DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8#0225
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and ξ from the square or fillet of the abacus inwards ;
and Perrault perceived, this precept gave 5 minutes
projecture to the abacus : and as Vitruvius in settling
the extent of the abacus, used the term octavadecima,
for eighteenth : and in directing the point for the
catheti, said parte duodevigesima ; also for ,'8 part ;
Perrault proclaims a corruption of the text, because,
said he, Vitruvius was not accustomed to vary his ex-
pressions ; and the copiest mistook, and wrote duodevi-
geuma, instead of duodecima ; and Perrault's sagacity we
are called upon to admit, was so penetrating, as not
only to discover the term Vitruvius wrote, instead of
duodevigesima, but also 3 or 4 other words, which he
tells us Vitruvius forgot to write : for, compelled to ask
himself for an integer, whereof to assume this twelfth
part and a half, he very deliberately says, Vitru-
vius forgot to mention it, but that it should have been
the whole height of the capital! and these words Vitru-
vius forgot to write ! and I will add, what is very sur-
prizing indeed, that, admitting the solidity of Perrault's
extraordinary assertion, Vitruvius was such a dotard,
as not to recollect that omission, when, immediately
after, he orders the whole height of the capital to be
divided into nine parts and a half!!!
Such are the subterfuges Perrault had recourse to ;
sometimes, as here, to assimilate the documents of Vi-
truvius to the Roman antique, and frequently to avoid
the humiliation of saying, nescio. So degradingly has
he decomposed this beautiful capital, which Vitruvius
took more than usual pains to guard from innovation,
and misconception, as scarcely to retain any part of it,
as he orders it; and yet published a design, completely
his own, for the Ionic capital of Vitruvius. The breadth
of
and ξ from the square or fillet of the abacus inwards ;
and Perrault perceived, this precept gave 5 minutes
projecture to the abacus : and as Vitruvius in settling
the extent of the abacus, used the term octavadecima,
for eighteenth : and in directing the point for the
catheti, said parte duodevigesima ; also for ,'8 part ;
Perrault proclaims a corruption of the text, because,
said he, Vitruvius was not accustomed to vary his ex-
pressions ; and the copiest mistook, and wrote duodevi-
geuma, instead of duodecima ; and Perrault's sagacity we
are called upon to admit, was so penetrating, as not
only to discover the term Vitruvius wrote, instead of
duodevigesima, but also 3 or 4 other words, which he
tells us Vitruvius forgot to write : for, compelled to ask
himself for an integer, whereof to assume this twelfth
part and a half, he very deliberately says, Vitru-
vius forgot to mention it, but that it should have been
the whole height of the capital! and these words Vitru-
vius forgot to write ! and I will add, what is very sur-
prizing indeed, that, admitting the solidity of Perrault's
extraordinary assertion, Vitruvius was such a dotard,
as not to recollect that omission, when, immediately
after, he orders the whole height of the capital to be
divided into nine parts and a half!!!
Such are the subterfuges Perrault had recourse to ;
sometimes, as here, to assimilate the documents of Vi-
truvius to the Roman antique, and frequently to avoid
the humiliation of saying, nescio. So degradingly has
he decomposed this beautiful capital, which Vitruvius
took more than usual pains to guard from innovation,
and misconception, as scarcely to retain any part of it,
as he orders it; and yet published a design, completely
his own, for the Ionic capital of Vitruvius. The breadth
of