Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/262

 240 ON THE REPRESENTATION OF chines for introducing suddenly sea and river-gods, and other inci- dental apparitions ^ As the right-hand BpofMo^; represented the country road, and the left-hand that which led to the city, the changes of scene effected by the revolutions of the right-hand Trepl- aKTOf; were distant views painted in perspective ; while those on the left were pictures of single objects supposed to be close at hand. The scenery, which was regularly placed before the main scene, was apparently painted on canvas, the framework being of solid wood. In the CEdipus Coloneus, the grove of the Eumenides was thus represented, and perhaps some evergreens were actually placed on the stage. If the scene had to be changed, which was rarely the case in Tragedy, the operation was concealed by a curtain [avXala), which was drawn up through a slit between the stage and the scene, and not, like ours, allowed to drop from above. This recep- tacle for the curtain and the cylinder, round which it was rolled, is plainly seen in the small theatre at Pompeii, as represented in the annexed illustration. This difference between the ancient practice 1% 5- and oui; own must be remembered by the student, who would ^ The following are authorities respecting the TreplaKTou Vitruv, V. 7: '^ secun- dum ea spatia ad ornatus comparata (quae loca Graeci vepLOLKTovs dicunt) ab eo, quod raachinse sunt in iis locis, versatiles trigonos habentes." Jul. Pollux, iv. 126: Trap' CKdrepa 5^ tQv 5vo 6vpQ>v tuv irepl t7)v jxecrrjv, aWai dvo elev dv, fiia eKar^pojdev, vpbs as at ireplaKTOL crv/j.ireirrjyaaip' i] /x^v Se^id rd ^^w 7r6Xews dyjXodaa, 7} S' dpLcrrepd rd iK TrdXecos' pLaXLara rd e/c Xt/xeVos' Kal deovs re daXarriovs iirdyec Kal irdvd' 6'cra cTraxd^cr- repa Sura i] p.rjxo-vr] (p^peiu dSware? et 5^ eTnar pi(f>oi€v at ireplaKTOL rj Se^ta ixkv dfiei^ei. rbirov' dpLcporepai. 8e xwpai' viraXXdrrovai. ewl t7]v aK7)vr]P did KXipidKUv dva^aivovcn. From the use of the periacti as Si'cZe scenes, it seems most probable that they were not let into the wall (for it is irphs as, not irpbs ah or eV als), and from the analogy between the employments of the irepiaKTOs and the p.rjxo.vrj, which was placed in the left irdpo- hos, it may be inferred that these triangular prisms stood as represented in the plan, between the side- entrances to the stage and the orchestra, Kolster suggests (Sopko- kleische Studien, Pref. p. viii) that the axis of the cylinder was fixed in the lintel and threshold of the side-door, so that the apex of the triangle stood within the wall. This would have prevented the audience from seeing the whole of the side-scene.