Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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    <archimedes>
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              <s>
                <pb xlink:href="003/01/229.jpg" pagenum="171"/>
              muſt never be leſs than four Foot; if fifty Cu­
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              bits, five Foot; if ſixty Cubits, ſix Foot, and
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              ſo on in the ſame Proportion. </s>
              <s>Theſe Rules
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              relate to Towers that are plain and ſimple:
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              But ſome Architects, about half Way of the
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              Height of the Tower, have adorned it with a
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              Kind of Portico with inſulate Columns, others
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              have made theſe Porticoes ſpiral all the Way
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              up, others have ſurrounded it with ſeveral Por­
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              ticoes like ſo many Coronets, and ſome have
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              covered the whole Tower with Figures of Ani­
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              mals. </s>
              <s>The Rules for theſe Colonades are not
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              different from thoſe for publick Edifices; only
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              that we may be allowed to be rather more
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              ſlender in all the Members, upon Account of
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              the Weight of the Building. </s>
              <s>But whoever
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              would erect a Tower beſt fitted for reſiſting
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              the Injuries of Age, and at the ſame Time ex­
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              tremely delightful to behold, let him upon a
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              ſquare Baſis, raiſe a round Superſtructure, and
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              over that another ſquare one, and ſo on, ma­
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              king the Work leſs and leſs by Degrees, ac­
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              cording to the Proportions obſerved in Co­
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              lumns. </s>
              <s>I will here deſcribe one which I think
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              well worthy Imitation. </s>
              <s>Firſt from a ſquare
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              Platſorm riſes a Baſement in Height one tenth
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              Part of the whole Structure, and in Breadth
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              one fourth Part of that whole Height. </s>
              <s>Againſt
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              this Baſement, in the Middle of each Front
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              ſtand two Columns, and one at each Angle,
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              diſtinguiſhed by their ſeveral Ornaments, in the
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              ſame Manner as we juſt now appointed for Se­
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              pulchres. </s>
              <s>Over this Baſement we raiſe a ſquare
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              Superſtructure like a little Chapel, in Breadth
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              twice the Height of the Baſement, and as high
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              as broad, againſt which, we may ſet three,
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              four or five Orders of Columns, in the ſame
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              Manner as in Temples. </s>
              <s>Over this, we make
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              our Rotondas, which may even be three in
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              Number, and which from the Similitude of
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              the ſeveral Shoots in a Cane or Ruſh, we ſhall
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              call the Joints. </s>
              <s>The Height of each of theſe
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              Joints ſhall be equal to its Breadth, with the
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              Addition of one twelfth Part of that Breadth,
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              which twelfth Part ſhall ſerve as a Baſement
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              to each Joint. </s>
              <s>The Breadth ſhall be taken
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              from that ſquare Chapel which we placed up­
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              on the firſt Baſement, in the following Man­
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              ner: Dividing the Front of that ſquare Chapel
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              into twelve Parts, give eleven of thoſe Parts to
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              the firſt Joint; then dividing the Diameter of
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              this firſt Joint into twelve Parts, give eleven of
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              them to the ſecond Joint, and ſo make the
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              third Joint a twelfth Part narrower than the
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              ſecond, and thus the ſeveral Joints will have
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              the Beauty which the beſt ancient Architects
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              highly commended in Columns, namely, that
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              the lower Part of the Shaft ſhould be one ſourth
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              Part thicker than the upper. </s>
              <s>Round theſe
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              Joints we muſt raiſe Columns with their proper
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              Ornaments, in Number not leſs than eight, nor
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              more than ſix: Moreover, in each Joint, as al­
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              ſo in the ſquare Chapel, we muſt open Lights
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              in convenient Places, and Niches with the Or­
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              naments ſuitable to them. </s>
              <s>The Lights muſt
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              not take up above half the Aperture between
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              Column and Column. </s>
              <s>The ſixth Story in this
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              Tower, which riſes from the third Rotonda
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              muſt be a ſquare Structure, and its Breadth and
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              Height muſt not be allowed above two third
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              Parts of that third Rotonda. </s>
              <s>Its Ornament
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              muſt be only ſquare Pilaſters ſet againſt the
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              Wall, with Arches turned over them, with
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              their proper Dreſs of Capitals, Architraves and
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              the like, and between Pilaſter and Pilaſter, half
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              the Break may be leſt open for Paſſage. </s>
              <s>The
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              ſeventh and laſt Story ſhall be a circular Por­
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              tico of inſulate Columns, open for Paſſage
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              every Way; the Length of theſe Columns, with
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              their Intablature, ſhall be equal to the Diame­
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              ter of this Portico itſelf, and that Diameter
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              ſhall be three fourths of the ſquare Building,
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              on which it ſtands. </s>
              <s>This circular Portico ſhall
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              be covered with a Cupola. </s>
              <s>Upon the Angles
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              of the ſquare Stories in theſe Towers we ſhould
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              ſet Acroteria equal in Height to the Archi­
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              trave, Freze and Cornice which are beneath
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              them. </s>
              <s>In the lowermoſt ſquare Story, placed
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              juſt above the Baſement, the open Area within
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              may be five eighths of the outward Breadth.
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              </s>
              <s>Among the ancient Works of this Nature, I
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              am extremely well pleaſed with
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Ptolomey
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              's
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              Tower in the Iſland of
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              Pharos,
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              on the Top of
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              which, for the Direction of Mariners, he placed
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              large Fires, which were hung in a continual
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              Vibration, and kept always moving about from
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              Place to Place, leſt at a Diſtance thoſe Fires
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              ſhould be miſtaken for Stars; to which he ad­
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              ded moveable Images, to ſhew from what Cor­
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              ner the Wind blew with others, to ſhew in
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              what Part of the Heavens the Sun was at that
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              Time, and the Hour of the Day: Inventions
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              extremely proper in ſuch a Structure.</s>
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