Book 1. The education of the architect -- Fundamental principles of architecture -- Departments of architecture -- The site of a city -- The city walls -- Directions of the streets; with remarks on the winds -- Sites for public buildings -- Book 2. The origin of the dwelling house -- On the primordial substance according to the physicists -- Brick -- Sand -- Lime -- Pozzolana -- Stone -- Methods of building walls -- Timber -- Highland and lowland fir -- Book 3. On symmetry: in temples and in the human body -- Classification of temples -- The proportions of intercolumniations and of columns -- Foundations and substructures of temples -- Proportions of the base, capitals, and entablature in the Ionic order -- Book 4. Origins of the three orders, and the proportions of the Corinthian capital -- The ornaments of the orders -- Proportions of Doric temples -- The cella and pronaos -- How the temple should face -- Doorways of temples -- Tuscan temples -- Circular temples and other varieties -- Altars -- Book 5. The forum and basilica -- The treasury, prison, and senate house -- The theatre: its site, foundations, and acoustics -- Harmonics -- Sounding vessels in the theatre -- Plan of the theatre -- Greek theatres -- Acoustics of the site of a theatre -- Colonnades and walks -- Baths -- The Palaestra -- Harbours, breakwaters, and shipyards -- Book 6. On climate as determining the style of the house -- Symmetry, and modifications in it to suit the site -- Proportions of the principal rooms -- Proper exposures of the different rooms -- How the rooms should be suited to the status of the owner -- The farmhouse -- The Greek house -- On foundations and substructures -- Book 7. Floors -- Slaking of lime for stucco -- Vaultings and stucco work -- On stucco work in damp places, and on the decoration of dining rooms -- The decadence of fresco painting -- Marble for use in stucco -- Natural colours -- Cinnabar and quicksilver -- Artificial colours. Black -- Blue. Burnt ochre -- White lead, verdigris, and artificial sandarach -- Purple -- Substitutes for purple, yellow ochre, malachite green, and indigo -- Book 8. How to find water -- Rainwater -- Various properties of different waters -- Tests of good water -- Levelling and levelling instruments -- Aqueducts, wells, and cisterns -- Book 9. The zodiac and the planets -- The phases of the moon -- The course of the sun through the twelve signs -- The northern constellations -- The southern constellations -- Astrology and weather prognostics -- The analemma and its applications -- Sundials and water clocks -- Book 10. Machines and implements -- Hoisting machines -- Elements of motion -- Engines for raising water -- Water wheels and water mills -- The water screw -- The pump of Ctesibius -- The water organ -- The hodometer -- Catapults or scorpiones -- Ballistae -- The stringing and tuning of catapults -- Siege machines -- The tortoise -- Hegetor's tortoise -- Measures of defence -- Note on scamilli impares.