Chap. IV.

HOMAN.

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the moisture from the earth ; the trees, he says, are then recovered from their exhaustion,and restored to their pristine solidity. In felling them, he recommends cutting throughthe trunk of the tree, then leaving it for a time to allow the juices to drain oil, by whichmeans future decay is prevented. When the tree has drained sufficiently, it may be cutdown and applied to building purposes. Ilesiod says, when the trees shed their leavesis the proper time for felling.

Oak , elm, poplar, cypress, and fir were all used for building, and the holm oak, or esculus,was greatly preferred. The green oak ( cerrus ), the cork tree, and the beech were consideredliable to rot, which was accounted for by their containing equal quantities of water,fire, and earth, which rendered them incapable of balancing the quantity of airthey contained. The white and black poplar, the willow, and the lime tree ( tilia ) werealso used. 'The alder was selected /or piles, as it was found not to decay under water.The city of Ravenna had its foundations entirely on such piles. The larch, growing on theshores of the Adriatic and banks of the Po, was considered not subject to decay, and con-sequently was highly esteemed ; it had considerable density, and would not float in water.Julius Ca?sar first called it Larigna, or larch, after the name of a fortress constructedentirely of this timber near the Alps , which, when besieged and surrounded with bundles offire-wood and torches, was not ignited. A wood that would not burn was consideredadmirably adapted for the plates and rafters of dwellings, as they would neither ignite norbecome charred. It was brought down the Po to Ravenna, and used at Ancona , &c.

The palm possessed the peculiar property of bending upwards when any weight wasplaced upon it; and the juniper, said by Pliny to have the same properties as the cedar,and to be even more durable, was also used. The olive was greatly esteemed, as was thowood of the box tree ; for exterior works the chestnut was much employed ; for the fittingsof houses, for tables, benches, &c., the fir, as was the pitch pine and cypress; for thinplanks, the beech was in general preferred to either the chestnut, the elm, or the ash.The mulberry was considered durable, and admired for its getting blacker by age. Catoadvises, for the making of levers, holly, laurel, and elm to be employed; for bars,the wild cherry tree, or the corned ; for stairs, the wild ash or maple; for water pipes, thepine, the pitch tree, and the elm, which were buried entirely in the earth to preventdecay. For the use of the turner, they selected beech, mulberry, and the box, aswell as ebony. Poplar was employed for statues, as was the hornbeam, the service tree,the elder, and the fig; these, from their dryness and evenness of grain, were easy towork, and fitted to receive the colour they were to be finished with. "Woods which differedin quality were seldom brought together, as it was supposed that those which wereof a hot nature could not be united by glue to those grown in moist and cold places; woodof a close texture and fine grain could not be glued together, and oak was said to be uniquein this particular, as it would not unite with itself, or any other wood of the same nature.The ancients, as Vitruvius advises, did not glue planks of beech and oak together, con-sidering that woods differing so much could not be firmly united. All this is owingto the unequal shrinking of the several kinds, which must, whenever it takes place,detach the planks brought together ; were both equally dry, the one would absorb moremoisture than the other, swell or expand in proportion, and have also a tendency bythis action to detach itself.

Pavements , when used for floors, were very highly decorated, much attention beingrequired to prepare the soil to receive them, and to select the material of whichthey were formed. When on the ground, it was carefully examined, and rendered solid

Fig. 119.

throughout, after which it was spread over with a layer of some dry material. When laidupon a timber floor, walls were not built under it, but a space left between it and thefloor, that the drying and settling should be equal throughout. Holm timber waspreferred to oak, less likely to split and warp, and thus cause cracks. After the joistswere laid, thin boards were fastened down to them by two nails, driven through the edgesof each, which prevented their rising. Fern or straw was then spread over the whole,to prevent the lime coming in contact with the timber, which would have immediately

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