De ipsa autem testa, si sit optima seu vitiosa ad structuram, statim nemo potest iudicare, quod in tempestatibus et aestate in tecto cum est conlocata, tunc, si est firma, probatur; namque quae non fuerit ex creta bona aut parum erit cocta, ibi se ostendit esse vitiosam gelicidiis et pruina tacta.
But whether the baked brick itself is very good or faulty for building, no one can judge its strength off hand, because only when it is laid as a coping is it tested by weathering and lapse of time. For brickwork that is not made of good clay or is too little baked shows its faults on the work when weathered by ice and hoar-frost.
final_alignments\Vitruvius_Architecture_Book_2.json