TRANSLATED BY
MORRIS HICKY MORGAN, PH.D., LL.D.
LATE PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND ORIGINAL DESIGNS
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
HERBERT LANGFORD WARREN, A.M.
NELSON ROBINSON JR. PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1914
COPYRIGHT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
| CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS INDEX |
During the last years of his life, Professor Morgan had devoted muchtime and energy to the preparation of a translation of Vitruvius, whichhe proposed to supplement with a revised text, illustrations, and notes.He had completed the translation, with the exception of the last fourchapters of the tenth book, and had discussed, with Professor Warren,the illustrations intended for the first six books of the work; thenotes had not been arranged or completed, though many of them wereoutlined in the manuscript, or the intention to insert them indicated.The several books of the translation, so far as it was completed, hadbeen read to a little group of friends, consisting of Professors Sheldonand Kittredge, and myself, and had received our criticism, which had, attimes, been utilized in the revision of the work.
After the death of Professor Morgan, in spite of my obvious incompetencyfrom a technical point of view, I undertook, at the request of hisfamily, to complete the translation, and to see the book through thepress. I must, therefore, assume entire responsibility for thetranslation of the tenth book, beginning with chapter thirteen, andfurther responsibility for necessary changes made by me in the earlierpart of the translation, changes which, in no case, affect any theoryheld by Professor Morgan, but which involve mainly the adoption ofsimpler forms of statement, or the correction of obvious oversights.
The text followed is that of Valentine Rose in his second edition(Leipzig, 1899), and the variations from this text are, with a fewexceptions which are indicated in the footnotes, in the nature of areturn to the consensus of the manuscript readings.
The illustrations in the first six books are believed to besubstantially in accord with the wishes of Professor Morgan. Thesuggestions for illustrations in the later books were incomplete, anddid not indicate, in all cases, with sufficient definiteness to allowthem to be executed, the changes from conventional plans and designsintended by the translator. It has, therefore, been decided to includein this part of the work only those illustrations which are known tohave had the full approval of Professor Morgan. The one exception tothis principle is the reproduction of a rough model of the Ram ofHegetor, constructed by me on the basis of the measurements given byVitruvius and Athenaeus.
It does not seem to me necessary or even advisable to enter into a longdiscussion as to the date of Vitruvius, which has been assigned tovarious periods from the time of Augustus to the early centuries of ourera. Professor Morgan, in several articles in the Harvard Studies inClassical Philology, and in the Proceedings of the American Academy,all of which have been reprinted in a volume of Addresses and Essays(New York, 1909), upheld the now gene