George W. Ogden - "Trail's End"

James Jennings - "The Dialect of the West of England Particularly Somersetshire"

Louisa Stuart Costello - "Béarn and the Pyrenees"

Pansy - "Sunshine Factory"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Ten Books on Architecture

V >> Vitruvius >> Ten Books on Architecture




4. On the contrary, those that are nearest to the southern half of the
axis, and that lie directly under the sun's course, are of lower
stature, with a swarthy complexion, hair curling, black eyes, strong
legs, and but little blood on account of the force of the sun. Hence,
too, this poverty of blood makes them over-timid to stand up against the
sword, but great heat and fevers they can endure without timidity,
because their frames are bred up in the raging heat. Hence, men that are
born in the north are rendered over-timid and weak by fever, but their
wealth of blood enables them to stand up against the sword without
timidity.

[Illustration]

5. The pitch of the voice is likewise different and varying in quality
with different nations, for the following reasons. The terminating
points east and west on the level of the earth, where the upper and
lower parts of the heaven are divided, seem to lie in a naturally
balanced circle which mathematicians call the Horizon. Keeping this idea
definitely in mind, if we imagine a line drawn from the northern side of
the circumference (N) to the side which lies above the southern half of
the axis (S), and from here another line obliquely up to the pivot at
the summit, beyond the stars composing the Great Bear (the pole star P),
we shall doubtless see that we have in the heaven a triangular figure
like that of the musical instrument which the Greeks call the
"sambuca."

6. And so, under the space which is nearest to the pivot at the bottom,
off the southern portions of the line of the axis, are found nations
that on account of the slight altitude of the heaven above them, have
shrill and very high-pitched voices, like the string nearest to the
angle in the musical instrument. Next in order come other nations as far
as the middle of Greece, with lower elevations of the voice; and from
this middle point they go on in regular order up to the extreme north,
where, under high altitudes, the vocal utterance of the inhabitants is,
under natural laws, produced in heavier tones. Thus it is obvious that
the system of the universe as a whole is, on account of the inclination
of the heaven, composed in a most perfect harmony through the temporary
power of the sun.

7. The nations, therefore, that lie midway between the pivots at the
southern and the northern extremities of the axis, converse in a voice
of middle pitch, like the notes in the middle of a musical scale; but,
as we proceed towards the north, the distances to the heaven become
greater, and so the nations there, whose vocal utterance is reduced by
the moisture to the "hypates" and to "proslambanomenon," are naturally
obliged to speak in heavier tones. In the same way, as we proceed from
the middle point to the south, the voices of the nations there
correspond in extreme height of pitch and in shrillness to the
"paranetes" and "netes."

8. That it is a fact that things are made heavier from being in places
naturally moist, and higher pitched from places that are hot, may be
proved from the following experiment. Take two cups which have been
baked in the same oven for an equal time, which are of equal weight, and
which give the same note when struck. Dip one of them into water and,
after taking it out of water, strike them both. This done, there will be
a great difference in their notes, and the cups can no longer be equal
in weight. Thus it is with men: though born in the same general form and
under the same all-embracing heaven, yet in some of them, on account of
the heat in their country, the voice strikes the air on a high note,
while in others, on account of abundance of moisture, the quality of
tones produced is very heavy.

9. Further, it is owing to the rarity of the atmosphere that southern
nations, with their keen intelligence due to the heat, are very free and
swift in the devising of schemes, while northern nations, being
enveloped in a dense atmosphere, and chilled by moisture from the
obstructing air, have but a sluggish intelligence. That this is so, we
may see from the case of snakes. Their movements are most active in hot
weather, when they have got rid of the chill due to moisture, whereas at
the winter solstice, and in winter weather, they are chilled by the
change of temperature, and rendered torpid and motionless. It is
therefore no wonder that man's intelligence is made keener by warm air
and duller by cold.

10. But although southern nations have the keenest wits, and are
infinitely clever in forming schemes, yet the moment it comes to
displaying valour, they succumb because all manliness of spirit is
sucked out of them by the sun. On the other hand, men born in cold
countries are indeed readier to meet the shock of arms with great
courage and without timidity, but their wits are so slow that they will
rush to the charge inconsiderately and inexpertly, thus defeating their
own devices. Such being nature's arrangement of the universe, and all
these nations being allotted temperaments which are lacking in due
moderation, the truly perfect territory, situated under the middle of
the heaven, and having on each side the entire extent of the world and
its countries, is that which is occupied by the Roman people.

