HISTORY OF ARCHITECTUllE. POOK I.

as they rose in Iiciglit, the tree indicated the diminution of the column. No type, however
i>f base or pedestal is found in trees : hence the ancient Doric is without base. This practice,
iiowevcr, from the premature decay of wood standing immediately on the ground, caused th<;
intervention of a step to receive it, and to protect the lower surface from the damp.
Scamozzi imagines that the mouldings at the bases and capitals of columns had their origin
in cinctures of iron, to jjrevent the splitting of tlie timber from the superincumbent weigiit.
Others, however, are of opinion that the former were used merely to elevate ti>e shafts
above the dampness of the earth, and thereby prevent rot. In the capital, it seems natura'
that its upjier surface should be increased as much as possible, in order to procure a greater
area for the reception of tlie architrave. This member, or chief beam, whose name
bes))eaks its origin, was jiiaced horizontally on the tops of the columns, being destined, in
cH'ect, to carry the covering of the entire building. Ujjon the architrave lay the joists of
the ceiling, their height being occupied by the member which is called the frieze. In the
Doric order, tlie ends of these joists were called triglyphs, from their being sculptured with
two whole and two half glyphs or channels. These, however, in the other orders in strictly
Greek architecture, do not appear in the imitation of the type, though in Roman architec-
ture it is sometimes otherwise, as in the u])per order of tlie Coliseum at Rome, where
they are sculptured into consoles. Tlie space between the triglyphs was, at an early period
of the ait, left open, as we learn from a passage in the I()higenia of Euripides, where
Pvlades advises Oiestes to slip through one of the metopse, in order to gain admission into
the temple. In after times, these intervals were filled up, and in the other orders they alto-
gether disappear, the whole length of the frieze becoming one ))lain surface. The inclined
rafters of the roof projected over the faces of the walls of the building, so as to deliver the
rain clear of them. Their ends were the origin of the miitule or modillion, whereof the
former had its under side inclined, as, among many other examples, in the Parthenon at
Athens. The elevation, or as it is technically termed, pitch of the pediment, followed from
the inclined sides of the roof, whose inclination depended on the climate
(
See sect. 20,'iO).
Thus authors trace from the hut the origin of the different members of architecture, which
a consideration of the annexed diagram will make more intelligible to the reader. Figs.
91. and 92. exhibit the parts of a roof in elevation and section: a a are the architraves or
FiK. 92
tiiibes; bb tlie ridge piece or columen; c the king-post or columna oi a. roof; d d the tie-beam
or tranatrtim
; e the sirut or capreolu.t; ff the rafters or cavthmii
;
gggg
the purlines or
.Kinpla
;
h h the common rafters or asxeres. The form of the pediment became an object of
so much admiration, and so essential a part of the temple, that Cicero says, if a temple were
to be built in heaven, where no rain falls, it would be necessary to bestow one upon it.
"
Capitolii fastigium illud, et Cceterarum medium, non venustas sed necessitas ipsa fabricata
est. Nam cum esset hahita ratio quemadmodum ex utraque parte tecti aqua delaberetur
utilitatem templi fastigii dignitas consecuta est, ut etiam si in ccelo capitolium statueretur
ubi imber esse non potest, nullam sine fastigio dignitatem habiturum fuisse videatur."
(De Oratore, HI), iii.
) The inclination of the pediment will be hereafter discussed, when
we speak on the article Roof, in another part of the work. Under the section on Cyclopean
Architecture, mention has been made of the works at Tiryns and JNlycene. We do not think
there is sufficient chain of evidence to connect those ruins with the later Grecian works,
though it must be confessed that the temples of Sicily, especially at Selinus, and perhaps
those at I'asstum, are connecting links. Perhaps the sculptures at Selinus might be pro-
perly called Cyclopean sculpture, in its more refined state.
1:56". Architecture, as well as all the other arts, could only be carried to perfection by
slow steps. Stone could not have been used in building until the mechanical arts had been
well known. It is curious that Pliny gives the Greeks credit only for caves as their ori-
giiia,l dwellings from which they advanced to simple huts, biult of earth and clay. His words
are (lib. vii. s.
57.),
"
Laterarias ac domos constitucrunt primi Euryalus et IlyperbiHS