Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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          <chap>
            <pb xlink:href="003/01/262.jpg"/>
            <p type="head">
              <s>THE
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                <emph type="bold"/>
              ARCHITECTURE
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              OF
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                <emph type="bold"/>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Leone Batiſta Alberti.
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                <emph.end type="bold"/>
              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="head">
              <s>BOOK IX. CHAP. I.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="head">
              <s>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              That particular Regard muſt be had to Frugality and Parſimony, and of the
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              adorning the Palaces or Houſes of the King and principal Magiſtrates.
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              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>We are here to remember, that there
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              are two Sorts of Houſes for private
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              Men; ſome for the Town and others
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              for the Country; and of theſe again
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              ſome are intended for Citizens of meaner Rank,
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              and others for thoſe of the higheſt Quality.
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              </s>
              <s>We are now to treat of the proper Ornaments
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              for each of theſe; but firſt I would premiſe
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              ſome few neceſſary Precautions. </s>
              <s>We find that
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              among the Ancients the Men of the greateſt
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              Prudence and Modeſty were always beſt pleaſed
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              with Temperance and Parſimony in all Things,
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              both publick and private, and particularly in
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              the Affair of Building, judging it neceſſary to
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              prevent and reſtrain all Extravagance and Pro­
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              fuſion in their Citizens in theſe Points, which
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              they did to the utmoſt of their Power both by
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              Admonitions and Laws. </s>
              <s>For this Reaſon
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              Plato
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              commends thoſe who, as we have before obſerv­
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              ed, made a Decree, that no Man ſhould have in
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              his Houſe any Picture that was finer than thoſe
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              which had been ſet up in the Temples of their
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              Gods by their Forefathers, and that even the
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              Temple itſelf ſhould be adorned with no other
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              Painting but ſuch a ſingle Picture as one Painter
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              could draw in one ſingle Day. </s>
              <s>He alſo or­
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              dained, that the Statues of the Gods themſelves
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              ſhould be made only of Wood or Stone, and
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              that Iron and Braſs ſhould be left for the Uſes
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              of War, whereof they were the proper Inſtru­
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              ments.
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              Demoſthenes
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              cried up the Manners of
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              the ancient
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              Athenians,
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              much beyond thoſe of
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              his Cotemporaries; for he tells us, they left an
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              infinite Number of publick Edifices, and eſpe­
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              cially of Temples, ſo magnificent and richly
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              adorned that nothing could exceed them; but
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              they were ſo modeſt in their private Buildings,
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              that the Houſes of the very nobleſt Citizens
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              differed very little from thoſe of the meaneſt;
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              by which means they effected, what is very
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              rarely known among Men, to overcome Envy
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              by Glory. </s>
              <s>But the
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              Spartans
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              condemned even
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              theſe, for having embelliſhed their City more
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              with the Builder's Skill, than with the Splendor
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              of their own Exploits, while they themſelves
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              gloried, that they had adorned their own City
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              more by their Virtue than by their fine Build­
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              ings. </s>
              <s>Among them it was one of
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              Lycurgus
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              's
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              Laws, that their Roofs ſhould be wrought with
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              no nicer Tool than the Ax, and their Doors
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              with the Saw.
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              Ageſilaus,
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              when he beheld
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              ſquare Rafters in the Houſes in
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              Aſia,
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              laughed
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              at them; and asked the People, whether if
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              they had grown naturally ſquare, they would
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              not have made them round? </s>
              <s>And doubtleſs he
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              was in the Right; becauſe, according to the
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              ancient Modeſty of his Nation, he was of Opi­
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              nion, that the Houſes of private Perſons ought
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              to be built only for Convenience, and not for
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              Beauty or Magnificence. </s>
              <s>It was a Law in </s>
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