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But river sand, though useless in "signinum" on account of its thinness, becomes perfectly solid in stucco when thoroughly worked by means of polishing instruments. Sand and its sources having been thus treated, next with regard to lime we must be careful that it is burned from a stone which, whether soft or hard, is in any case white.
Thus the vapours will be carried off by the air shafts as if through nostrils. When these are finished and we come to the water, then a wall should be built round the well without stopping up the vein. But if the ground is hard, or if the veins lie too deep, the water supply must be obtained from roofs or higher ground, and collected in cisterns of "signinum work."
The trench for the signinum work, down to the level of the proposed depth of the cistern, should be beaten with wooden beetles covered with iron. Then after having beaten the walls, let all the earth between them be cleared out to a level with the very bottom of the walls. Having evened this off, let the ground be beaten to the proper density.
Here I found fragments of antique bricks, tegulae bipedales, amphoras, pottery of the lustrous Sorrentine ware Surrentina bibis? pavements of opus signinum, as well as one large Roman paving flag of the type that is found on the road between Termini and Punta Campanella.
Signinum work is made as follows. In the first place, procure the cleanest and sharpest sand, break up lava into bits of not more than a pound in weight, and mix the sand in a mortar trough with the strongest lime in the proportion of five parts of sand to two of lime.
Thus people walking round on the edges will not be interfered with by the anointed who are exercising. The "xysta" ought to be so constructed that there may be plantations between the two colonnades, or groves of plane trees, with walks laid out in them among the trees and resting places there, made of "opus signinum."
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