Part 2

Yet can no humayne science saie thus, but I onely, that there is no sparke of vntruthe in me: but all my doctrine and workes are without any blemishe of errour that mans reason can discerne. And nexte vnto me in certaintie are my three systers, Arithmetike, Musike, and Astronomie, whiche are also so nere knitte in amitee, that he that loueth the one, can not despise the other, and in especiall Geometrie, of whiche not only these thre, but all other artes do borow great ayde, as partly hereafter shall be shewed. But first will I beginne with the vnlearned sorte, that you maie perceiue how that no arte can stand without me. For if I should declare how many wayes my helpe is vsed, in measuryng of ground, for medow, corne, and wodde: in hedgyng, in dichyng, and in stackes makyng, I thinke the poore Husband man would be more thankefull vnto me, then he is nowe, whyles he thinketh that he hath small benefite by me. Yet this maie he coniecture certainly, that if he kepe not the rules of Geometrie, he can not measure any ground truely. And in dichyng, if he kepe not a proportion of bredth in the mouthe, to the bredthe of the bottome, and iuste slopenesse in the sides agreable to them bothe, the diche shall be faultie many waies. When he doth make stackes for corne, or for heye, he practiseth good Geometrie, els would thei not long stand: So that in some stakes, whiche stand on foure pillers, and yet made round, doe increase greatter and greatter a good height, and then againe turne smaller and smaller vnto the toppe: you maie see so good Geometrie, that it were very difficult to counterfaite the lyke in any kynde of buildyng. As for other infinite waies that he vseth my benefite, I ouerpasse for shortnesse.

Carpenters, Karuers, Ioyners, and Masons, doe willingly acknowledge that they can worke nothyng without reason of Geometrie, in so muche that they chalenge me as a peculiare science for them. But in that they should do wrong to all other men, seyng euerie kynde of men haue som benefit by me, not only in buildyng, whiche is but other mennes costes, and the arte of Carpenters, Masons, and the other aforesayd, but in their owne priuate profession, whereof to auoide tediousnes I make this rehersall.

Sith Merchauntes by shippes great riches do winne, I may with good righte at their seate beginne. The Shippes on the sea with Saile and with Ore, were firste founde, and styll made, by Geometries lore. Their Compas, their Carde, their Pulleis, their Ankers, were founde by the skill of witty Geometers. To sette forth the Capstocke, and eche other parte, wold make a greate showe of Geometries arte. Carpenters, Caruers, Ioiners and Masons, Painters and Limners with suche occupations, Broderers, Goldesmithes, if they be cunning, Must yelde to Geometrye thankes for their learning. The Carte and the Plowe, who doth them well marke, Are made by good Geometrye. And so in the warke Of Tailers and Shoomakers, in all shapes and fashion, The woorke is not praised, if it wante proportion. So weauers by Geometrye hade their foundacion, Their Loome is a frame of straunge imaginacion. The wheele that doth spinne, the stone that doth grind, The Myll that is driuen by water or winde, Are workes of Geometrye straunge in their trade, Fewe could them deuise, if they were vnmade. And all that is wrought by waight or by measure, without proofe of Geometry can neuer be sure. Clockes that be made the times to deuide, The wittiest inuencion that euer was spied, Nowe that they are common they are not regarded, The artes man contemned, the woorke vnrewarded. But if they were scarse, and one for a shewe, Made by Geometrye, then shoulde men know, That neuer was arte so wonderfull witty, So needefull to man, as is good Geometry. The firste findinge out of euery good arte, Seemed then vnto men so godly a parte, That no recompence might satisfye the finder, But to make him a god, and honoure him for euer. So Ceres and Pallas, and Mercury also, Eolus and Neptune, and many other mo, Were honoured as goddes, bicause they did teache, Firste tillage and weuinge and eloquent speache, Or windes to obserue, the seas to saile ouer, They were called goddes for their good indeuour. Then were men more thankefull in that golden age: This yron wolde nowe vngratefull in rage, Wyll yelde the thy reward for trauaile and paine, With sclaunderous reproch, and spitefull disdaine. Yet thoughe other men vnthankfull will be, Suruayers haue cause to make muche of me. And so haue all Lordes, that landes do possesse: But Tennaunted I feare will like me the lesse. Yet do I not wrong but measure all truely, All yelde the full right of euerye man iustely. Proportion Geometricall hath no man opprest, Yf anye bee wronged, I wishe it redrest.

