PRIMVS.

notes, and the communication of all disciplines, and therefore they recognize all things more easily. And so Pythius, an ancient architect who nobly designed the temple of Minerva at Priene, says in his commentaries that an architect ought to be able to do more in all arts and doctrines than those who, by their own industry and practice, have brought individual things to the highest clarity. But this is not effectively explained. For an architect should not, and cannot, be a grammarian such as Aristarchus was, but not unlettered; nor a musician such as Aristoxenus, but not without musical knowledge; nor a painter such as Apelles, but not unskilled in drawing; nor a sculptor like Miron or Polycletus, but not ignorant of the art of sculpture; nor again a physician like Hippocrates, but not unversed in medicine; nor singularly excellent in the other doctrines, but not unskilled in them. For in such a variety of things, no one can achieve singular elegance, and it is scarcely within one's power to know and grasp their reasonings. Yet, it is not only that architects cannot have the highest achievement in all things; even those who privately hold the properties of their arts do not succeed in having the highest degree of praise in all. Therefore, if individual craftsmen in individual doctrines, and not all but only a few, have scarcely attained nobility throughout their whole lives, how can an architect, who must be skilled in many arts, not do something wonderful and great, not needing anything from these, but even surpassing all craftsmen who have provided diligence with the highest industry in single doctrines? Therefore, in this matter, Pythius seems to have erred, because he did not...