Ten Books on Architecture

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CHAPTER XV

HEGETOR'S TORTOISE

[Illustration: HEGETOR'S RAM AND TORTOISE

1. From a MS. of the sixteenth century (Wescher's Poliorcetique des
Grecs).

2. From a model made by A. A. Howard.]

1. There is also another kind of tortoise, which has all the other
details as described above except the rafters, but it has round it a
parapet and battlements of boards, and eaves sloping downwards, and
is covered with boards and hides firmly fastened in place. Above this
let clay kneaded with hair be spread to such a thickness that fire
cannot injure the machine. These machines can, if need be, have eight
wheels, should it be necessary to modify them with reference to the
nature of the ground. Tortoises, however, which are intended for
excavating, termed in Greek [Greek: oryktides], have all the other
details as described above, but their fronts are constructed like the
angles of triangles, in order that when missiles are shot against them
from a wall, they may receive the blows not squarely in front, but
glancing from the sides, and those excavating within may be protected
without danger.

2. It does not seem to me out of place to set forth the principles on
which Hegetor of Byzantium constructed a tortoise. The length of its
base was sixty-three feet, the breadth forty-two. The corner posts, four
in number, which were set upon this framework, were made of two timbers
each, and were thirty-six feet high, a foot and a quarter thick, and a
foot and a half broad. The base had eight wheels by means of which it
was moved about. The height of these wheels was six and three quarters
feet, their thickness three feet. Thus constructed of three pieces of
wood, united by alternate opposite dovetails and bound together by
cold-drawn iron plates, they revolved in the trees or amaxopodes.

3. Likewise, on the plane of the crossbeams above the base, were erected
posts eighteen feet high, three quarters of a foot broad, two thirds of
a foot thick, and a foot and three quarters apart; above these, framed
beams, a foot broad and three quarters of a foot thick, held the whole
structure together; above this the rafters were raised, with an
elevation of twelve feet; a beam set above the rafters united their
joinings. They also had bridgings fastened transversely, and a flooring
laid on them protected the parts beneath.

4. It had, moreover, a middle flooring on girts, where scorpiones and
catapults were placed. There were set up, also, two framed uprights
forty-five feet long, a foot and a half in thickness, and three quarters
of a foot in breadth, joined at the tops by a mortised crossbeam and by
another, halfway up, mortised into the two shafts and tied in place by
iron plates. Above this was set, between the shafts and the crossbeams,
a block pierced on either side by sockets, and firmly fastened in place
with clamps. In this block were two axles, turned on a lathe, and ropes
fastened from them held the ram.

5. Over the head of these (ropes) which held the ram, was placed a
parapet fitted out like a small tower, so that, without danger, two
soldiers, standing in safety, could look out and report what the enemy
were attempting. The entire ram had a length of one hundred and eighty
feet, a breadth at the base of a foot and a quarter, and a thickness of
a foot, tapering at the head to a breadth of a foot and a thickness of
three quarters of a foot.

6. This ram, moreover, had a beak of hard iron such as ships of war
usually have, and from the beak iron plates, four in number, about
fifteen feet long, were fastened to the wood. From the head to the very
heel of the beam were stretched cables, three in number and eight digits
thick, fastened just as in a ship from stem to stern continuously, and
these cables were bound with cross girdles a foot and a quarter apart.
Over these the whole ram was wrapped with rawhide. The ends of the ropes
from which the ram hung were made of fourfold chains of iron, and these
chains were themselves wrapped in rawhide.

7. Likewise, the projecting end of the ram had a box framed and
constructed of boards, in which was stretched a net made of rather large
ropes, over the rough surfaces of which one easily reached the wall
without the feet slipping. And this machine moved in six directions,
forward (and backward), also to the right or left, and likewise it was
elevated by extending it upwards and depressed by inclining it
downwards. The machine could be elevated to a height sufficient to throw
down a wall of about one hundred feet, and likewise in its thrust it
covered a space from right to left of not less than one hundred feet.
One hundred men controlled it, though it had a weight of four thousand
talents, which is four hundred and eighty thousand pounds.