But now to procede with learned professions, in Logike and Rhetorike and all partes of phylosophy, there neadeth none other proofe then Aristotle his testimony, whiche without Geometry proueth almost nothinge. In Logike all his good syllogismes and demonstrations, hee declareth by the principles of Geometrye. In philosophye, nether motion, nor time, nor ayrye impressions could hee aptely declare, but by the helpe of Geometrye as his woorkes do witnes. Yea the faculties of the minde dothe hee expresse by similitude to figures of Geometrye. And in morall phylosophy he thought that iustice coulde not wel be taught, nor yet well executed without proportion geometricall. And this estimacion of Geometry he maye seeme to haue learned of his maister Plato, which without Geometrye wolde teache nothinge, nother wold admitte any to heare him, except he were experte in Geometry. And what merualle if he so muche estemed geometrye, seinge his opinion was, that Godde was alwaies workinge by Geometrie? Whiche sentence Plutarche declareth at large. And although Platto do vse the helpe of Geometrye in all the most waighte matter of a common wealth, yet it is so generall in vse, that no small thinges almost can be wel done without it. And therfore saith he: that Geometrye is to be learned, if it were for none other cause, but that all other artes are bothe soner and more surely vnderstand by helpe of it.

What greate help it dothe in physike, Galene doth so often and so copiousely declare, that no man whiche hath redde any booke almoste of his, can be ignorant thereof, in so much that he coulde neuer cure well a rounde vlcere, tyll reason geometricall dydde teache it hym. Hippocrates is earnest in admonyshynge that study of geometrie must prepare the way to physike, as well as to all other artes.

I shoulde seeme somewhat to tedious, if I shoulde recken vp, howe the diuines also in all their mysteries of scripture doo vse healpe of geometrie: and also that lawyers can neuer vnderstande the hole lawe, no nor yet the firste title therof exactly without Geometrie. For if lawes can not well be established, nor iustice duelie executed without geometricall proportion, as bothe Plato in his Politike bokes, and Aristotle in his Moralles doo largely declare. Yea sithe Lycurgus that cheefe lawmaker amongest the Lacedemonians, is moste praised for that he didde chaunge the state of their common wealthe frome the proportion Arithmeticall to a proportion geometricall, whiche without knowledg of bothe he coulde not dooe, than is it easye to perceaue howe necessarie Geometrie is for the lawe and studentes thereof. And if I shall saie preciselie and freelie as I thinke, he is vtterlie destitute of all abilitee to iudge in anie arte, that is not sommewhat experte in the Theoremes of Geometrie.

And that caused Galene to say of hym selfe, that he coulde neuer perceaue what a demonstration was, no not so muche, as whether there were any or none, tyll he had by geometrie gotten abilitee to vnderstande it, although he heard the beste teachers that were in his tyme. It shuld be to longe and nedelesse also to declare what helpe all other artes Mathematicall haue by geometrie, sith it is the grounde of all theyr certeintie, and no man studious in them is so doubtful therof, that he shall nede any persuasion to procure credite thereto. For he can not reade .ij. lines almoste in any mathematicall science, but he shall espie the nedefulnes of geometrie. But to auoyde tediousnesse I will make an ende hereof with that famous sentence of auncient Pythagoras, That who so will trauayle by learnyng to attayne wysedome, shall neuer approche to any excellencie without the artes mathematicall, and especially Arithmetike and Geometrie.