11. In fact, the races of Italy are the most perfectly constituted in
both respects--in bodily form and in mental activity to correspond to
their valour. Exactly as the planet Jupiter is itself temperate, its
course lying midway between Mars, which is very hot, and Saturn, which
is very cold, so Italy, lying between the north and the south, is a
combination of what is found on each side, and her preeminence is well
regulated and indisputable. And so by her wisdom she breaks the
courageous onsets of the barbarians, and by her strength of hand
thwarts the devices of the southerners. Hence, it was the divine
intelligence that set the city of the Roman people in a peerless and
temperate country, in order that it might acquire the right to command
the whole world.

12. Now if it is a fact that countries differ from one another, and are
of various classes according to climate, so that the very nations born
therein naturally differ in mental and physical conformation and
qualities, we cannot hesitate to make our houses suitable in plan to the
peculiarities of nations and races, since we have the expert guidance of
nature herself ready to our hand.

I have now set forth the peculiar characteristics of localities, so far
as I could note them, in the most summary way, and have stated how we
ought to make our houses conform to the physical qualities of nations,
with due regard to the course of the sun and to climate. Next I shall
treat the symmetrical proportions of the different styles of houses,
both as wholes and in their separate parts.




CHAPTER II

SYMMETRY, AND MODIFICATIONS IN IT TO SUIT THE SITE


1. There is nothing to which an architect should devote more thought
than to the exact proportions of his building with reference to a
certain part selected as the standard. After the standard of symmetry
has been determined, and the proportionate dimensions adjusted by
calculations, it is next the part of wisdom to consider the nature of
the site, or questions of use or beauty, and modify the plan by
diminutions or additions in such a manner that these diminutions or
additions in the symmetrical relations may be seen to be made on correct
principles, and without detracting at all from the effect.

2. The look of a building when seen close at hand is one thing, on a
height it is another, not the same in an enclosed place, still
different in the open, and in all these cases it takes much judgment to
decide what is to be done. The fact is that the eye does not always give
a true impression, but very often leads the mind to form a false
judgment. In painted scenery, for example, columns may appear to jut
out, mutules to project, and statues to be standing in the foreground,
although the picture is of course perfectly flat. Similarly with ships,
the oars when under the water are straight, though to the eye they
appear to be broken. To the point where they touch the surface of the
sea they look straight, as indeed they are, but when dipped under the
water they emit from their bodies undulating images which come swimming
up through the naturally transparent medium to the surface of the water,
and, being there thrown into commotion, make the oars look broken.

3. Now whether this appearance is due to the impact of the images, or to
the effusion of the rays from the eye, as the physicists hold, in either
case it is obvious that the vision may lead us to false impressions.

4. Since, therefore, the reality may have a false appearance, and since
things are sometimes represented by the eyes as other than they are, I
think it certain that diminutions or additions should be made to suit
the nature or needs of the site, but in such fashion that the buildings
lose nothing thereby. These results, however, are also attainable by
flashes of genius, and not only by mere science.

5. Hence, the first thing to settle is the standard of symmetry, from
which we need not hesitate to vary. Then, lay out the ground lines of
the length and breadth of the work proposed, and when once we have
determined its size, let the construction follow this with due regard to
beauty of proportion, so that the beholder may feel no doubt of the
eurythmy of its effect. I must now tell how this may be brought about,
and first I will speak of the proper construction of a cavaedium.




CHAPTER III

PROPORTIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL ROOMS


1. There are five different styles of cavaedium, termed according to
their construction as follows: Tuscan, Corinthian, tetrastyle,
displuviate, and testudinate.

In the Tuscan, the girders that cross the breadth of the atrium have
crossbeams on them, and valleys sloping in and running from the angles
of the walls to the angles formed by the beams, and the rainwater falls
down along the rafters to the roof-opening (compluvium) in the middle.

In the Corinthian, the girders and roof-opening are constructed on these
same principles, but the girders run in from the side walls, and are
supported all round on columns.

In the tetrastyle, the girders are supported at the angles by columns,
an arrangement which relieves and strengthens the girders; for thus they
have themselves no great span to support, and they are not loaded down
by the crossbeams.

