Alberti, Leone Battista
,
Architecture
,
1755
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to the Streets. </
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>So that the ſame Method
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for walling of Towns will not ſerve in all Pla
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ces. </
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>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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>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. </
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>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.</
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>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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>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.</
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>This is what we find to have
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been the Cuſtom of thoſe Nations. </
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<
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>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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Pharos,
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for want of this Earth made uſe of
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Meal. </
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>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. </
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<
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>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 </
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