The opening quote is from Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, his little book de vita Caesarum. The quote is attributed to Augustus

The quote has an oblique utility, it presents this paper’s theme Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, who wrote a ten-book treatise titled: de Architectura, libri decem, known as The Ten Books on Architecture

Vitruvius, as he is known; wrote his work with a sense of urgency. Several concurrent events propelled his earnestness. He was nearing his 70th year. Events following idus Martiae, the Ides of March, the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar had had their effect on Rome. Prior to the assassination Caesar had expressed his opinion to rebuild Rome. Vitruvius from his architect’s eye; Rome is in poor physical condition. Vitruvius sought to instill in Gaius Octavius, Ceasar’s nephew, the same visionary passion

Gaius Octavius survives the turmoil post-Ides of March. He refers to himself as princeps Civitatis, the First Citizen. Shortly thereafter, the Senate, bestows on him the honorific of Augustus, the August One. The moment is now…

Vitruvius will never see Rome’s built grandeur. Two years later he publishes ideo notities parum est adsecuta. sed tamen his voluminibus editis, ut spero, etiam posteris ero notus. For this reason, I have pursued not sufficient celebrity. But however, these volumes having been published, that I hope, I will be known

de Architectura contains impressive technical information that is orientated practically. In Liber Primus, Vitruvius writes about what it takes to build a town. Liber Secundus cites various building materials and best-methods in usage, such as; brick, sand, concrete, stone, and timber. Liber Quintus discusses planning public buildings to serve the state. The private home dwelling is featured in Liber Sextus, with interior decoration following in Liber Septimus. And Liber Octavus discusses an assured water supply for townhouse and country villa

Vitruvius is more than an architect. He is a polymath. In Liber Tertius he discusses the architecture of sacred temples, drawing on Greacen knowledge and experience. He is also an engineer. Liber Nonus talks of sundials and water clocks. Machines and moving heavy objects are featured in Liber Decimus (exploiting to the fullest his earlier sojourn in Greece) machina est continens e materia coniunctio maximus ad onerum motus habens virtutes. ea movetur ex arte circulorum rutundationibus, quam Graeci cyclicem cinesin appellant. est autem unum genus scansorium, quod Graece acrobaticon dicitur; alterum spirabile, quod apud eos pneumaticon appellatur; tertium tractorium, id autem Graeci baru ison vocitant. A machine is a continuous material system having special fitness for the moving of weights. It is moved by appropriate revolutions of circles, which by the Greeks called cyclice cinesis. The first kind of machine is of ladders (in Greek acrobaticon); the second is moved by the wind (in Greek pneumaticon); the third is by traction (in Greek baru ison or equilibrium)