Andrea Palladio · The Third Book
Chapter XI. Of some celebrated Bridges built by the antients, and of the designs of the bridge of Rimino
MANY bridges were built by the antients in divers places. But in Italy, especially over the Tyber, they built a great many, of which some are still to be seen intire; and of Tome others there are the antient vestigia only remaining. Those that are still to be seen intire, over the Tiber, are that of the castle Santo Angel, formerly called Alius, from the name of the Emperor Arius ADRIANUS, who built thereon his own sepulchre, The Fabrics, built by Fabrics, now called Ponte Quatro Capi, from the four heads of Janus, or of TERMINUS, which are placed on the left hand going upon this bridge. By means of this bridge, the island of the Tyber is joined to the city. The Cestius, now called of San. Bartolomeo, which from the other side of the island passes to Translate-were. The bridge called Senatorius from the senators, and Palstinus from the mountain that is near it, made of rustick work, which at present is called of Santa Maria. But those bridges of which the antient vestigia are only seen in the Tyber, are, the Sublicius, called also Lepidus, from Amerlivs Lepidus, which being first of wood, he made it of stone, and it was near Rips. The Triumphal, the pilasters of which are to be seen site to the church of Santo Spirit. The Janicu/enfis, so called for being near mount Janiculus, which as it was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus IV. now is called Ponte Sift. ‘And the Milvius, now called Ponte Molle, placed in the Via Flaminia, somewhat less than two miles distant from Rome; which does not retain any thing antient besides the foun-nations; and they say, that it was built in the time of Sirra, by M. Scaur the censor. There are also the ruins of a bridge built by Augustus Caesar, to be seen of rustick work, over the Nero, a very rapid river near Narni. And over the Metauro in Um-brie at Galgi, another is to be seen of rustick work likewise, with some spurs in the banks, that (apport the street, and make it very strong.
But among all the celebrated bridges, that is recorded as a marvellous thing which Ca-ligula made from Pezzuok to Bale, in the middle of the sea, in length somewhat less than three miles; in which, they say, that he spent all the money of the empire. Extending great, and worthy of admiration, was that which Trajan built, to subdue the Barbarians over the Danube, opposite to Tranfilvania, on which were read these words:
PROVIDENTIA AUGUST! VERE PONTIFICIS VIRTUS ROMANA QUID NON DOME?
SUBJUGO ECCE RAPIDS ET DANUBIUS.
This bridge was afterwards ruined by ADRIAN, that the Barbarians might not be able to pass it, to the damage of the Roman provinces; and its pilasters are still to be seen in the
middle of the river. But considering, that of all the bridges T have seen, that at Rimina, a city in Flaminia, seems to me to be the most beautiful, and the most worthy of consideration, as well for its strength, as for its compartment and disposition. It was built, T 7. judge, by Augustus Czmsar. I have given the designs of it, which are those that follow. It is divided into five arches, the three middle ones are equal, and five and twenty foot in breadth, and the two next the banks are less, that is, only twenty foot broad.
All those arches are semicircular, and their modern is the tenth part of the void of the greater, and the eighth part of the void of the letter. The pilasters are in thickness, a little less than half the void of the greater arches. The angle of the fi urs, that cut the water 8g ang > 1p! > is right one, which I have observed that the antients made in all their bridges; because it is stronger than the acute one, and therefore less exposed to be ruined by the trees, or by other matters that should be carried down by the river. Directly over the pilasters, in the sides of the bridge, are some tabernacles, in which formerly there must have been fates, Over these tabernacles, according to the length of the bridge, there is a cornice, which although it is plain, affords a beautiful ornament to the whole work,
D, A scale of ten foot, with which this bridge is measured.
Public-domain text (London, published by Isaac Ware, 1738). Read from the Internet Archive’s scan (gri_33125011569684) of the copy in the Getty Research Institute, by way of Wikimedia Commons, where it is marked public domain. That scan’s text layer had lost the ends of the lines on every left-hand page, so the pages were read again from the scan’s images, the two readings compared word by word, and the text cleaned: the long s (ſ) is printed s and the ct and st ligatures as plain letters, words broken at the ends of lines are joined, and running heads, page numbers, signatures and catchwords are removed. Ware’s spelling, capitals and punctuation are otherwise kept (shew, publick, antient, compleat). Chapter titles and words the OCR misread were corrected against the page images. Some misreadings will remain, most of them in the italic prefaces and the Latin of Book III. Ware’s dedication, the list of subscribers, his table of terms, the errata and the bookseller’s advertisement are not reproduced. Nor are the 212 engraved plates, their inscriptions, or the keys to the letters on them that Ware prints in the text: where Palladio writes “as in the design” the figure is in the printed book.