CHAPTER XVI

MEASURES OF DEFENCE

1. With regard to scorpiones, catapults, and ballistae, likewise with
regard to tortoises and towers, I have set forth, as seemed to me
especially appropriate, both by whom they were invented and in what
manner they should be constructed. But I have not considered it as
necessary to describe ladders, cranes, and other things, the principles
of which are simpler, for the soldiers usually construct these by
themselves, nor can these very machines be useful in all places nor in
the same way, since fortifications differ from each other, and so also
the bravery of nations. For siege works against bold and venturesome men
should be constructed on one plan, on another against cautious men, and
on still another against the cowardly.

2. And so, if any one pays attention to these directions, and by
selection adapts their various principles to a single structure, he will
not be in need of further aids, but will be able, without hesitation, to
design such machines as the circumstances or the situations demand. With
regard to works of defence, it is not necessary to write, since the
enemy do not construct their defences in conformity with our books, but
their contrivances are frequently foiled, on the spur of the moment, by
some shrewd, hastily conceived plan, without the aid of machines, as is
said to have been the experience of the Rhodians.

3. For Diognetus was a Rhodian architect, to whom, as an honour, was
granted out of the public treasury a fixed annual payment commensurate
with the dignity of his art. At this time an architect from Aradus,
Callias by name, coming to Rhodes, gave a public lecture, and showed a
model of a wall, over which he set a machine on a revolving crane with
which he seized an helepolis as it approached the fortifications, and
brought it inside the wall. The Rhodians, when they had seen this model,
filled with admiration, took from Diognetus the yearly grant and
transferred this honour to Callias.

4. Meanwhile, king Demetrius, who because of his stubborn courage was
called Poliorcetes, making war on Rhodes, brought with him a famous
Athenian architect named Epimachus. He constructed at enormous expense,
with the utmost care and exertion, an helepolis one hundred and
thirty-five feet high and sixty feet broad. He strengthened it with hair
and rawhide so that it could withstand the blow of a stone weighing
three hundred and sixty pounds shot from a ballista; the machine itself
weighed three hundred and sixty thousand pounds. When Callias was asked
by the Rhodians to construct a machine to resist this helepolis, and to
bring it within the wall as he had promised, he said that it was
impossible.

5. For not all things are practicable on identical principles, but there
are some things which, when enlarged in imitation of small models, are
effective, others cannot have models, but are constructed independently
of them, while there are some which appear feasible in models, but when
they have begun to increase in size are impracticable, as we can observe
in the following instance. A half inch, inch, or inch and a half hole is
bored with an auger, but if we should wish, in the same manner, to bore
a hole a quarter of a foot in breadth, it is impracticable, while one of
half a foot or more seems not even conceivable.

6. So too, in some models it is seen how they appear practicable on the
smallest scale and likewise on a larger. And so the Rhodians, in the
same manner, deceived by the same reasoning, inflicted injury and insult
on Diognetus. Therefore, when they saw the enemy stubbornly hostile,
slavery threatening them because of the machine which had been built to
take the city, and that they must look forward to the destruction of
their state, they fell at the feet of Diognetus, begging him to come to
the aid of the fatherland. He at first refused.

7. But after free-born maidens and young men came with the priests to
implore him, he promised to do it on condition that if he took the
machine it should be his property. When these terms had been agreed
upon, he pierced the wall in the place where the machine was going to
approach it, and ordered all to bring forth from both public and private
sources all the water, excrement, and filth, and to pour it in front of
the wall through pipes projecting through this opening. After a great
amount of water, filth, and excrement had been poured out during the
night, on the next day the helepolis moving up, before it could reach
the wall, came to a stop in the swamp made by the moisture, and could
not be moved forwards, nor later even backwards. And so Demetrius, when
he saw that he had been baffled by the wisdom of Diognetus, withdrew
with his fleet.