And yf I shall somewhat speake of noble men, and gouernours of realmes, howe needefull Geometrye maye bee vnto them, then must I repete all that I haue sayde before, sithe in them ought all knowledge to abounde, namely that maye appertaine either to good gouernaunce in time of peace, eyther wittye pollicies in time of warre. For ministration of good lawes in time of peace Lycurgus example with the testimonies of Plato and Aristotle may suffise. And as for warres, I might thinke it sufficient that Vegetius hath written, and after him Valturius in commendation of Geometry, for vse of warres, but all their woordes seeme to saye nothinge, in comparison to the example of Archimedes worthy woorkes make by geometrie, for the defence of his countrey, to reade the wonderfull praise of his wittie deuises, set foorthe by the most famous hystories of Liuius, Plutarche, and Plinie, and all other hystoriographiers, whyche wryte of the stronge siege of _Syracusae_ made by that valiant capitayne, and noble warriour _Marcellus_, whose power was so great, that all men meruayled how that one citee coulde withstande his wonderfull force so longe. But much more woulde they meruaile, if they vnderstode that one man onely dyd withstand all Marcellus strength, and with counter engines destroied his engines to the vtter astonyshment of _Marcellus_, and all that were with hym. He had inuented suche balastelas that dyd shoote out a hundred dartes at one shotte, to the great destruction of _Marcellus_ souldiours, wherby a fonde tale was spredde abrode, how that in Syracusae there was a wonderfull gyant, whiche had a hundred handes, and coulde shoote a hundred dartes at ones. And as this fable was spredde of Archimedes, so many other haue been fayned to bee gyantes and monsters, bycause they dyd suche thynges, whiche farre passed the witte of the common people. So dyd they feyne Argus to haue a hundred eies, bicause they herde of his wonderfull circumspection, and thoughte that as it was aboue their capacitee, so it could not be, onlesse he had a hundred eies. So imagined they Ianus to haue two faces, one lokyng forwarde, and an other backwarde, bycause he coulde so wittily compare thynges paste with thynges that were to come, and so duely pondre them, as yf they were all present. Of like reason did they feyn Lynceus to haue such sharp syght, that he could see through walles and hylles, bycause peraduenture he dyd by naturall iudgement declare what commoditees myght be digged out of the grounde. And an infinite noumbre lyke fables are there, whiche sprange all of lyke reason.

For what other thyng meaneth the fable of the great gyant Atlas, whiche was ymagined to beare vp heauen on his shulders? but that he was a man of so high a witte, that it reached vnto the skye, and was so skylfull in Astronomie, and coulde tell before hande of Eclipses, and other like thynges as truely as though he dyd rule the sterres, and gouerne the planettes.

So was Eolus accompted god of the wyndes, and to haue theim all in a caue at his pleasure, by reason that he was a wittie man in naturall knowlege, and obserued well the change of wethers, aud was the fyrst that taught the obseruation of the wyndes. And lyke reson is to be geuen of al the old fables.

But to retourne agayne to Archimedes, he dyd also by arte perspectiue (whiche is a parte of geometrie) deuise such glasses within the towne of Syracusae, that dyd bourne their ennemies shyppes a great way from the towne, whyche was a meruaylous politike thynge. And if I shulde repete the varietees of suche straunge inuentions, as Archimedes and others haue wrought by geometrie, I should not onely excede the order of a preface, but I should also speake of suche thynges as can not well be vnderstande in talke, without somme knowledge in the principles of geometrie.

But this will I promyse, that if I may perceaue my paynes to be thankfully taken, I wyll not onely write of suche pleasant inuentions, declaryng what they were, but also wil teache howe a great numbre of them were wroughte, that they may be practised in this tyme also. Wherby shallbe plainly perceaued, that many thynges seme impossible to be done, whiche by arte may very well be wrought. And whan they be wrought, and the reason therof not vnderstande, than say the vulgare people, that those thynges are done by negromancy. And hereof came it that fryer Bakon was accompted so greate a negromancier, whiche neuer vsed that arte (by any coniecture that I can fynde) but was in geometrie and other mathematicall sciences so experte, that he coulde dooe by theim suche thynges as were wonderfull in the syght of most people.

Great talke there is of a glasse that he made in Oxforde, in whiche men myght see thynges that were doon in other places, and that was iudged to be done by power of euyll spirites. But I knowe the reason of it to bee good and naturall, and to be wrought by geometrie (sythe perspectiue is a parte of it) and to stande as well with reason as to see your face in common glasse. But this conclusion and other dyuers of lyke sorte, are more mete for princes, for sundry causes, than for other men, and ought not to bee taught commonly. Yet to repete it, I thought good for this cause, that the worthynes of geometry myght the better be knowen, & partly vnderstanding geuen, what wonderfull thynges may be wrought by it, and so consequently how pleasant it is, and how necessary also.

