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Scamilli Inpares: A Problem in Vitruvius
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2013
Extract
A Writer indeed of universal Knowledge but so maimed by Age that in many Places there are great Chasms and many Things imperfect in others. Besides this his Style is absolutely void of all Ornaments and he wrote it in such a Manner that to the Latins he seems to write Greek and to the Greeks Latin: But indeed it is plain from the Book itself that he wrote neither Greek nor Latin, and he might almost as well have never wrote (sic) at all at least with Regard to us since we cannot understand him.
Alberti's exasperated comment on Vitruvius must strike chords in the heart of anyone who has ever tried to make sense of the obscurer parts of De Architectura, the only architectural treatise to come down to us from Antiquity. No two words have caused greater difficulty and controversy than ‘scamilli inpares’. I would like to show below some of the confusion generated by these during the Renaissance.
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- Copyright © British School at Rome 1980
References
1 Alberti, L. B., 1955, The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. Leoni, J., 1758, repr. London: 111Google Scholar.
2 A recent discussion of scamilli inpares can be found in Mertens, D., 1974, ‘Die Herstellung der Kurvatur am Tempel in Segesta’, Römische Mitteilungen, 81: 107 ffGoogle Scholar.
3 Vitruvius, III. iv. 5.
4 Ibid., v. ix. 4: ‘Stylobatisque adiectio quae fit per scabillos impares, ex descriptione, quae supra scripta est in libro tertio, sumatur’. The words would have been best known through the Vulgate: Ps. 98v. 6 has ‘scabillum’, and Ps. 109v. 2 ‘scabellum’. The latter is also quoted in the Gospels.
5 On the long sides of the Parthenon the gradient is about 1 in 750. See Lawrence, A. W., 1967, Greek Architecture, Harmondsworth, 2nd ed.: 172Google Scholar.
6 See Ferri, S.'s translation, Vitruvius: De Architectura I–VII, Rome, 1960: 120 ffGoogle Scholar.
7 Dinsmoor, W. B., 1950, Architecture of Ancient Greece, 3rd ed., London: 124Google Scholar.
8 See Goodyear, H., 1912, Greek Refinements, London: 113–4Google Scholar. ‘Scamnum’ is also a term used by Roman land surveyors, meaning a bank of earth. See Dilke, O. A. W., 1971, The Roman Land Surveyors, Newton Abbot: 94–5Google Scholar.
9 The influence of Ciriaco d'Ancona on Renaissance conceptions of Greek temples was minimal.
10 IV. viii. 1: ‘Insuper stylobata columnae constituuntur tam altae quanta ab extremis parietibus est diametros stylobatarum …’
11 E.g. III. iv. 2–3: ‘Extructis autem fundamentis ad libramentum stylobatae sunt conlocandae. Supra stylobatas columnae disponendae, quemadmodum supra scriptum est’. Fra Giocondo, in his edition of 1511 (see below), changes a single stylobate in IV. viii. 2 to plural, without justification, except to make it agree with the other plural references.
12 In both cases a constricted site appears to have forced the architect to adopt this arrangement.
13 In fairness to Palladio one should point out that he remarks that the temple at Assisi is the only one with pedestals he has ever encountered. See I Quattro Libri d'Architettura, Venice, 1570, Bk. iv, Ch. 26Google Scholar.
14 For a discussion of the relief, drawings and reliquary see Huelsen, C., 1910, Il libro di Giuliano da Sangallo, Leipzig/Rome: text vol. p. 69Google Scholar.
15 di Giorgio Martini, Francesco, Trattati, ed. Maltese, C., vol. 1: 161–2Google Scholar.
16 Ibid., vol. 2: pl. 224.
17 See Ferri, S., 1956, ‘Esigenze e ricostruzione del testo III’, Studi classici e orientali, VI: 235 ffGoogle Scholar. Of the four translations of Vitruvius we discuss below, Calvo, Cesariano and Barbaro all use the Giocondo edition. Only Sangallo chooses an earlier edition.
18 Vitruvius, V. vi. 6.
19 Alberti, L. B., De re aedificatoria, VIII. viGoogle Scholar, published as L'Architettura, Milan, 1966, vol. 2: 713Google Scholar. ‘Arula’ is a good example of Alberti's policy of avoiding using Greek terms if a Latin alternative could be found. It means ‘little altar’, which does indeed resemble a pedestal but it never appears to have been used in that sense in Antiquity.
Although it may seem odd that Alberti should introduce pedestals in this context, the link is clear when we remember that he restored the parapets of the Ponte Sant'Angelo after their collapse in 1450. The original Roman parapet was articulated in a very similar fashion (see Lanciani, R., 1897, Ruins and Excavations, London: 22–4Google Scholar).
Alberti probably realised that pedestals were uncommon in temples, as he only advocates their use in cases of necessity, such as when the available long stones are too short to make columns of the requisite height. (Alberti, VII. 5, vol. 2: 560).
20 Codex Italiano 37a, f. 36r., Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, printed in Fontana, V. and Morachiello, P., 1975, Vitruvio e Raffaello, Rome: 489Google Scholar.
21 Cesariano, C., Di Lucio Vitruvio Pollione de Architectura, Como, 1521, f. 57r. (misprinted as f. 47Google Scholar)
22 Ibid., loc. cit.
23 Biblioteca Corsiniana, Ms 43 (G) 1. Sangallo's notes and drawings are probably connected with the programme for a comprehensive study of Vitruvius, planned by the mysterious Vitruvian Academy, which Tolomei adumbrates in his letter to Agostino de 'Landi of 1543, printed in C. Tolomei, Delle lettere libri VII, Venice, 1558, p. 104.
Any objection that the Hadrianeum was a peripteral temple is countered by pointing out that in the Cinquecento, as now, the intercolumniations were walled-in—making it, in effect, pseudoperipteral.
24 See Lanciani, , 1878, Bullettino Comunale, VI: 21–2Google Scholar.
25 The papal account books contain many examples of sixteenth century usage: e.g. Rome, Archivio di Stato, Tesoreria Segreta vol. 1293 (for the year 1545) f. 61v.:
A di i8 d'agosto ∇ [scudi] trenta dui 
[bolognini] novanta sette a m° Pietro da Imola pittore et a m° Leonardo m° di legname in Borgo per manifattura et pittura di dodici scabellj et sei banche longhe che servono a monte cavallo per servizio di N[ostro] S[ignore].
26 Vitruvius, , 1567, De Architectura, Venice: 136Google Scholar.
27 A good collection can be found in B. Baldo, 1612, Scamilli impares Vitruviani nova ratione explicati, Augsburg.