Amie Goblirsch, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This paper offers a new reading of Vitruvius’s De Architectura which demonstrates that identifying natura as a unifying force in the text is integral to understanding how the otherwise seemingly varied topics discussed in each book connect to create a cohesive corpus of architecture. Despite Vitruvius’s statement in book 1 that his text will be the first to espouse a complete system of architecture in ten books, and despite his consistent scaffolding connecting the current topic to the larger goal of the text, Vitruvius’s text is often criticized as lacking in consistency and cohesion. Books 8, 9, and 10—which cover the topics of water, clocks, and machines, respectively—are especially critiqued as lacking connection to the rest of the treatise. I argue that a reading which highlights natura as a key focus of Vitruvius’s inquiry provides cohesion that is otherwise overlooked.
The question of how book 8 in particular fits into Vitruvius’s project has remained an enduring question in scholarship. McEwen refers to book 8 as being “ambiguously situated” because it does not seem to fit into one of the three categories into which he divides the discipline of architecture (DA 1.3.1): building (books 1-7), clocks (book 9), and mechanics (book 10). Scholars looking for information on aqueducts and related technology have criticized book 8 as showing a lack of expertise and have called the discussion confused and even lazy (Lewis, Hodge). Nevertheless, a few examples in more recent scholarship defend DA 8 and draw out the significance of this book’s role within the larger text (König, Spencer). Both König and Spencer also note in their analysis that the balance of nature and culture is an important theme of book 8 that clearly connects it to the larger treatise.
As König and Spencer have begun to draw out, I also think that nature and the natural environment are the key factors to understanding how book 8 fits into Vitruvius’s larger project. And despite multiple recent monographs that hold Vitruvius as the key focus of study (Nichols, Oksanish), the role of natura remains an understudied aspect of Vitruvian scholarship. By analyzing the function of natura in book 8 alongside the rest of the De Architectura, we achieve two things. First, we are able to show how book 8 engages with and develops important concepts relating to nature and the natural environment which are present throughout the text. Second, this analysis enables us to begin discussing the greater implications of reading Vitruvius from a nature-centric perspective.
By understanding the integral role that natura plays in the text, we see that book 8 is far from being a disconnected and shoddily written book on a strange subject. If one of the main threads of the De Architectura is, as I argue, the built environment’s role in negotiating a healthy relationship between humankind and nature, this book dedicated to the education of finding and preserving a healthy water source for Roman cities fits squarely within the leading principles of the text.