And thus for this tyme I make an end. The reason of som thynges done in this boke, or omitted in the same, you shall fynde in the preface before the Theoremes.

The definitions of the principles of _GEOMETRY_.

Geometry teacheth the drawyng, Measuring and proporcion of figures. but in as muche as no figure can bee drawen, but it muste haue certayne boundes and inclosures of lines: and euery lyne also is begon and ended at some certaine prycke, fyrst it shal be meete to know these smaller partes of euery figure, that therby the whole figures may the better bee iudged, and distincte in sonder.

[Sidenote: A poincte.] _A Poynt or a Prycke_, is named of Geometricians that small and vnsensible shape, whiche hath in it no partes, that is to say: nother length, breadth nor depth. But as their exactnes of definition is more meeter for onlye Theorike speculacion, then for practise and outwarde worke (consideringe that myne intent is to applye all these whole principles to woorke) I thynke meeter for this purpose, to call a _poynt or prycke_, that small printe of penne, pencyle, or other instrumente, whiche is not moued, nor drawen from his fyrst touche, and therfore hath no notable length nor bredthe: as this example doeth declare.

Where I haue set .iij. prickes, eche of them hauyng both length and bredth, thogh it be but smal, and thefore not notable.

Nowe of a great numbre of these prickes, is made a _Lyne_, as you may perceiue by this forme ensuyng. ........................ where as I haue set a numbre of prickes, so if you with your pen will set in more other prickes betweene euerye two of these, [Sidenote: A lyne.] then wil it be a lyne, as here you may see -------- and this _lyne_, is called of Geometricians, _Lengthe withoute breadth_.

But as they in theyr theorikes (which ar only mind workes) do precisely vnderstand these definitions, so it shal be sufficient for those men, whiche seke the vse of the same thinges, as sense may duely iudge them, and applye to handy workes if they vnderstand them so to be true, that outwarde sense canne fynde none erroure therein.

Of lynes there bee two principall kyndes. The one is called a right or straight lyne, and the other a croked lyne.

[Sidenote: A streghte lyne.] _A Straight lyne_, is the shortest that maye be drawenne between two prickes.

[Sidenote: A crokyd lyne.] And all other lines, that go not right forth from prick to prick, but boweth any waye, such are called _Croked lynes_ as in these examples folowyng ye may se, where I haue set but one forme of a straight lyne, for more formes there be not, but of crooked lynes there bee innumerable diuersities, whereof for examples sum I haue sette here.

So now you must vnderstand, that _euery lyne is drawen betwene twoo prickes_, wherof the one is at the beginning, and the other at the ende.

Therefore when soeuer you do see any formes of lynes to touche at one notable pricke, as in this example, then shall you not call it one croked lyne, but rather twoo lynes: [Sidenote: an Angle.] in as muche as there is a notable and sensible angle by .A. whiche euermore is made by the meetyng of two seuerall lynes. And likewayes shall you iudge of this figure, whiche is made of two lines, and not of one onely.

So that whan so euer any suche meetyng of lines doth happen, the place of their metyng is called an _Angle or corner_.

Of angles there be three generall kindes: a sharpe angle, a square angle, and a blunte angle. [Sidenote: A righte angle.] _The square angle_, whiche is commonly named _a right corner_, is made of twoo lynes meetyng together in fourme of a squire, whiche two lines, if they be drawen forth in length, will crosse one an other: as in the examples folowyng you maie see.

[Sidenote: A sharpe corner.] _A sharpe angle_ is so called, because it is lesser than is a square angle, and the lines that make it, do not open so wide in their departynge as in a square corner, and if thei be drawen crosse, all fower corners will not be equall.

[Sidenote: A blunte angle.] _A blunt or brode corner_, is greater then is a square angle, and his lines do parte more in sonder then in a right angle, of whiche all take these examples.

And these angles (as you see) are made partly of streght lynes, partly of croken lines, and partly of both together. Howbeit in right angles I haue put none example of croked lines, because it would muche trouble a lerner to iudge them: for their true iudgment doth appertaine to arte perspectiue, and as I may say, rather to reason then to sense.

