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This is the first-ever English translation of Daniele Barbaro´s 1567 Italian translation of and commentary on Vitruvius´s Ten Books of Architecture , an encyclopaedic treatment of science and technology whose influence extended far beyond its day. Intended to both interpret and expand upon the Vitruvian text, Barbaro´s erudite commentary reflects his Aristotelian approach, particularly his fascination with the relationship between science and the arts. This treatise offers a window onto the architectural ideals of the 1500s, as well as then-current notions of philosophy, mathematics, music, astronomy, mechanics, and more. The text is accompanied by illustrations by the Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and his contemporaries. Palladio´s own Four Books on Architecture , published in 1570, was just one of many treatises on architecture that was inspired by the ideas contained here.

An overview of Daniele Barbaro´s thinking is presented in a foreword by Branko Mitrovic . The collocation of Barbaro´s treatise between those of Alberti and Palladio is addressed in a foreword by Robert Tavernor. Kim Williams provides a translator´s note to orient the reader. The text of the translation is cross-referenced to both Barbaro´s 1567 publication and standard divisions of Vitruvius. The volume includes a detailed index of subjects and an index of proper names.

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On What Machine Is, How It Differs from Instrument, and On Its Origin and Necessities.- On the Tractive Machinations of Sacred Temples and Public Works.- On Diverse Names of Machines and How They Are Erected.- On a Machine Similar to That Explained Above With Which Greater Things Are Made by Merely Changing the Windlass into a Drum.- On Another Sort of Machine or Pulling.- On an Ingenious Theory of Ctesifonte for Transporting Weights.- om which the Ephesian Temple of Diana was Built.- On the Straight and Circular Motions that are Required to Lift Weights.- On the Sorts of Instruments for Raising Water, and First the Water Wheel.- On the wheels and drums for milling flour.- On the Screw that Raises Great Quantities of Water, But Not Very High.- On the Machine Made by Ctesibius that Raises Water Very High.- On the Hydraulic Machines Used to Make Organs.- The Theory for Measuring a Journey Made by Carriage or by Ship.- On the Theories of Catapults and Scorpions.- On the Theories of Ballistae.- On the Proportions of the Stones that Must Be Drawn to the Hole of the Ballista.- On the Tempering and Loading of Ballistae and Catapults.- On Things for Assailing and Defending, and First on the Invention of the Ram and its Machine.- On the Apparatus of the Tortoise for Ditches.- On Other Tortoises.- The Peroration of the Entire Work.

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