Archimedes Texts

183
be a Rest, according to the Rules already given
for the Basilique, and no Part of the Dress of
these Windows must rise higher than the Shaft
of the Columns between which they stand,
exclusive of their Capitals. The Height of the
Aperture of the Window being divided into
cleven Parts, seven must be given to its Breadth.
If you would have no upper Row of Columns
at all, then you may support the upper Cornice
with Consoles, instead of Capitals, according to
the Method already given in the Description of
the Ionic Door. Then each Window will stand
between two Consoles made after the following
Proportions. The Breadth of the Console must
be the same as the Top of the naked Shaft of
a Column in the same Place ought to be, exclu
sive of the Astragal and Fillet, and its Length
equal to the Height of the Corinthian Capital
without its Abacus. The Projecture of the
Console must not exceed that of the Freze of
its Entablature. The Ancients in a great many
Places had several other Kinds of Structures and
Inventions which admitted of Ornaments, and
rendered the City more magnificent. We are
told, that near the Academy of Athens there
was a very fine Grove consecrated to the Gods,
which was cut down by Sylla in order for the
casting up an Intrenchment against Athens.
Alexander Severus adorned his own Thermes,
or Baths, with a pleasant Grove, and added to
those of Antoninus several fine Lakes for Swim
ming in. The Agrigentines, upon Zelo's Vic
tory against the Chalcedonians made such a Lake
seven Furlongs long and twenty Cubits deep,
from which they raised a considerable Income.
We read, that at Tivoli there was a very famous
publick Library. Pisistratus was the first that
erected such a Library at Aihens, consisting of
a great Number of Books, which were carried
away by Xerxes into Persia, and afterwards
brought back again to Athens by Seleucus. The
Ptolomeys King of Ægypt had a Library con
sisting of seven hundred thousand Volumns;
but why should we wonder at such a Number
of Books in a publick Collection, when there
was no less than sixty-two thousand Volumns
in the particular Library of the Gordians? In
the Country of Laodicea, besides the Temple
of Nemesis, there was a noble Physick School,
erected by Zeuxis, which was highly celebrat
ed. Appian tells us, that at Carthage there
was a Stable of three hundred Elephants, and
another of hundred Horses, an Arsenal for two
hundred and twenty Ships, together with other
Magazines both of Arms and Provisions suffi
cient to supply a whole Army. At Thebes,
which was anciently called the City of the Sun,
we read, that there were no less than an hundred
publick Stables, each big enough to hold two
hundred Horses. In Cizycus, an Island of the
Propontis, there were two Ports, and between
them an Arsenal, the Roofs of which would
give Shelter to two hundred Vessels. Upon
the Pireum, or Port of Athens, was a noble
Station for no less than four hundred Ships,
which was the celebrated Work of Philo. Di
onysius, at the Haven of Syracuse, made an
Arsenal divided into an hundred and sixty Par
titions, each whereof would contain two Ves
sels, together with a Magazine, which in a few
Days would furnish above an hundred and
twenty thousand Shields, and an incredible
Number of Swords. At Sithicus the Spartans
had an Arsenal of above an hundred and sixty
Furlongs long. Thus we find Variety of Struc
tures among various Nations: But as to their
particular Forms, Designs and Contrivances, I
have nothing certain to prescribe, except that
those Parts of them which are for Use, must be
borrowed from the Rules of private Edifices,
and those which are for Ornament and Magni
ficence, from those of publick ones. I shall
only observe, that the principal Ornament of a
Library, is the Number and Variety of the
Books contained in it, and chiefly their being
collected from among the learned Remains of
Antiquity. Another great Ornament, are cu
rious mathematical Instruments of all Sorts,
especially if they are like that made by Posdo
nius, in which all the seven Planets performed
their proper Revolutions by their own Motion;
or that of Aristarchus, who we are told de
scribed a Plan of the whole World, with all its
several Provinces, upon a Table of Iron, to a
most curious Exactness, and the Busts of the
ancient Poets, which Tiberius placed in his Li
brary, were certainly a very proper and beau
tiful Ornament. I think I have now gone
through with all the Ornaments that relate to
publick Edifices. I have treated both of the
Sacred and of the Profane, of Temples, Basili
ques, Porticoes, Sepulchres, Highways, Ha
vens, Squares, Bridges, Triumphal Arches,
Theatres, Circusses, Courts, Council-chambers,
publick Places for Exercise, and the like, so
that there seems nothing of this Nature now
left for me to speak of, except it be Thermes
or publick Baths.