I \
POE
322
P O S
i I
described by Propertius , lib. xi. 81. Another portico, erectedby this emperor, was called Ad Nationes, from the statueswith which it was furnished, representing various nations intheir respective habits. It was, perhaps, still more remark-able for a statue of Hercules, lying neglected on the ground,though it had been brought from Carthage , and was that towhich the Carthaginians were accustomed to offer humanvictims. The Porticus Septorum was finished, or repaired,by Agrippa, as Pliny says, and enclosed not the Septa Tri-bata Comitii, where the people assembled to vote, but Diri-bitorium, or place where the legions were mustered and paid.These edifices were all of marble, and the latter, in particular,unusually magnificent. Agrippa also built and gave his nameto another portico, which, as some suppose, was connectedwith the present portico of the Pantheon, and carried aroundit. But as he had erected Thermae, and other noble fabricsnear that edifice, it is more probable that his portico enclosedthe whole, and united them together in one grand circum-ference. That it was extensive, is evident from Horace, whorepresents it as a public walk, much frequented. The mate-rials were, as in all Agrippa ’s works, rich marbles, and theornaments, paintings and statues. The portico of Hercules,or of Philippus, was so called because it was rebuilt by thelatter at the instigation of Augustus , and dedicated to Her-cules, whose temple it enclosed, under the appellation ofMusagetos, a leader of the Muses . It was erected solely forthe ornament of the city, and of course was decorated withan unusual profusion of splendid objects ; the paintings ofApelles, Zeuxis, and Antiphilus , forming part of its furniture.Several porticos took their names from the temples to whichthey were annexed, and seem to have formed either vastsquares or courts before, or immense galleries round theirrespective temples, thus detaching them from ordinary build-ings, and giving them a distinguished and solitary grandeur.The porticos of Quirmus and Europa, are mentioned byMartial as fashionable places of resort, and must consequentlyhave been very spacious. That of Isis was remarkable, notonly for paintings but mosaics.
The approach to the curias, the basilicae, and the forums,were generally by porticos ; several ranges of porticos ledto the capitol, and lined the sides of the declivity; the Cam-pus Martius was surrounded by an uninterrupted colonnade;almost every emperor distinguished himself by the erectionof a new edifice of the kind; and Nero is said, by Suetonius ,to have lined the streets of Rome (those probably which hehimself had rebuilt) with a continued portico. Several por-ticos were erected by later emperors, of astonishing extent;such were that of Gallienus , extending nearly two miles alongthe Via Flaminia ; and that of Gordian in the Campus Mar-tius, which was a mile in length, and formed of one rangeof pilasters and four of columns, opening upon plantations ofbox, cedar, and myrtle.
PORTLAND STONE, Saxum Arenarium Portlandicum,of Da Costa, and Psudurium Hebes, Albidum, Laxius, of Hill),an alkaline sand-stone, of a dull whitish colour, heavy,moderately hard, of a somewhat flat texture, and composedof a large roundish grit, cemented together by an earthy spar,and intermixed with numerous glittering spangles of purespar ; the grit splits in the cutting of the stone, so that it iscapable of being brought to a surface very smooth and equal;it will not strike fire with steel, and burns to a slight ashenhue. The Portland stone belongs to the third variety ofthe compact limestone, under the calcareous genus, whosefracture is earthy, according to Kirwan’s arrangement. Itsspecific gravity is 2.461. There are vast quarries of it inthe island of Portland in Dorsetshire , whence its name. Itis brought from thence in large quantities to London , and is
, of 9t ‘
much used in building. This and all similar sortscomposed of granules, and not of a laminated text'cut and rive in any direction, as well in a perpen ,^_ g f
,vill
^ icu !ri
t« re C or
r 'tP
in a diagonal, as horizontally and parallel to the sl nalD e v ’strata. For this reason they have obtained t * ie oU tof t ' 1 !free-stone. This stone is very soft when it comes ]jar“
__:l„ i...i 1_time V e D
ildi^
quarry, works very easily, but becomes in timeand durable. _ .
POSITION, in architecture, the situation ot
but
, dir 61
, c t9
with regard to the points of the horizon. Vitru vl cor nthe position of a building to be such, that the tomay point directly to the four winds. , - n c on tra .
Position, in geometry, a term sometimes used i
- Thus a line is said to be
coil-
distinction to magnitude, urns a nne is »»>“ —. 0l -position (positione data ) when its situation, beaming ^ ietion, with regard to some other line, is given:
trary, a line is given in magnitude, when its hmgbut not its situation
inoed ll P r j 0 nf
large piece of timber, P „ r fficip a '
The corner posts are called.
in position, have any given ratio, &c.
POST, in building, ain houses, &c.
fencing posts ; the posts framed between the p> qU&for strengthening the roof of a house are ca ‘ , om ro tl1 |l8posts. An excellent method to preserve posts 1 inis to burn the outside of the ends that are to °ground to a coal. T _ ..
Post, Croton, or King-Post. See CkowN-P° . nC e, c %Post and Paling, a kind of close w0 ° 0 nd P a
{or
orho^ai?
structed by means of posts set into the g roU ’nailed to rails between them. f 0
This sort of fence can seldom be had recours^ ^ ,
mon farm-purposes, except about the building 9 ^
The only circumstances concerning it, which of
any notice in this place, are, that the posts, w ^ s u P e ^„ ofor sawn timber, should be charred, or burnt, i set arf i0manner, in the parts which are designed in 01 !, els 0
nearly on a level with the surface of the gi -011 ^’ sho°prevent their decay in these places, sa"' n u ]iir
be well and firmly put into the earth ; and ^ trin"& e {whether for close or open pali ng, should be rJ1]ie p»‘ , e5 twise, by slitting square scantlings diagonally- . t | )6 in flatopen paling should be cut in the same inan ne ^ br° a i)( j ofsides of the pales being firmly nailed aga each otlie, ’ t > 10sides of the rails, at such distances from ea ^ g tasuch height and strength, as the given P ur P feO ce ’,
need of, or require. „„ pn W oo d f ti „g ° f
c o» slS
should li
Post and Railing , another sort of °Pf ggoften used for protecting young quick-he 0 >posts and rails, &c. , ],j „„
These sorts of fences, or protections, 910 roU nd> 9nstnntlv flip. nnrts which are set into 1 h i,ove- .
_ _ a point, f r01 " 3g ive3
three lines, perpendicularly let fall, to three other in
directed
, a b« lld S
of 9 jcb ^
vV hic
constantly the parts which are setrails, prepared in the same manner as
POSTERN, a small doorway in the ie ” t j eg) .more particularly applied to those of 09 g e xte r ‘° r ‘ fabt' areserved for private communication with^ £ o0 r, of ^
addediV n er P
POSTICUM, the postern-gate, orfor private entrance.
POSTIQUE (from the Italian pasticcio,
• i ostique, w £> e
A table
i sup'
of
:d 1,1
-- . -hen it lS '
ment of sculpture is said to be postique, w r ble, , g0
after the work itself is done. A table o ^ jnci'° 3matter, is also said to be postique, when i poflb' 11 "!
a decoration of architecture, &c. „. nI) g ^ ,e .;tlid r3>
POSTSCEN1UM, or Pakascenicm, «®°” c S to r 9was a place behind the theatre, whereto dress, undress, &c.