[Illustration: _From Mau_

THE HOUSE OF THE SURGEON, POMPEII

Illustrating the Tuscan Atrium

1. Fauces
2, 3. Shops
4. Storage
5. Atrium
6. Chambers
7. Tablinum
8. Alae
9, 10. Dining rooms
13. Kitchen, _a_, hearth
14. Rear Entrance
16. Portico
18. Stairs to rooms over the rear of the house
20. Garden

]

[Illustration: _From Mau_

HOUSE OF EPIDIUS RUFUS AT POMPEII

Illustrating Corinthian Atrium]

2. In the displuviate, there are beams which slope outwards, supporting
the roof and throwing the rainwater off. This style is suitable chiefly
in winter residences, for its roof-opening, being high up, is not an
obstruction to the light of the dining rooms. It is, however, very
troublesome to keep in repair, because the pipes, which are intended to
hold the water that comes dripping down the walls all round, cannot take
it quickly enough as it runs down from the channels, but get too full
and run over, thus spoiling the woodwork and the walls of houses of this
style.

[Illustration: _From Mau_

HOUSE OF THE SILVER WEDDING AT POMPEII

Illustrating the Tetrastyle Atrium

_a._ fauces
_d._ tetrastyle atrium
_n._ dining room
_o._ tablinum
_p._ andron
_r._ peristyle
_w._ summer dining room

]

The testudinate is employed where the span is not great, and where large
rooms are provided in upper stories.

3. In width and length, atriums are designed according to three classes.
The first is laid out by dividing the length into five parts and giving
three parts to the width; the second, by dividing it into three parts
and assigning two parts to the width; the third, by using the width to
describe a square figure with equal sides, drawing a diagonal line in
this square, and giving the atrium the length of this diagonal line.

4. Their height up to the girders should be one fourth less than their
width, the rest being the proportion assigned to the ceiling and the
roof above the girders.

The alae, to the right and left, should have a width equal to one third
of the length of the atrium, when that is from thirty to forty feet
long. From forty to fifty feet, divide the length by three and one
half, and give the alae the result. When it is from fifty to sixty feet
in length, devote one fourth of the length to the alae. From sixty to
eighty feet, divide the length by four and one half and let the result
be the width of the alae. From eighty feet to one hundred feet, the
length divided into five parts will produce the right width for the
alae. Their lintel beams should be placed high enough to make the height
of the alae equal to their width.

5. The tablinum should be given two thirds of the width of the atrium
when the latter is twenty feet wide. If it is from thirty to forty feet,
let half the width of the atrium be devoted to the tablinum. When it is
from forty to sixty feet, divide the width into five parts and let two
of these be set apart for the tablinum. In the case of smaller atriums,
the symmetrical proportions cannot be the same as in larger. For if, in
the case of the smaller, we employ the proportion that belong to the
larger, both tablina and alae must be unserviceable, while if, in the
case of the larger, we employ the proportions of the smaller, the rooms
mentioned will be huge monstrosities. Hence, I have thought it best to
describe exactly their respective proportionate sizes, with a view both
to convenience and to beauty.

[Illustration: _From Mau_

PLAN OF A TYPICAL ROMAN HOUSE]

6. The height of the tablinum at the lintel should be one eighth more
than its width. Its ceiling should exceed this height by one third of
the width. The fauces in the case of smaller atriums should be two
thirds, and in the case of larger one half the width of the tablinum.
Let the busts of ancestors with their ornaments be set up at a height
corresponding to the width of the alae. The proportionate width and
height of doors may be settled, if they are Doric, in the Doric manner,
and if Ionic, in the Ionic manner, according to the rules of symmetry
which have been given about portals in the fourth book. In the
roof-opening let an aperture be left with a breadth of not less than
one fourth nor more than one third the width of the atrium, and with a
length proportionate to that of the atrium.

[Illustration: _Photo. Sommer_

THE PERISTYLE OF THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII AT POMPEII]

7. Peristyles, lying athwart, should be one third longer than they are
deep, and their columns as high as the colonnades are wide.
Intercolumniations of peristyles should be not less than three nor more
than four times the thickness of the columns. If the columns of the
peristyle are to be made in the Doric style, take the modules which I
have given in the fourth book, on the Doric order, and arrange the
columns with reference to these modules and to the scheme of the
triglyphs.

