Rudiments of ancient architecture, containing an historical account of the five orders, with their proportions, and examples of each from antiques also, extracts from Vitruvius, Pliny, &c. relative to the buildings of the ancients (London, 1810 (4. Aufl.))

10 RUDIMENTS OF

ever I shall leave these arguments to be
more fully discussed by others; it suffices
me to have shewn, that the Greeks com-
pleted the science of Architecture by unit-
ing the useful and the agreeable. I beg
leave further to add, that those elegant
antique vases usually called Etruscan, are
now allowed to be of Greek workman-
ship by able judges, who have examined
them carefully in the country where the
best have been found, and in the greatest
abundance.

To attempt producing an authority or
origin for every species of ornament at-
tending the orders, would be wandering in
a maze of uncertainty, attended with much
labour, and little recompense: the general
parts may, with more certainty, have their
origin pointed out.

The Plinth, it is very reasonable to ima-
gine, was, at first, simply a square tile or
stone, placed under the trunk of the tree
or primitive column, to prevent rotting,
to which it was exposed from the constant
moisture of the earth; it also served as
a more firm and solid footing to the co-
lumn.