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CHAP. VII.
OF THE PORTICO AND OTHER PARTS OF THE THEATRE.
THE uppermost range of seats has a portico constructed
over it; the roof of which ought to range with the highest
part of the scene; so that the voice, expanding uniformly,
may be carried to the upper seats, and thence to the roof.
For if the roof and the scene were of unequal heights, the
sounds would be broken after passing the lower of the two
altitudes.
Whatever be the diameter of the orchestra included
within the lower range of seats, a sixth part of it should be
assumed for the height of the approaches' to the stage in
1 The height of the itinera, or entrances, which is determined by making it this
portional part of the length of the orchestra, is thought by the commentators to be
enormous; believing that Vitruvius, by the “ itinera," intended to allude to the
entrances into the orchestra. Galiani and Perrault, therefore, consider it necessary
to alter the text from the diameter to the semidiameter, in opposition to the reading
of all the manuscripts. I have however ventured to translate “ aditus," as alluding
to two of the approaches to the stage. These are mentioned by our author in the
preceding chapter, in which they are called " itinera versurarum,' or the approaches
in the returns of the scene. The returns may be considered as forming part of the
scene itself ; because, from remains of the scenes of the ancient theatres, we may
perceive that they were a continuation of the same design. Our author, in the
passage immediately following, describes the various parts of the front of the scene,
which are all proportioned by the scale of the orchestra ; hence it would appear
consistent that the approaches in the returns, or lateral continuations of the scene,
should likewise be commensurate with the orchestra. The same reasoning will not
apply to the entrances into the orchestra, of which there appear to have been several: