Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb xlink:href="003/01/219.jpg" pagenum="167"/>
              round this little Chapel was a Grove of all Sorts
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              of Fruit-trees, and a large green Meadow, full of
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              Roſes and other Flowers and Herbs of grateful
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              Scent, and of every Thing that could make the
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              Place delightful and agreeable. </s>
              <s>The Epitaph
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              was adapted to the Structure:</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Cyrus
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              am I that founded
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              Perſia's
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              State,
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              Then envy not this little Place of Reſt.
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              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>BUT to return to Pyramids. </s>
              <s>Some few per­
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              haps may have built their Pyramids with three
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              Sides, but they have generally been made with
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              four, and their Height has moſt commonly
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              been made equal to their Breadth. </s>
              <s>Some have
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              been particularly commended for making the
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              Joints of the Stones in their Pyramids ſo cloſe,
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              that the Shadow which they caſt was perfectly
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              ſtraight without the leaſt Interruption. </s>
              <s>Pyra­
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              mids have for the moſt Part been made of
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              ſquare Stone, but ſome few have been built
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              with Brick. </s>
              <s>As for theſe Columns which have
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              been erected as Monuments; ſome have been
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              ſuch as are uſed in other Structures; others have
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              been ſo large as to be fit for no Edifice; but
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              merely to ſerve as a Monument to Poſterity.
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                <arrow.to.target n="marg38"/>
              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="margin">
              <s>
                <margin.target id="marg38"/>
              *</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>OF this laſt Sort we are now to treat, and its
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              Members are as follows: Inſtead of a Baſement
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              there are ſeveral Steps riſing above the Level
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              of the Platform, over theſe a ſquare Plinth, and
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              above that another not leſs than the firſt. </s>
              <s>In
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              the third Place came the Baſe of the Column,
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              then the Column with its Capital, and laſt of
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              all the Statue ſtanding upon a Plinth. </s>
              <s>Some
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              between the firſt and ſecond Plinths under the
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              Baſe placed a Sort of Die to raiſe the Work
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              higher, and give it the greater Air of Majeſty.
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              </s>
              <s>The Proportions of all theſe Members are taken
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              from the Diameter of the Bottom of the Shaft,
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              as we obſerved with Relation to the Columns
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              of the Temples; but the Baſe, in this Caſe
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              where the Superſtructure is to be ſo very large,
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              muſt have but one Torus, and not ſeveral like
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              common Columns. </s>
              <s>The whole Thickneſs of
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              the Baſe therefore muſt be divided into five
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              Parts, two of which muſt be given to the To­
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              rus, and three to the Plinth. </s>
              <s>The Meaſure of
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              the Plinth every Way muſt be one Diameter
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              and a Quarter of the Shaft of the Column. </s>
              <s>The
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              Pedeſtal on which this Baſe lies muſt have the
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              following Parts. </s>
              <s>The uppermoſt Member in
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              this, and indeed all other Ornaments, muſt be
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              a Cymatium, and the lowermoſt a Plinth, which,
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              whether it be in the Nature of Steps, or of a
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              Cyma either upright or reverſed, is properly the
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              Baſe of each Member. </s>
              <s>But we have ſome few
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              Things relating to Pedeſtals to take Notice of,
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              which we purpoſely omitted in the laſt Book,
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              in order to conſider them here. </s>
              <s>We obſerved
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              that it was uſual to run up a continued low
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              Wall under all the Columns, in order to ſup­
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              port them; but then to make the Paſſage more
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              clear and open, it was common to remove that
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              Part of this Wall which lay between the Co­
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              lumns, and to leave only that Part which was
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              really neceſſary to the Support of the Column.
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              </s>
              <s>This Part of the Wall thus left I call the Pede­
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              ſtal. </s>
              <s>The Ornament of this Pedeſtal at the
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              Top was a Cymatium, either upright or reverſ­
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              ed, or ſomething of the ſame Nature, which
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              was anſwerd at the Bottom by a Plinth. </s>
              <s>Theſe
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              two Ornaments went clear round the Pedeſtal.
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              </s>
              <s>The Cymatium was the fifth Part of the
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              Height of the whole Pedeſtal, or elſe the ſixth;
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              and the Body of the Pedeſtal was never leſs in
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              Thickneſs than the Diameter of the Bottom of
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              the Shaft, that the Plinth of the Baſe might not
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              lie upon a Void. </s>
              <s>Some, in order to ſtrengthen
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              the Work yet more, made the Pedeſtal broader
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              than the Plinth of the Baſe, by an eighth Part of
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              that Plinth. </s>
              <s>Laſtly, the Height of the Pede­
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              ſtal, beſides its Cymatium and Plinth, was either
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              equal to its Breadth, or a fifth Part more: And
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              this I find to have been the Ordonnance of the
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              Pedeſtal under the Columns uſed by the moſt
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              excellent Workmen. </s>
              <s>But to return to the Co­
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              lumn. </s>
              <s>Under the Baſe of the Column we are
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              to place the Pedeſtal, anſwering duly to the
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              Proportions of the Baſe in the Manner juſt now
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              mentioned. </s>
              <s>This Pedeſtal muſt be crowned
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              with an entire Cornice, which is moſt uſually
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              of the
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Ionic
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              Order; the Members of which you
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              may remember to be as follows: The firſt and
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              loweſt Member is a Cymatium, then a Denticle,
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              next an Ovolo, with a ſmall Baguette and a
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              Fillet. </s>
              <s>Under this Pedeſtal is placed another
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              anſwerable to the former in every Member, and
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              of ſuch a Proportion that no Part of the Super­
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              ſtructure may lie over a Void; but to this Pe­
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              deſtal we muſt aſcend from the Level of the
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              Ground by three or five Steps, unequal both in
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              their Height and Breadth; and theſe Stepts all
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              together muſt not be higher than a fourth, nor
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              lower than a ſixth Part of the Height of the
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              Pedeſtal which ſtands upon them. </s>
              <s>In this lower
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              Pedeſtal we make a Door dreſſed after the Man­
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              ner of the
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              Doric
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              or
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              Ionic
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              Order, according to
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              the Rules already laid down for the Doors of
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              Temples. </s>
              <s>In the upper Pedeſtal we place our
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              Inſcriptions or carve Trophies. </s>
              <s>If we make
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              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
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