus. Some were of Opinion that
Jupiter in Crete was the firſt that built Tem­
ples
, and upon that Account thought him the
firſt
God to be adored.
They ſay that in Phe­
nicia
, Uſo was the firſt that erected Altars, and
built
Temples to Fire and Wind.
Others tell
us
that Dionyſius, another Name for Bacchus,
in
his Paſſage through India, finding no Cities
in
all that Region, after he had built Towns
there
, alſo erected Temples and eſtabliſhed re­
ligious
Rites.
Others ſay that in Achaia, Ce­
crops
was the firſt that built a Temple to the
Goddeſs
Ops, and the Arcadians the firſt that
built
one to Jupiter. Some write that Iſis,
who
was alſo called the Law-giver, becauſe ſhe
was
the firſt Deity that commanded Men to
live
according to her Laws, was alſo the firſt
that
raiſed a Temple to Jupiter and Juno her
Progenitors
, and appointed Prieſts to attend their
Worſhip
.
But what Manner of Temples any
of
theſe were, is not ſo well known.
I am
very
much inclined to believe they were like
that
which was in the Citadel of Athens, or
that
in the Capitol at Rome; which, even when

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