8. Then the Rhodians, freed from the war by the cunning of Diognetus,
thanked him publicly, and decorated him with all honours and
distinctions. Diognetus brought that helepolis into the city, set it up
in a public place, and put on it an inscription: "Diognetus out of the
spoils of the enemy dedicated this gift to the people." Therefore, in
works of defence, not merely machines, but, most of all, wise plans must
be prepared.

9. Likewise at Chios, when the enemy had prepared storming bridges on
their ships, the Chians, by night, carried out earth, sand, and stones
into the sea before their walls. So, when the enemy, on the next day,
tried to approach the walls, their ships grounded on the mound beneath
the water, and could not approach the wall nor withdraw, but pierced
with fire-darts were burned there. Again, when Apollonia was being
besieged, and the enemy were thinking, by digging mines, to make their
way within the walls without exciting suspicion, and this was reported
by scouts to the people of Apollonia, they were much disturbed and
alarmed by the news, and having no plans for defence, they lost courage,
because they could not learn either the time or the definite place where
the enemy would come out.

10. But at this time Trypho, the Alexandrine architect, was there. He
planned a number of countermines inside the wall, and extending them
outside the wall beyond the range of arrows, hung up in all of them
brazen vessels. The brazen vessels hanging in one of these mines, which
was in front of a mine of the enemy, began to ring from the strokes of
their iron tools. So from this it was ascertained where the enemy,
pushing their mines, thought to enter. The line being thus found out, he
prepared kettles of hot water, pitch, human excrement, and sand heated
to a glow. Then, at night, he pierced a number of holes, and pouring the
mixture suddenly through them, killed all the enemy who were engaged in
this work.

11. In the same manner, when Marseilles was being besieged, and they
were pushing forward more than thirty mines, the people of Marseilles,
distrusting the entire moat in front of their wall, lowered it by
digging it deeper. Thus all the mines found their outlet in the moat. In
places where the moat could not be dug they constructed, within the
walls, a basin of enormous length and breadth, like a fish pond, in
front of the place where the mines were being pushed, and filled it from
wells and from the port. And so, when the passages of the mine were
suddenly opened, the immense mass of water let in undermined the
supports, and all who were within were overpowered by the mass of water
and the caving in of the mine.

12. Again, when a rampart was being prepared against the wall in front
of them, and the place was heaped up with felled trees and works placed
there, by shooting at it with the ballistae red-hot iron bolts they set
the whole work on fire. And when a ram-tortoise had approached to batter
down the wall, they let down a noose, and when they had caught the ram
with it, winding it over a drum by turning a capstan, having raised the
head of the ram, they did not allow the wall to be touched, and finally
they destroyed the entire machine by glowing fire-darts and the blows of
ballistae. Thus by such victory, not by machines but in opposition to
the principle of machines, has the freedom of states been preserved by
the cunning of architects.

Such principles of machines as I could make clear, and as I thought most
serviceable for times of peace and of war, I have explained in this
book. In the nine earlier books I have dealt with single topics and
details, so that the entire work contains all the branches of
architecture, set forth in ten books.

FINIS

* * * * *

SCAMILLI IMPARES (BOOK III, ch. 4)

No passage in Vitruvius has given rise to so much discussion or
been the subject of such various interpretations as this phrase.
The most reasonable explanation of its meaning seems to be that of
Emile Burnouf, at one time Director of the French School at Athens,
published in the _Revue Generale del' Architecture_ for 1875, as a
note to a brief article of his on the explanation of the curves of
Greek Doric buildings. This explanation was accepted by Professor
Morgan, who called my attention to it in a note dated December 12,
1905. It has also quite recently been adopted by Professor Goodyear
in his interesting book on _Greek Refinements_.

