Page:Vitruvius the Ten Books on Architecture.djvu/116

86 be divided into six parts, and let five of those parts form the thick­ness at the top. If it is from fifteen feet to twenty feet, let the bottom of the shaft be divided into six and a half parts, and let five and a half of those parts be the upper thickness of the col­umn. In a column of from twenty feet to thirty feet, let the bot­tom of the shaft be divided into seven parts, and let the dimin­ished top measure six of these. A column of from thirty to forty feet should be divided at the bottom into seven and a half parts, and, on the principle of diminution, have six and a half of these at the top. Columns of from forty feet to fifty should be divided into eight parts, and diminish to seven of these at the top of the shaft under the capital. In the case of higher columns, let the diminution be determined proportionally, on the same prin­ciples.

13. These proportionate enlargements are made in the thick­ness of columns on account of the different heights to which the eye has to climb. For the eye is always in search of beauty, and if we do not gratify its desire for pleasure by a proportionate en­largement in these measures, and thus make compensation for ocular deception, a clumsy and awkward appearance will be pre­sented to the beholder. With regard to the enlargement made at the middle of columns, which among the Greeks is called, at the end of the book a figure and calculation will be subjoined, showing how an agreeable and appropriate effect may be pro­duced by it.

1. foundations of these works should be dug out of the solid ground, if it can be found, and carried down into solid ground as far as the magnitude of the work shall seem to require, and the whole substructure should be as solid as it can possibly be laid. Above ground, let walls be laid under the columns, thicker by one half than the columns are to be, so that the lower may be