Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/288

262 Steps. Mercury has his caduceus in his left hand, and bears a lamp in his right. He is also distinguished by his petasos and his chlamys. All the details of the picture point to circumstances of common occurrence in Greek comedies, with whom the was a favourite character. The ladder is expressly mentioned by Xenarchus, a poet of the Middle Comedy, and the window, which in correct drawing should be at a much greater height from the ground, represents the opening in the upper story of the stage from which the hetæra was frequently represented as looking down upon her lover. It is worthy of remark that both Jupiter and Mercury are represented as bare-footed. In the other picture, which probably represents a similar nocturnal visit paid by Bacchus to Althæa in the Comedy of Theopompus, a female dressed like the Alcmena of the other scene, is looking out of a window, while a comic figure with mask, socci, and other appendages, is climbing the ladder to reach her. He wears a chaplet on his head, and while he presents Althæa with "the apples of Dionysus ," i.e. quinces, as an offering of love, he carries in his other hand a red band for her hair. His bare-footed attendant has in his left hand a flambeau and a crown of myrtle, and in his right a little box , containing some present for the lady. Althæa was the wife of Œneus, and the chaplets of vine-leaves, which adorn the wall of the house, are very appropriate to his name as the man of the vineyard. The colours of the pictures are an interesting feature in the costume. The crowns on the heads of the figures are white. The of the man on the ladder is a brownish red, his sleeves and leggings are of a bright brown. The other