Burnouf would translate it _nivelettes inegales_, "unequal
levellers." He states that in many parts of France in setting a
long course of cut stone the masons make use of a simple device
consisting of three pointed blocks of equal height used as
levellers, of which two are placed one at each extremity of the
course, while the third is used to level the stones, as they are
successively set in place, by setting it upon the stone to be set
and sighting across the other two levellers. If two "levellers" of
equal height are used with a third of less height placed at the
centre of the course, with perhaps others of intermediate height
used at intermediate points, it would obviously be equally easy to
set out a curved course, as, for instance, the curved stylobate of
the Parthenon which rises about three inches in its length of one
hundred feet. By a simple calculation any desired curve could be
laid out in this way. The word scamillus is a diminutive of
_scamnum_, a mounting-block or bench.

Practically the same explanation is given by G. Georges in a memoir
submitted to the Sorbonne in April, 1875. Georges adds an
interesting list, by no means complete, of the various explanations
that have been offered at different times.

Philander (1522-1552). Projections of the stylobate or pedestals.

Barbaro (1556-1690). The same.

Bertano (1558). Swellings of the die of the stylobate or bosses
in the stylobate or the frieze of the
entablature.

Baldus (1612). Sub-plinths placed under the bases of the columns.

Perrault (1673-1684). Projection of the stylobate.

Polleni (1739). The same.

Galiani (1758-1790). Projection of the stylobate with hypothesis of
embossments on the stylobates and the bases of
the columns.

Tardieu and Coussin (1837) and Mauffras (1847). Projection of the stylobates.

Aures (1865). Steps or offsets between the stylobate and the columns.

The list of Georges is wholly French and Italian.

Fra Giocondo's interpretation is indicated in our reproduction of
the illustration in his edition of 1511.

Hoffer (1838) and afterwards Pennethorne (1846) and Penrose (1851)
gave measurements showing the curvatures in the Parthenon and the
temple of Theseus in Athens. Penrose and most writers who followed
him supposed the "scamilli impares" to be projections or offsets on
the stylobate required on account of the curves to bring the column
into relation with the architraves above, and similar offsets of
unequal or sloping form were supposed to be required above the
abaci of the capitals, but such offsets, although sometimes
existing, have no obvious connection with the passage in Vitruvius.
C. Boetticher (1863) and more recently Durm have denied the original
intention of the curves and ascribe them to settlement, a
supposition which hardly accords with the observed facts. Reber, in
the note on this passage in his translation of Vitruvius (1865),
thinks the scamilli were sloping offsets on the stylobate to cause
the inclination of the columns, but admits that nothing of the kind
has been found in the remains so far examined. It may be added that
this is at variance with the statement of the purpose of the
scamilli which Vitruvius gives.

Assuming, as I think we must, that the horizontal curvature of the
stylobate in such buildings as the Parthenon was intended and
carefully planned, Burnouf's explanation fits the case precisely
and makes this passage of Vitruvius straightforward and simple.
This can be said of no other explanation, for all the others leave
the passage obscure and more or less nonsensical. Durm's attempt to
refer the passage to the case of the temple with a podium which has
just been spoken of by Vitruvius is somewhat forced, or at least
unnecessary. Clearly the passage refers to stylobates in general;
but Reber also so translates and punctuates as to make the use of
the "scamilli impares" refer only to the case of temples built in
the Roman manner with the podium. His resulting explanation still
leaves the passage obscure and unsatisfactory. One may finally
refer to the ingenious but improbable explanation of Choisy, who
translates it echelons impairs, and explains them as offsets
arranged according to the odd numbers, _nombres impairs_, i. e.,
offsets varying at equal intervals in the proportion of 1, 3, 5, 7,
9, etc., and which he claims was applied also to the entasis of
columns.

H. L. WARREN.

INDEX

Abacus, 92, 106, 110, 122.

[Greek: Abaton], 56.

Abdera, 212, 269.

Acanthus pattern, origin of, 104.

Accius, 255.

Acoustics, of the site of a theatre, 153 _f._

Acroteria, 96.

Aequians have springs which produce goitre, 239.

Aeruca (verdigris), 219.

Aeschylus, 198.

Aesculapius, proper site for temple of, 15;
temple of, at Tralles, 198.

Aetna, 47.

Africa, 240.

