Itaque uti vectis sub onere subiectus, si per medium premitur, durior est neque incumbit, cum autem caput eius summum deducitur, faciliter onus extollit, similiter vela, cum sunt per medium temperata, minorem habent virtutem, quae autem in capite mali summo conlocantur discedentia longius a centro, non acriore sed eodem flatu, pressione cacuminis vehementius cogunt progredi navem.
Therefore just as when a lever is put under a load and pressed down about the middle, it is moved with difficulty, but when the longer arm is pressed down from the top, it easily raises the load; so when the sails are set half-mast high, they are less effective, but when they are set at the mast-head at a greater distance from the centre, without any further rising of the wind, with the summit as fulcrum, they cause the ship to sail a stronger course.
final_alignments\Vitruvius_Architecture_Book_10.json