Note 460 — Chapter III · THE THEATRE (continued 2)

Vitruv. v. 7 ‘ita a tribus centris hac descriptione ampliorem habent orchestram Graeci et scaenam recessiorem minoreque latitudine pulpitum, quod λογεῖον appellant, ideo quod eo tragici et comici actores in scaena peragunt, reliqui autem artifices suas per orchestram praestant actiones, itaque ex eo scaenici et thymelici graece separatim nominantur. Eius logei altitudo non minus debet esse pedum decem, non plus duodecim.’ Whether under ‘reliqui artifices’ Vitruvius included the dramatic chorus is very doubtful. The dramatic chorus had almost disappeared in his day. Moreover ‘thymelici’ as opposed to ‘scaenici’ generally means the competitors in musical and literary contests, as opposed to the competitors in dramatic contests. But the words of Vitruvius about the position of the actors upon the stage are free from all ambiguity. [Cp. Frei, de Certaminibus Thymelicis. Dörpfeld’s suggestion (Deutsche Littztg. 1901, p. 1816) that dramatic actors were called σκηνικοί because they were nearer the σκηνή, and musical performers θυμελικοί as being in the centre of the orchestra, round the θυμέλη, forces the words to fit his theory, but gives a far less natural meaning to the distinction. According to this, the members of the chorus in the drama also ought to be called θυμελικοί.]