[Illustration: _From Durm_

PLAN OF THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII, POMPEII]

8. Dining rooms ought to be twice as long as they are wide. The height
of all oblong rooms should be calculated by adding together their
measured length and width, taking one half of this total, and using the
result for the height. But in the case of exedrae or square oeci, let
the height be brought up to one and one half times the width. Picture
galleries, like exedrae, should be constructed of generous dimensions.
Corinthian and tetrastyle oeci, as well as those termed Egyptian, should
have the same symmetrical proportions in width and length as the dining
rooms described above, but, since they have columns in them, their
dimensions should be ampler.

9. The following will be the distinction between Corinthian and Egyptian
oeci: the Corinthian have single tiers of columns, set either on a
podium or on the ground, with architraves over them and coronae either
of woodwork or of stucco, and carved vaulted ceilings above the coronae.
In the Egyptian there are architraves over the columns, and joists laid
thereon from the architraves to the surrounding walls, with a floor in
the upper story to allow of walking round under the open sky. Then,
above the architrave and perpendicularly over the lower tier of columns,
columns one fourth smaller should be imposed. Above their architraves
and ornaments are decorated ceilings, and the upper columns have windows
set in between them. Thus the Egyptian are not like Corinthian dining
rooms, but obviously resemble basilicas.

10. There are also, though not customary in Italy, the oeci which the
Greeks call Cyzicene. These are built with a northern exposure and
generally command a view of gardens, and have folding doors in the
middle. They are also so long and so wide that two sets of dining
couches, facing each other, with room to pass round them, can be placed
therein. On the right and left they have windows which open like folding
doors, so that views of the garden may be had from the dining couches
through the opened windows. The height of such rooms is one and one half
times their width.

11. All the above-mentioned symmetrical relations should be observed, in
these kinds of buildings, that can be observed without embarrassment
caused by the situation. The windows will be an easy matter to arrange
if they are not darkened by high walls; but in cases of confined space,
or when there are other unavoidable obstructions, it will be permissible
to make diminutions or additions in the symmetrical relations,--with
ingenuity and acuteness, however, so that the result may be not unlike
the beauty which is due to true symmetry.




CHAPTER IV

THE PROPER EXPOSURES OF THE DIFFERENT ROOMS


1. We shall next explain how the special purposes of different rooms
require different exposures, suited to convenience and to the quarters
of the sky. Winter dining rooms and bathrooms should have a southwestern
exposure, for the reason that they need the evening light, and also
because the setting sun, facing them in all its splendour but with
abated heat, lends a gentler warmth to that quarter in the evening.
Bedrooms and libraries ought to have an eastern exposure, because their
purposes require the morning light, and also because books in such
libraries will not decay. In libraries with southern exposures the books
are ruined by worms and dampness, because damp winds come up, which
breed and nourish the worms, and destroy the books with mould, by
spreading their damp breath over them.

2. Dining rooms for Spring and Autumn to the east; for when the windows
face that quarter, the sun, as he goes on his career from over against
them to the west, leaves such rooms at the proper temperature at the
time when it is customary to use them. Summer dining rooms to the north,
because that quarter is not, like the others, burning with heat during
the solstice, for the reason that it is unexposed to the sun's course,
and hence it always keeps cool, and makes the use of the rooms both
healthy and agreeable. Similarly with picture galleries, embroiderers'
work rooms, and painters' studios, in order that the fixed light may
permit the colours used in their work to last with qualities unchanged.




CHAPTER V

HOW THE ROOMS SHOULD BE SUITED TO THE STATION OF THE OWNER


1. After settling the positions of the rooms with regard to the quarters
of the sky, we must next consider the principles on which should be
constructed those apartments in private houses which are meant for the
householders themselves, and those which are to be shared in common with
outsiders. The private rooms are those into which nobody has the right
to enter without an invitation, such as bedrooms, dining rooms,
bathrooms, and all others used for the like purposes. The common are
those which any of the people have a perfect right to enter, even
without an invitation: that is, entrance courts, cavaedia, peristyles,
and all intended for the like purpose. Hence, men of everyday fortune do
not need entrance courts, tablina, or atriums built in grand style,
because such men are more apt to discharge their social obligations by
going round to others than to have others come to them.

