from side to side, and was the place allotted for the
decorations. This front had two small wings at its extremity, from which
hung a large curtain, that was let down to open the scene, and drawn up
between the acts, when any thing in the representation made it necessary.

The second, called by the Greeks indifferently {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, and {~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} and
by the Romans _proscenium_, and _pulpitum_, was a large open space in
front of the scene, in which the actors performed their parts, and which,
by the help of the decorations, represented either a public square or
forum, a common street, or the country; but the place so represented was
always in the open air.

The third division was a part reserved behind the scenes, and called by
the Greeks {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. Here the actors dressed themselves, and the
decorations were locked up. In the same place were also kept the machines,
of which the ancients had abundance in their theatres.

As only the porticoes and the building of the scene were roofed, it was
necessary to draw sails, fastened with cords to masts, over the rest of
the theatre, to screen the audience from the heat of the sun. But as this
contrivance did not prevent the heat, occasioned by the perspiration and
breath of so numerous an assembly, the ancients took care to allay it by a
kind of rain; conveying the water for that use above the porticoes, which
falling again in form of dew through an infinity of small pores concealed
in the statues, with which the theatre abounded, did not only diffuse a
grateful coolness all around, but the most fragrant exhalations along with
it; for this dew was always perfumed. Whenever the representations were
interrupted by storms, the spectators