Agatharcus, 198.

Agesistratus, 199.

Agger (river), 231.

Agnus castus (tree), 60 _f._, 296.

[Greek: Akrobatikon], 283.

Alabanda, 212;
temple of Apollo at, 78.

Alae, of house, 177;
of temples, 120.

Albula (river), 233.

Alder, 61.

Alexander, 35 _f._, 195, 310.

Alexandria, 36, 196, 197, 218;
length of shadow of gnomon at, 270.

Alexis (poet), 168.

Altars, 125 _f._

Altino, 21.

Aluminous springs, 234.

Amiternum, stone quarries of, 49.

Ammon, 235.

Amphiprostyle, 75.

Amphithalamos, 186.

Amyntas, 310.

Analemma, 257;
its applications, 270 _ff._

Anaphoric dial, 275.

Anaxagoras, 195, 198, 225, 269.

Ancona, 63.

Andreas, 273.

Andromeda (constellation), 266.

Andron of Ephesus, 70.

Andrones, 187.

Andronicus of Cyrrhus, 26.

Antae, 114, 120, 186;
temple in antis, 75.

Antiborean (sun dial), 273.

Antimachides, 199.

Antiochus, 199.

Antipater, 238, 269.

Antistates, 199.

Apaturius, 212.

Apelles, 11.

Apollo, 69, 102, 103, 196;
Panionion, 103, 255;
colossal statue of, 289;
temple of, at Alabanda, 78;
at Miletus, 200; at Rome, 80;
site of temple of, 80.

Apollonia, 235; siege of, 317 _f._

Apollonius, 273.

Apollonius of Perga, 12.

Aqueducts, 244 _ff._;
Marcian, 232.

Aquileia, 21.

Arabia, 235, 237.

Arachne (sun dial), 273.

Aradus, 315.

Araeostyle temples, 78, 80;
proportions of columns in, 84.

Aratus, 269.

Arcadia, 238.

Arcesius, 109, 198.

Arched substructures, 190.

Archer (constellation), 266.

Archimedes, 8, 12, 199, 243;
detects a theft of gold by a contractor, 253 _f._

Archinapolus (astrologer), 269.

Architecture, fundamental principles of, 13 _ff._;
departments of, 16 _ff._

Architrave, 94, 288.

Archytas of Tarentum, 12, 199, 255.

Arcturus (star), 266.

Ardea, 233.

Arevanias, 54.

Arezzo, ancient wall of brick at, 53.

Argo (constellation), 268.

Argolis, precinct of Juno at, 102.

Argos, 54.

Ariobarzanes, 154.

Aristarchus, 11.

----of Samos, 12, 263, 273.

Aristides, 241.

Aristippus, shipwreck of, 167.

Aristomenes of Thasos, 70.

Aristophanes, 168; grammaticus, 196.

Aristotle, 195, 251.

Aristoxenus, 11, 140, 145.

Armenian blue, 213, 217.

[Greek: Harpedonai] (star group), 268.

Arrow (constellation), 266.

Arsenal, naval, at Peiraeus, 198.

Arsinoe, 103.

Artemisia, 55 _f._

Artemon ([Greek: Epagon]), 287.

Asphalt, 235;
asphaltic springs, 234;
lake Asphaltitis, 235.

[Greek: Asplenon], 20.

Assafoetida grown in Cyrene, 237.

Astansoba (river), 231.

Astoboa (river), 231.

Astragals, 90.

Astrology, 269 _ff._

Athens, 26, 40, 53, 78, 124, 199, 200, 234;
colonnades at, 154;
temple of Minerva at, 198;
length of shadow of gnomon at, 257, 270.

Athos, Mt., 35.

[Greek: Atlantes], 188.

Atlantides, 189.

Atlas, 188, 231.

Atrium, 185, 210;
proportions of, 176 _f._

Attalus, 53, 103, 195.

Attic doorways, 120.

Aurelius, Marcus, 3.

Aventine, 216.

Babylon, 24, 235.