2. Those who do business in country produce must have stalls and shops
in their entrance courts, with crypts, granaries, store-rooms, and so
forth in their houses, constructed more for the purpose of keeping the
produce in good condition than for ornamental beauty.

For capitalists and farmers of the revenue, somewhat comfortable and
showy apartments must be constructed, secure against robbery; for
advocates and public speakers, handsomer and more roomy, to accommodate
meetings; for men of rank who, from holding offices and magistracies,
have social obligations to their fellow-citizens, lofty entrance courts
in regal style, and most spacious atriums and peristyles, with
plantations and walks of some extent in them, appropriate to their
dignity. They need also libraries, picture galleries, and basilicas,
finished in a style similar to that of great public buildings, since
public councils as well as private law suits and hearings before
arbitrators are very often held in the houses of such men.

3. If, therefore, houses are planned on these principles to suit
different classes of persons, as prescribed in my first book, under the
subject of Propriety, there will be no room for criticism; for they will
be arranged with convenience and perfection to suit every purpose. The
rules on these points will hold not only for houses in town, but also
for those in the country, except that in town atriums are usually next
to the front door, while in country seats peristyles come first, and
then atriums surrounded by paved colonnades opening upon palaestrae and
walks.

I have now set forth the rules for houses in town so far as I could
describe them in a summary way. Next I shall state how farmhouses may be
arranged with a view to convenience in use, and shall give the rules for
their construction.




CHAPTER VI

THE FARMHOUSE


1. In the first place, inspect the country from the point of view of
health, in accordance with what is written in my first book, on the
building of cities, and let your farmhouses be situated accordingly.
Their dimensions should depend upon the size of the farm and the amount
of produce. Their courtyards and the dimensions thereof should be
determined by the number of cattle and the number of yokes of oxen that
will need to be kept therein. Let the kitchen be placed on the warmest
side of the courtyard, with the stalls for the oxen adjoining, and their
cribs facing the kitchen fire and the eastern quarter of the sky, for
the reason that oxen facing the light and the fire do not get
rough-coated. Even peasants wholly without knowledge of the quarters of
the sky believe that oxen ought to face only in the direction of the
sunrise.

[Illustration: _From Mau_

THE VILLA RUSTICA AT BOSCOREALE NEAR POMPEII

_A._ Court. _B._ Kitchen. _C-F._ Baths. _H._ Stable.
_J._ Toolroom. _K, L, V, V._ Bedrooms.
_N._ Dining Room. _M._ Anteroom. _O._ Bakery.
_P._ Room with two winepresses. _Q._ Corridor.
_B._ Court for fermentation of wine. _S._ Barn.
_T._ Threshing-floor. _Y._ Room with oil press.

]

2. Their stalls ought to be not less than ten nor more than fifteen feet
wide, and long enough to allow not less than seven feet for each yoke.
Bathrooms, also, should adjoin the kitchen; for in this situation it
will not take long to get ready a bath in the country.

Let the pressing room, also, be next to the kitchen; for in this
situation it will be easy to deal with the fruit of the olive. Adjoining
it should be the wine room with its windows lighted from the north. In a
room with windows on any other quarter so that the sun can heat it, the
heat will get into the wine and make it weak.

3. The oil room must be situated so as to get its light from the south
and from warm quarters; for oil ought not to be chilled, but should be
kept thin by gentle heat. In dimensions, oil rooms should be built to
accommodate the crop and the proper number of jars, each of which,
holding about one hundred and twenty gallons, must take up a space four
feet in diameter. The pressing room itself, if the pressure is exerted
by means of levers and a beam, and not worked by turning screws, should
be not less than forty feet long, which will give the lever man a
convenient amount of space. It should be not less than sixteen feet
wide, which will give the men who are at work plenty of free space to do
the turning conveniently. If two presses are required in the place,
allow twenty-four feet for the width.

4. Folds for sheep and goats must be made large enough to allow each
animal a space of not less than four and a half, nor more than six feet.
Rooms for grain should be set in an elevated position and with a
northern or north-eastern exposure. Thus the grain will not be able to
heat quickly, but, being cooled by the wind, keeps a long time. Other
exposures produce the corn weevil and the other little creatures that
are wont to spoil the grain. To the stable should be assigned the very
warmest place in the farmhouse, provided that it is not exposed to the
kitchen fire; for when draught animals are stabled very near a fire,
their coats get rough.

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