Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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              <s>
                <pb xlink:href="003/01/088.jpg" pagenum="71"/>
              to the Streets. </s>
              <s>At the famous City
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              Peruſia,
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              which has ſeveral little Towers placed here
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              and there upon the Hills, like the Fingers of
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              a Man's Hand extending out, if the Enemy
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              offers to attack one of the Angles with a good
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              Number of Men, he can find no Place to be­
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              gin his Aſſault, and being obliged to march
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              under thoſe Towers, is not able to withſtand
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              the Weapons that will be caſt, and the Sallies
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              made upon him. </s>
              <s>So that the ſame Method
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              for walling of Towns will not ſerve in all Pla­
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              ces. </s>
              <s>Moreover the Ancients lay it down for
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              a Rule, that Cities and Ships ſhould by no
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              means be either ſo big as to look empty, nor
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              ſo little as to be crowded. </s>
              <s>Others are for hav­
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              ing their Towns full and cloſe, believing that
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              it adds to their Safety: Others, feeding them­
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              ſelves with great Hopes of Times to come, de­
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              light in having a vaſt deal of Room: Others,
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              perhaps, have an Eye to the Fame and Ho­
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              nour of Poſterity. </s>
              <s>The City of the
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              Sun,
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              built
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              by
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              Buſiris,
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              and call'd
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              Thebes,
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              as Hiſtories in­
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              form us, was twenty Miles in Circuit;
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              Mem­
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              phis,
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              eighteen Miles, ſix Furlongs;
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              Babylon,
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              three and forty Miles, ſix Furlong;
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              Nineveh,
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              threeſcore Miles; and ſome Towns encloſed
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              ſo much Ground, that even within the Walls
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              they could raiſe Proviſions for the whole Year.
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              </s>
              <s>But, I think, there is a great deal of Wiſdom
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              in the old Proverb, which tells us, that we
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              ought in all Things to avoid exceſs; though
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              if I were to commit an Error of either Side,
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              I ſhould rather chuſe that Proportion which
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              would allow of an Encreaſe of Citizens, than that
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              which is hardly ſufficient to contain the preſent
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              Inhabitants. </s>
              <s>Add to this, that a City is not
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              built wholly for the Sake of Shelter, but ought
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              to be ſo contrived, that beſides mere civil
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              Conveniencies there may be handſome Spaces
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              left for Squares, Courſes for Chariots, Gardens,
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              Places to take the Air in, for Swimming, and
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              the like, both for Ornament and Recreation.</s>
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              <s>WE read in the Ancients
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              Varro, Plutarch
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              and others, that their Forefathers us'd to
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              deſign the Walls of their Town with abundance
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              of religious Rites and Ceremonies. </s>
              <s>After the
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              repeated taking of Auſpices they yoked a Bull
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              and a Cow together to draw a brazen Plough,
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              with which they traced out the Line that was
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              to be the Circuit of the Wall, the Cow being
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              placed on the Inſide, and the Bull without.
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              </s>
              <s>The Fathers and Elders that were to dwell in
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              the Town followed the Plough, laying all the
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              Clods of Earth into the Furrow again inward,
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              ſo that none might lie ſcattering outward, and
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              when they came to thoſe Places where the Gates
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              were to be, they lifted up the Plough and car­
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              ried it in their Hands, that the Groundſell of
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              the Gates might remain untouch'd; and for
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              this Reaſon they eſteem'd the whole Circle of
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              the Wall to be ſacred, all except the Gates,
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              which were by no means to be called ſo.</s>
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              <s>In the Days of
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              Romulus, Dionyſius
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              of
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              Hali­
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              carnaſſus,
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              tells us, that the Fathers in Beginning
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              their Towns, uſed, after performing a Sacriſice,
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              to kindle Fires before their Tents, and to
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              make the People paſs through them, believing
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              that they were purged and purified by the
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              Flame; and they held it unlawful to admit
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              any Body to this Ceremony that was polluted
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              or unclean. </s>
              <s>This is what we find to have
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              been the Cuſtom of thoſe Nations. </s>
              <s>In other
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              Places they uſed to mark out the Foundation
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              of their Walls by ſtrowing all the Way a Duſt
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              made of white Earth, which they called
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              pure;
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              and
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              Alexander,
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              upon laying out the Town of
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                <emph type="italics"/>
              Pharos,
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              for want of this Earth made uſe of
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              Meal. </s>
              <s>From theſe Ceremonies the Diviners
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              took Occaſion to foretell what ſhould happen
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              in Times to come; for noting the Nativity, as
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              we may call it, of the City, and ſome Events
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              that ſeemed to have ſome Connection with it,
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              they imagined they might thence draw Pre­
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              dictions of its future Succeſſes. </s>
              <s>The
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              Hetrurians
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              too in the Books of their Ceremonies taught
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              this Art of foretelling the Fortune of Towns
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              from the Day of their Nativities; and this not
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              from the Obſervation of the Heavens, which
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              we mentioned in the Second Book, but from
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              Principles and Conjectures founded upon
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              preſent Circumſtances.
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              Cenſorinus
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              informs us,
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              that the Method they taught was this: Such
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              Men as happened to be born the very ſame
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              Day that the City was begun, and lived the
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              Longeſt of any one born on that Day, were
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              reckoned by their Death to put a Period to the
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              firſt Age of that City; next, the longeſt Liver
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              of thoſe that dwelt in the City; at that Time,
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              when they died concluded the ſecond Age;
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              and ſo for the other Ages. </s>
              <s>Then they ſup­
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              poſed that the Gods generally ſent Omens to
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              point out the Concluſion of each particular
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              Age. </s>
              <s>Theſe were the Superſtitions which
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              they taught; and they add that the
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              Hetrurians
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              by theſe Prognoſticks could certainly fix every
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              Age of their City, which they determined to
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              to be as follows; their firſt four Ages they
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              made an hundred Years each; the Fifth, an
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              hundred and Twenty-three; the Sixth, an
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              hundred and Twenty, and as many the </s>
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