Bacchus, proper site for temple of, 31;
Ionic order appropriate to, 15;
temple of, at Teos, 82, 109, 198.

Baiae, 46, 47.

Bakeries, 184.

Balance (constellation), 266.

Balconies in forum, 131.

Balearic Isles, 214, 240.

Ballistae, rules for making, 305 _ff._

Bankers' offices, 131.

Barns, 184.

[Greek: Baroulkos], 283.

Bases, Ionic, 90 _ff._

Basilica, 132 _ff._;
of Vitruvius at Fano, 134 _ff._

Bathrooms, 180;
of farmhouse, 183.

Baths, 157 _ff._

Beast (constellation), 268.

Bedrooms, 181.

Beech, 60.

Berosus, 262, 269, 273.

Bilbery, used to make purple, 220.

Bird (constellation), 266.

Black, 217 _f._

Block (_rechamus_), 285 _ff._

Blue, 218 _f._

Body, proportions of, 72.

Boedas of Byzantium, 70.

Boeotia, 237.

Bolsena, lake of, 50.

Boscoreale, villa rustica at, 183.

Bowl (constellation), 268.

Breakwaters, 162 _ff._

Brick, 42 _ff._;
test of, 57.

Bright (Pephrasmenos), inventor of battering ram, 309.

Bryaxis, 199.

Bucket-pump, 294.

Bug (river), 231.

Bull (constellation), 266.

Burnt-ochre, 218 _f._

Buttresses, 190 _f._

Byzantium, 310.

Cadiz, 309.

Caecuban (wine), 236.

Caesar, Julius, 62 _f._, 240.

Callaeschrus, 199.

Callias of Aradus, 315.

Callimachus ([Greek: katatexitechnos]), 104.

Callippus, 269.

Campania, 48, 64, 236, 238.

Campus Cornetus, 238.

Canon of water organ, 299.

Canopus (star), 268.

Capitals, Ionic, 92 _ff._;
Corinthian, 102, 104 _f._;
Doric, 110;
of triglyphs, 112.

Capitol, hut of Romulus on, 40;
temple on, 80.

Cappadocia, 235.

Carpion, 198.

Carthage, 235.

Caryae, 6 _f._

Caryatides, 6 f_f._

Casius (town in Egypt), 235.

Cassiopea (constellation), 266.

Castor, temple of, 124.

Catacecaumenites (wine), 236.

Catapults, 303 _ff._;
stringing and tuning of, 308 _f._

Cataract of Nile, 231.

Catheti, 92.

Caucasus, 231.

Cavaedium, 176 _ff._

Cedar, 62.

Ceilings of baths, 158.

Cella, 114 _ff._, 120;
of circular temple, 123.

Celtica, 231.

Censer (constellation), 267.

Centaur (constellation), 267.

Cepheus (constellation), 266.

Cephisus, 237.

Ceres, temple of 80, 200;
site of temple of, 32.

Chalcedon, 309.

Chaldeans, 262.

Charias, 199, 310.

Charioteer (constellation), 266.

[Greek: Cheirokmeta] of Democritus, 255.

Chersiphron, 78, 198, 200, 288.

Chion of Corinth, 70.

Chionides, 168.

Chios, 103, 197; siege of, 317.

Chorobates, levelling instrument, 242 _f._

Chrobs, poisonous lake at, 237.

Chromatic mode, 140.

Cibdeli, 234.

Cicero, 256.

Cilbian country, 215.

Cilicia, 235.

Cinnabar, 215 _ff._;
adulteration of, 217.

Circular temples, 122 _ff._

Circumference of earth, 27 _f._

Circumsonant sites of theatres ([Greek: periechountes]), 153.

Circus, Flaminius, 124, 273;
Maximus, 80.

Cisterns, 244 _ff._

City, site of, 17 _ff._; walls, 21 _f._

Classification of temples, 75 _ff._, 78 _ff._

Clazomenae, 103, 269.

Clearstock of fir, 60.

Climate determines the style of houses, 170.

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