Vitruvius Pollio

Vitruvius Pollio, a North Italian, possibly from Verona, educated under Julius, and employed by Augustus Cæsar as a civil architect and military engineer. To his patroness Octavia, sister of Augustus, he owed the competence which enabled him to write at leisure his ten books De Architectura. These, dedicated to Augustus, treat (1) of the principles of architecture; (2) of building materials; (3) of temples; (4) of columnar arrangement; (5) of public edifices; (6) of urban and rural architecture; (7) of house-decoration. The 8th book deals with water-supply and aqueducts; the 9th with gnomonics; and the 10th and last with mechanics. Borrowing largely from Greek authorities, he supplemented these by matter of his own, and illustrated the whole with diagrams, unfortunately lost. His professional far exceeded his literary skill—his style being bald, clumsy, and often obscure. His work, however, is the one Latin treatise on architecture, and has had many editors, commentators, and interpreters. The best text is that of Rose and Müller-Strübing (1867), with a good index by Nohl (1876); while his most satisfactory expositor is the mediæval Italian Fra Giocondo (1435-1515), now unearthed from unaccountable neglect. Reference should also be made to Mr J. H. Middleton's lectures.