Letter 7015: It is fitting that the splendor of Rome's buildings should have a skilled guardian, so that the marvelous forest of...

XV. FORM FOR THE PREFECT OF THE CITY CONCERNING THE APPOINTMENT OF AN ARCHITECT IN THE CITY OF ROME. [1] The glory of Roman building ought to have a skilled guardian, so that that marvelous forest of walls may be preserved with diligence coming to its aid, and so that the modern aspect of the work may be constructed by craftsmanlike arrangements. For with this zeal our bounty does not fall short, namely that we both renew the works of the ancients with their defects excluded, and clothe new works with the glory of antiquity. [2] Therefore let your illustrious greatness know that this man has been appointed architect to the citadels of Rome from that indiction. And because the pursuits of the arts must be nourished by just rewards, we wish there to belong to him whatever his predecessors are established to have reasonably obtained. He will assuredly see things better than he has read of, more beautiful than he could have imagined: those statues, namely still retaining the likenesses of their authors, so that, as long as the reputation of praiseworthy persons should survive, for just so long the image of the body might preserve also the likeness of living substance. He will behold veins expressed in bronze, muscles swelling with a certain effort, sinews as if stretched in stride, and a man so cast into diverse likenesses that you would rather believe him to have been begotten. [3] These the Etruscans are reported to have first invented in Italy, and posterity, embracing them, has given to the city almost as great a population as nature itself produced. He will marvel that in the figures of horses there is present even the heat of spirit. For with their nostrils flaring and rounded, their limbs taut, their ears laid back, he will perhaps believe that they are eager for the race, though he knows that metals do not move themselves. What shall we say of the reed-like loftiness of the columns? Those most lofty masses of buildings held up as if by certain upraised spear-shafts, and hollowed out with such evenness in their concave channels that you would rather judge them to have been poured forth, you would think it had been made in wax, what you see polished out of the hardest metals; you would say that the joints of the marbles are natural veins, where, while the eyes are deceived, the praise is proven to have grown by these wonders. [4] The narrators of the early age relate that only seven wonders of building were assigned to the earth: at Ephesus the temple of Diana; the most beautiful monument of King Mausolus, from which mausoleums too are named; at Rhodes the bronze image of the sun, which is called the Colossus; the statue of Olympian Jupiter, which Phidias, first of craftsmen, fashioned with the utmost elegance in ivory and gold; the house of Cyrus, king of the Medes, which Memnon built with lavish art from stones bound with gold; the walls of Babylon, which Queen Semiramis constructed of baked brick with sulfur and iron; the pyramids in Egypt, whose shadow, consuming itself within its own bounds, is in no part seen beyond the limits of the construction. [5] But who will think those things henceforth exceptional, when he has beheld in one city so many astonishing works? They had their honor because they came first in time, and in a rude age whatever new thing emerged was by right carried as outstanding upon the lips of men. But now it can be truthful, if all Rome is said to be a wonder. Wherefore it befits a most skilled man to undertake such things, lest among those over-ingenious works of the ancients he himself should seem to be a mere metal-worker and be unable to understand what the artistry of antiquity wrought in them so that they might be appreciated. And therefore let him give attention to books, let him have leisure for the instructions of the ancients, lest he should know anything less than they in whose place he is known to have been substituted.

XV. FORMULA AD PRAEFECTUM URBIS DE ARCHITECTO FACIENDO IN URBE ROMA. [1] Romanae fabricae decus peritum convenit habere custodem, ut illa mirabilis silva moenium diligentia subveniente servetur et moderna facies operis affabris dispositionibus construatur. hoc enim studio largitas nostra non cedit, ut et facta veterum exclusis defectibus innovemus et nova vetustatis gloria vestiamus. [2] Proinde illum illustris magnitudo tua Romanis arcibus ab illa indictione datum architectum esse cognoscat. et quia iustis commodis studia constat artium nutrienda, ad eum volumus pertinere quicquid decessores eius constat rationabiliter consecutos. videbit profecto meliora quam legit, pulchriora quam cogitare potuit, statuas illas, auctorum suorum scilicet adhuc signa retinentes, ut quamdiu laudabilium personarum opinio superesset, tamdiu et similitudinem vivae substantiae imago corporis custodiret: conspiciet expressas in aere venas, nisu quodam musculos tumentes, nervos quasi gradu tensos et sic hominem fusum in diversas similitudines, ut credas potius esse generatum. [3] Has primum Tusci in Italia invenisse referuntur, quas amplexa posteritas paene parem populum urbi dedit quam natura procreavit. mirabitur formis equinis signa etiam inesse fervoris. crispatis enim naribus ac rotundis, constrictis membris, auribus remulsis credet forsitan cursus appetere, cum se metalla noverit non movere. quid dicamus columnarum iunceam proceritatem? moles illas sublimissimas fabricarum quasi quibusdam erectis hastilibus contineri et sub tanta aequalitate concavis canalibus excavatas, ut magis ipsas aestimes fuisse transfusas, ceris iudices factum, quod metallis durissimis videas expolitum, marmorum iuncturas venas dicas esse genitales, ubi dum falluntur oculi, laus probatur crevisse miraculis. [4] Ferunt prisci saeculi narratores fabricarum septem tantum terris adtributa miracula: Ephesi Dianae templum: regis Mausoli pulcherrimum monumentum, a quo et mausolea dicta sunt: Rhodi solis aeneum signum, quod colossus vocatur: Iovis Olympici simulacrum, quod Phidias primus artificum summa elegantia ebore auroque formavit: Cyri Medorum regis domus, quam Memnon arte prodiga illigatis auro lapidibus fabricavit: Babyloniae muri, quos Samiramis regina latere cocto sulpure ferroque construxit: pyramides in Aegypto, quarum in suo statu se umbra consumens ultra constructionis spatia nulla parte respicitur. [5] Sed quis illa ulterius praecipua putabit, cum in una urbe tot stupenda conspexerit? habuerunt honorem, quia praecesserunt tempore et in rudi saeculo quicquid emersisset novum, per ora hominum iure ferebatur eximium. nunc autem potest esse veridicum, si universa Roma dicatur esse miraculum. quapropter talia virum peritissimum suscipere decet, ne inter illa nimis ingeniosa priscorum ipse videatur esse metallicus et intellegere non possit, quae in illis artifex antiquitas, ut sentirentur, effecit. et ideo det operam libris, antiquorum instructionibus vacet, ne quid ab illis sciat minus in quorum locum cognoscitur subrogatus.