In classical order theory, the method of quantification shifted over time from geometry to numeracy with the modulus, and both methods are seen in Alberti’s De re aedificatoria. This essay focuses on the two Ionic bases and shows that, while the two bases have almost the same shape, two methods, the geometric and the numerical, have been contrasted. Since this book was written without pictures, all the shapes and lengths are described in sentences; and yet, reading carefully to the word order, it seems that the sentences have a close relationship with the images assumed in them.
