1. Cum animadvertissem, imperator, plures de architectura praecepta voluminaque commentariorum non ordinata sed incepta, uti particulas, errabundos reliquisse, dignam et utilissimam rem putavi antea disciplinae corpus ad perfactam ordinationem perducere et praesciptas in singulis voluminibus singulorum generum qualitates explicare. Itaque, Caesar, primo volumine tibi de officio eius et quibus eruditum esse rebus architectum oporteat, exposui. Secundo de copiis materiae, e quibus aedificia constituuntur, disputavi; tertio autem de aedium sacrarum dispositionibus et de earum generum varietate quasque et quot habeant species earumque que sunt in singulis generibus distributiones.

Translation

1. When I perceived, your Highness, that many persons had stated the rules of Architecture, and had written commentaries casually, not set in due order but merely inchoate (like atoms) I thought it a worthy and most useful task first of all to reduce the encyclopedia of architecture to a perfect order, and in the several books to explain the qualities of the several objects assigned to them. Therefore, Caesar, in the first book I expounded the function of the architect and the subject in which he should be trained; in the second I discussed the supplies of the materials, of which buildings are constructed; in the third, the arrangement of temples, their different kinds, how many styles of design there were, and the details which belong to them severally.

2. Ex tribus generibus quae subtilissimas haberent proportionibus modulorum quantitates ionici generis moribus, docui; nunc hoc volumine de doricis corinthiisque constitutis (et) omnibus dicam eorumque discrimina et proprietes explicabo.

Translation

2. Of the three orders, I thaught, in reference to the Ionic order, those rules which, by the use of proportion, furnish the most exact adjustment of the modules. In this book I will proceed to speak of the Doric and Corinthian orders generally, their distinctions and properties.

COMMENT

This is an exceptionally short preface and at first sight totally unusual in these ten books. The reason is simple: the fourth book is the continuation of the third. Where the third book was about Ionic architecture, book IV deals with Corinthian, Doric and Tuscan styles. Vitruvius only emphasizes that he is writing an all embracing work about architecture, in contrast to his predecessors who wrote only occasional works. Unfortunately - since Vitruvius book is the only work on architecure we have from this period - he don't tell us the names of these architects. Were they Romans? or is he referring to his Greek sources? Anyway, in the preface of book VII he gives a complete listing of this sources: mainly Greek books, but he mentions also a few Romans there: Fuficius, Terentius Varro, Publius Septimius, whose works about architecture are all lost; Cossutius and Gaius Mucius. He mentions only writings of the first three and it is not certain the the latter two ever published something about their work.
By consequence Vitruvius is very proud about his work which will cover the complete field of architecture.
In doing this he joins the tendencies of his days towards classification as was used in all scientific writings of the time. Indeed, Vitruvius' work can even be seen as one of the best examples of this first-century urge for classification and its originality is partly due to his systematic plan. In each preface we find elements of this systematisation, but in this preface he particularly emphazies this planning. He refers to book I which was about the skills and qualities of an architect, the elements of architecture (ordinatio, dispositio, eurythmia, symmetria, decor and oeconomia) and the three parts of architecture: (building, sundials and machiines). Inbuilding there are two categories: public and private buildings; in public buildings  he discerns again three categories: defence, religion, convenience, etc.
Book II is about building materials and books III and IV again are examples of this extreme drive for classification. As we shall see in the first chapter of this book, which is about the Corinthian capital, he embellishes his work with literary discourses to make it readable for a mainly lay public.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Les dix livres d'architecture de Vitruve, Corrigés et traduits en 1684 par C. Perrault, Paris, 1684.
Vitruvius, De Architectura libri X, ed. F. Granger, London, 1962.
Ton Peters, Vitruvius, Handboek bouwkunde, Amsterdam, 1999.
H.Knell, Vitruvs Architekturtheorie, Darmstadt, 1985
E.Rawson, Intellectual life in the Late Roman Republic, London, 1985

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