“The towers themselves must be either round or polygonal. Square towers are sooner shattered by military engines”

— Vitruvius , book De architectura

Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book I, Chapter V, Sec. 5
Context: The towers themselves must be either round or polygonal. Square towers are sooner shattered by military engines, for the battering rams pound their angles to pieces but in the case of round towers they can do no harm being engaged as it were in driving wedges to their center.

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Vitruvius 203

Roman writer, architect and engineer -80–-15 BC

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