Twelve flights of steps led up to the great temple, which was eight
hundred braccia in circumference and built on an octagonal plan. At
the eight corners were eight large plinths, one braccia and a half
high, and three wide, and six long at the bottom, with an angle in
the middle; on these were eight great pillars, standing on the
plinths as a foundation, and twenty four braccia high. And on the
top of these were eight capitals three braccia long and six wide,
above which were the architrave frieze and cornice, four braccia and
a half high, and this was carried on in a straight line from one
pillar to the next and so, continuing for eight hundred braccia,
surrounded the whole temple, from pillar to pillar. To support this
entablature there were ten large columns of the same height as the
pillars, three braccia thick above their bases which were one
braccia and a half high.

The ascent to this temple was by twelve flights of steps, and the
temple was on the twelfth, of an octagonal form, and at each angle
rose a large pillar; and between the pillars were placed ten columns
of the same height as the pillars, rising at once from the pavement
to a height of twenty eight braccia and a half; and at this height
the architrave, frieze and cornice were placed which surrounded the
temple having a length of eight hundred braccia. At the same height,
and within the temple at the same level, and all round the centre of
the temple at a distance of 24 braccia farther in, are pillars
corresponding to the eight pillars in the angles, and columns
corresponding to those placed in the outer spaces. These rise to the
same height as the former ones, and over these the continuous
architrave returns towards the outer row of pillars and columns.

[Footnote: Either this description is incomplete, or, as seems to me
highly probable, it refers to some ruin. The enormous dimensions
forbid our supposing this to be any temple in Italy or Greece. Syria
was the native land of colossal octagonal buildings, in the early
centuries A. D. The Temple of Baalbek, and others are even larger
than that here described. J. P. R.]

_V. Palace architecture.

But a small number of Leonardo's drawings refer to the architecture
of palaces, and our knowledge is small as to what style Leonardo
might have adopted for such buildings.

Pl. CII No. 1 (W. XVIII). A small portion of a facade of a palace
in two stories, somewhat resembling Alberti's Palazzo
Rucellai.--Compare with this Bramante's painted front of the Casa
Silvestri, and a painting by Montorfano in San Pietro in Gessate at
Milan, third chapel on the left hand side and also with Bramante's
palaces at Rome. The pilasters with arabesques, the rustica between
them, and the figures over the window may be painted or in
sgraffito. The original is drawn in red chalk.

Pl. LXXXI No. 1 (MS. Tr. 42). Sketch of a palace with battlements
and decorations, most likely graffiti; the details remind us of
those in the Castello at Vigevano._ [Footnote 1: _Count GIULIO
PORRO, in his valuable contribution to the_ Archivio Storico
Lombardo, Anno VIII, Fasc. IV (31 Dec. 1881): Leonardo da Vinci,
Libro di Annotazioni e Memorie, _refers to this in the following
note:_ "Alla pag. 41 vi e uno schizzo di volta ed accanto scrisse:
'il pilastro sara charicho in su 6' e potrebbe darsi che si
riferisse alla cupola della chiesa delle Grazie tanto piu che a
pag. 42 vi e un disegno che rassomiglia assai al basamento che oggi
si vede nella parte esterna del coro di quella chiesa." _This may
however be doubted. The drawing, here referred to, on page 41 of the
same manuscript, is reproduced on Pl. C No. 4 and described on page
61 as being a study for the cupola of the Duomo of Milan._ J. P. R.]

_MS. Mz. 0", contains a design for a palace or house with a loggia
in the middle of the first story, over which rises an attic with a
Pediment reproduced on page 67. The details drawn close by on the
left seem to indicate an arrangement of coupled columns against the
wall of a first story.

Pl. LXXXV No. 14 (MS. S. K. M. Ill 79a) contains a very slight
sketch in red chalk, which most probably is intended to represent
the facade of a palace. Inside is the short note 7 he 7 (7 and 7)._

_MS. J2 8a (see pages 68 Fig. 1 and 2) contains a view of an unknown
palace. Its plan is indicated at the side._

_In MS. Br. M. 126a(see Fig. 3 on page 68) there is a sketch of a
house, on which Leonardo notes; casa con tre terrazi (house with
three terraces)._

_Pl. CX, No. 4 (MS. L. 36b) represents the front of a fortified
building drawn at Cesena in 1502 (see No. 1040)._

_Here we may also mention the singular building in the allegorical
composition represented on Pl. LVIII in Vol. I. In front of it
appears the head of a sphinx or of a dragon which seems to be
carrying the palace away._

_The following texts refer to the construction of palaces and other
buildings destined for private use:_