For the elements which we
use most and oftenest for the support of the body contribute most to
health, and among these are water and air. Wherefore, in all wise
states, if there is a want of pure water, and the supply is not all
equally good, the drinking water ought to be separated from that which
is used for other purposes.
As to strongholds, what is suitable to different forms of government
varies: thus an acropolis is suited to an oligarchy or a monarchy, but
a plain to a democracy; neither to an aristocracy, but rather a number
of strong places. The arrangement of private houses is considered to
be more agreeable and generally more convenient, if the streets are
regularly laid out after the modern fashion which Hippodamus
introduced, but for security in war the antiquated mode of building,
which made it difficult for strangers to get out of a town and for
assailants to find their way in, is preferable. A city should
therefore adopt both plans of building: it is possible to arrange
the houses irregularly, as husbandmen plant their vines in what are
called 'clumps.' The whole town should not be laid out in straight
lines, but only certain quarters and regions; thus security and beauty
will be combined.
As to walls, those who say that cities making any pretension to
military virtue should not have them, are quite out of date in their
notions; and they may see the cities which prided themselves on this
fancy confuted by facts.
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