VITRUVIUS. 
108 
the mark happens, there the supercilia of the passages are made; for thus they will have a 
sufficient elevation. 
Tux lenath (I I) of the scene fhould be made double the diameter of the orchestra. The 
heiahth of the podium (-) from the level of the pulpit, is the twelfch part of the diameter of 
Perault objects, that, by such an elevation of the lowest 
degree, the dancers who performed in the orchestra of the 
Greek theatres would have been in a great measure unseen; 
but Vitruvius does not here treat of the Greek theatres; he 
is speaking of the Roman. Vitruvius says, the Greck theatres 
gre in many respects different; and, though he does not men- 
tion this circumstance as one of the differences, yet they 
must certainly have been different in this part ; for, as the 
senators sat in the Roman orchestra, it must have been in 
some degree inclined (as before faid); but the Greek or- 
chestra, being for the use of the dancers, it must have been 
level; therefore, there not being the same reasons for so 
great an elevation of the lowest degree in Greek theatres, it 
was probably situated no higher from the level floor of their 
orchestra than it was from the highest part of the inclined 
orchestra in the Roman theatres. 
(4*) Where the mark happens, there the supercilia of the 
passages are made qua praecisio fuerit, ibi constituantur itenerum 
supercilia. 
The supercilia is, as has been explained at the third 
chapter of the third book, any cornice, or superior mould¬ 
ing: it is here directed to be placed where the mark 
happens at the lower seats; which has been argued to mean 
the lowest degree; and which, therefore, must be the place 
where the supercilia, p p, is to be placed. 
But Vitruvius calls it the supercilia of the passages, men¬ 
tioning passeges (itenerum) in the plural. By its place it seems 
to be the supercilia, or cornice of the passage that goes round 
the back of the orchestra; and therefore it seems that the 
word passage, or path, should have been mentioned in the 
singular; but it is not unusual with Vitruvius to mention 
in the plural many words that appears to us to belong to the 
singular number; and the contrary (thus he mentions the ar¬ 
chitrave, or epistylium over a range of columns, in the plural, 
calling it the architraves, or epistyliums); so, if this pas¬ 
sa e round the orchestra was used to be divided into parts, by 
temporary partitions here and there between each entrance. 
&c, it would have been sufficient to cause Vitruvius to speak 
of it in the plural. This being mentioned in the plural, has 
caused Perault and Galiani to imagine, that by the word ite¬ 
nerum is meant the entrances or doors, z z, that lead into 
the orchestra; but firstly, Vitruvius does not use that word 
to lignify any kind of aperture, but for a passage or path 
way, as in the third chapter foregoing, he uses it for the 
passage way of the precinctions (iteneris precinctionis.) Se¬ 
condly, He gives no des ription of those doors or entrances, 
nor of any of the intestinal parts of the fabric; but describes 
only the disposition of the spectatory and scene of the theatre. 
Thirdly, There appears no reason that such doors of en- 
trance should be governed, in their heighth, by the dia- 
meter of the orchestra, and vary as that varies (they being 
rather to be numbered among the parts hereafter mentioned, 
whose measure should be the same in all theatres, whether 
large or small, as respecting the natural magnitude of the 
human body, and cannot effect the prospect of the theatre 
whether greater or less. Fourthly, Vitruvius positively 
mentions the passages (by the same term, itinerae) among 
those things that 'are invariable in their dimensions in all 
theatres, and therefore cannot hère mean that the same 
itinerae, or passages, are to be governed in their dimensions 
by the different magnitude of the orchestra. Fifthly, That 
the width of such doors is as necessary to be adjusted as their 
heighth; and, as the former is not mentioned, it may well 
be concluded that neither is the latter. Sixthly, The 
heighth of the passage round the orchestra (by which also the 
heighth of the lowest degree is determined) is necessarily 
dependent on the magnitude of the same orchestra, in 
order that the heighth of the spectators may be adapted 
to the distance of the stage, as before urged: from all these 
arguments, therefore, it appears much more probable that 
it is the same passage round the orchestra here meant by the 
word itinerum that was before signified by the word aditus, 
and that the supercilia mentioned is the cornice of that 
passage. Vitruvius adds, for thus they will have a sufficient 
elevation; the word THEY must be understood to allude the 
lower seats, not to the passages, notwithstanding the order of 
the words may seem to point to the latter; for the fore- 
going notes shew that it is the lowest degree, whose heighth 
is thus regulated by the magnitude of the orchestra; and not 
the passages, which were no ways dependant on the measure 
of the orchestra. 
(5*) Vitruvius says, the length of the scene spould be double 
the diameter of the orchestra. 
It has been before argued that Vitruvius uses the word 
diameter in its proper sense; there can, therefore, be no 
doubt of the meaning of this sentence. Perault and Galiani, 
who have before understood diameter for semi-diameter, 
and have also made the diameter of their orchestra equal to 
half the diameter of the whole fabric, are in some difficulty 
to reconcile their opinions with the authority of the antique; 
and to get extricated from a web, in which they have en- 
tangled themselves, they have each chosen a different method. 
Perault, finding that the vestiges of ancient theatres prove 
that the scene was ever longer than the diameter of the or-