From food and water, then, we may learn whether sites are naturally unhealthy or healthy.
Marcus Vitruvius PollioThere will be no propriety in the spectacle of an elegant interior approached by a low mean entrance.
Marcus Vitruvius PollioAll these soft kinds [of stone] have the advantage that they can be easily worked as soon as they have been taken from the quarries. Under cover, they play their part well; but in open and exposed situations the frost and rime make them crumble, and they go to pieces. On the seacoast, too, the salt eats away and dissolves them, nor can they stand great heat either.
Marcus Vitruvius PollioNothing requires the architect's care more than the due proportions of buildings.
Marcus Vitruvius PollioThe Phrygians select a natural hillock, run a trench through the middle of it, dig passages, and extend the interior space as widely as the site admits. Over it they build a pyramidal roof of logs fastened together, and this they cover with reeds and brushwood, heaping up very high mounds of earth above their dwellings. Thus their fashion in houses makes their winters very warm and their summers very cool.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio