Let me add a footnote to Leofranc Holford-Strevens's interesting post about
Vitruvius. The English phrase we started with ('the famous quote "Firmness,Commodity, Delight"') sounded like early modern English, and I thought I'd try to track down its English source. This is what I found at <http://acnet.pratt.edu/~arch543p/help/architecture.html>: "A good definition [of architecture] was provided by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the 1st century AD and was translated from the Latin into English during the 17th century by Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639). Vitruvius said that architecture was a building that incorporated utilitas, firmitas, and venustas, which Wotton translated as "commodotie, firmness, and delighte." This definition recognizes that architecture embraces functional, technological, and aesthetic requirements: it must have commodotie (utilitarian qualities), firmness (structural stability and sound construction), and delighte (attractive appearance)." I think the idea expressed by the English word "commodotie" is more precisely that a building should be well adapted to the convenience of the people who live or work in it. Wotton's translation of this passage is presumably to be found in his Elements of Architecture (1624), which I haven't seen, although it was republished in 1968 in a facsimile reprint introduced and annotated by F. Hard. It's curious that his rather antiquated words continue to be cited (usually without acknowledgment to him) in any discussion of the first principles of architecture. The two earliest English translations of Vitruvius's entire work seem to be those by Robert Pricke (1669) and W. Newton (1771). Simon Cauchi Freelance Editor and Indexer 13 Riverview Terrace, Hamilton, New Zealand Telephone and facsimile (+64) 7-854-9229, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