But now as of many prickes there is made one line, so _of diuerse lines are there made sundry formes, figures, and shapes_, whiche all yet be called by one propre name, [Sidenote: A platte forme.] _Platte formes_, and thei haue bothe _length and bredth, but yet no depenesse_.

And _the boundes_ of euerie platte forme are lines: as by the examples you maie perceiue.

Of platte formes some be plain, and some be croked, and some parly plaine, and partlie croked.

[Sidenote: A plaine platte.] _A plaine platte_ is that, whiche is made al equall in height, so that the middle partes nother bulke vp, nother shrink down more then the bothe endes.

[Sidenote: A crooked platte.] For whan the one parte is higher then the other, then is it named a _Croked platte_.

And if it be partlie plaine, and partlie crooked, then is it called a _Myxte platte_, of all whiche, these are exaumples.

And as of many prickes is made a line, and of diuerse lines one platte forme, [Sidenote: A bodie.] so of manie plattes is made _a bodie_, whiche conteigneth _Lengthe, bredth, and depenesse_. [Sidenote: Depenesse.] By _Depenesse_ I vnderstand, not as the common sort doth, the holownesse of any thing, as of a well, a diche, a potte, and suche like, but I meane the massie thicknesse of any bodie, as in exaumple of a potte: the depenesse is after the common name, the space from his brimme to his bottome. But as I take it here, the depenesse of his bodie is his thicknesse in the sides, whiche is an other thyng cleane different from the depenesse of his holownes, that the common people meaneth.

Now all bodies haue platte formes for their boundes, [Sidenote: Cubike.] so in a dye (whiche is called _a cubike bodie_) by geomatricians, [Sidenote: Asheler.] and an _ashler_ of masons, there are .vi. sides, whiche are .vi. platte formes, and are the boundes of the dye.

[Sidenote: A globe.] But in a _Globe_, (whiche is a bodie rounde as a bowle) there is but one platte forme, and one bounde, and these are the exaumples of them bothe.

But because you shall not muse what I dooe call _a bound_, [Sidenote: A bounde.] I mean therby a generall name, betokening the beginning, end and side, of any forme.

[Sidenote: Forme, Fygure.] _A forme, figure, or shape_, is that thyng that is inclosed within one bond or manie bondes, so that you vnderstand that shape, that the eye doth discerne, and not the substance of the bodie.

Of _figures_ there be manie sortes, for either thei be made of prickes, lines, or platte formes. Not withstandyng to speake properlie, _a figure_ is euer made by platte formes, and not of bare lines vnclosed, neither yet of prickes.

Yet for the lighter forme of teachyng, it shall not be vnsemely to call all suche shapes, formes and figures, whiche y^e eye maie discerne distinctly.

And first to begin with prickes, there maie be made diuerse formes of them, as partely here doeth folowe.

And so maie there be infinite formes more, whiche I omitte for this time, considering that their knowledg appertaineth more to Arithmetike figurall, than to Geometrie.

But yet one name of a pricke, whiche he taketh rather of his place then of his fourme, maie I not ouerpasse. And that is, when a pricke standeth in the middell of a circle (as no circle can be made by compasse without it) then is it called _a centre_. [Sidenote: A centre] And thereof doe masons, and other worke menne call that patron, a _centre_, whereby thei drawe the lines, for iust hewyng of stones for arches, vaultes, and chimneies, because the chefe vse of that patron is wrought by findyng that pricke or centre, from whiche all the lynes are drawen, as in the thirde booke it doeth appere.

Lynes make diuerse figures also, though properly thei maie not be called figures, as I said before (vnles the lines do close) but onely for easie maner of teachyng, all shall be called figures, that the eye can discerne, of whiche this is one, when one line lyeth flatte (whiche is named [Sidenote: A ground line.] the _ground line_) and an other commeth downe on it, and is called [Sidenote: A perpendicular.] [Sidenote: A plume lyne.] a _perpendiculer_ or _plumme lyne_, as in this example you may see. where .A.B. is the grounde line, and C.D. the plumbe line.

And like waies in this figure there are three lines, the grounde lyne whiche is A.B. the plumme line that is A.C. and the _bias line_, whiche goeth from the one of them to the other, and lieth against the right corner in such a figure whiche is here .C.B.