are called
[Greek: diatonoi], and by their bonding powers they add very greatly to
the solidity of the walls.

[Illustration: Photo. Moscioni

OPUS RETICULATUM FROM THE THERMAE OF HADRIAN'S VILLA AT TIVOLI]

[Illustration: Photo. Moscioni

EXAMPLE OF OPUS RETICULATUM FROM THE DOORWAY OF THE STOA POECILE. VILLA
OF HADRIAN AT TIVOLI]

8. One who in accordance with these notes will take pains in selecting
his method of construction, may count upon having something that will
last. No walls made of rubble and finished with delicate beauty--no such
walls can escape ruin as time goes on. Hence, when arbitrators are
chosen to set a valuation on party walls, they do not value them at what
they cost to build, but look up the written contract in each case and
then, after deducting from the cost one eightieth for each year that the
wall has been standing, decide that the remainder is the sum to be paid.
They thus in effect pronounce that such walls cannot last more than
eighty years.

9. In the case of brick walls, however, no deduction is made provided
that they are still standing plumb, but they are always valued at what
they cost to build. Hence in some states we may see public buildings and
private houses, as well as those of kings, built of brick: in Athens,
for example, the part of the wall which faces Mt. Hymettus and
Pentelicus; at Patras, the cellae of the temple of Jupiter and Hercules,
which are brick, although on the outside the entablature and columns of
the temple are of stone; in Italy, at Arezzo, an ancient wall
excellently built; at Tralles, the house built for the kings of the
dynasty of Attalus, which is now always granted to the man who holds the
state priesthood. In Sparta, paintings have been taken out of certain
walls by cutting through the bricks, then have been placed in wooden
frames, and so brought to the Comitium to adorn the aedileship of Varro
and Murena.

10. Then there is the house of Croesus which the people of Sardis have
set apart as a place of repose for their fellow-citizens in the
retirement of age,--a "Gerousia" for the guild of the elder men. At
Halicarnassus, the house of that most potent king Mausolus, though
decorated throughout with Proconnesian marble, has walls built of brick
which are to this day of extraordinary strength, and are covered with
stucco so highly polished that they seem to be as glistening as glass.
That king did not use brick from poverty; for he was choke-full