Note 607 — Chapter IV · THE SCENERY

Poll. iv. 126 παρ’ ἑκάτερα δὲ τῶν δύο θυρῶν τῶν περὶ τὴν μέσην ἄλλαι δύο εἶεν ἄν, μία ἑκατέρωθεν, πρὸς ἅς αἱ περίακτοι συμπεπήγασιν, ἡ μὲν δεξιὰ τὰ ἔξω πόλεως δηλοῦσα, ἡ δ’ ἑτέρα τὰ ἐκ πόλεως, μάλιστα τὰ ἐκ λιμένος· καὶ θεούς τε θαλαττίους ἐπάγει, καὶ πάνθ’ ὅσα ἐπαχθέστερα ὄντα ἡ μηχανὴ φέρειν ἀδυνατεῖ. εἰ δ’ ἐπιστραφεῖεν αἱ περίακτοι, ἡ δεξιὰ μὲν ἀμείβει τόπον (a. l. τὸ πᾶν) ἀμφότεραι δὲ χώραν ὑπαλλάττουσιν. Vitruv. v. 6 ‘secundum autem spatia ad ornatus comparata, quae loca Graeci περιάκτους dicunt, ab eo quod machinae sunt in his locis versatiles trigonoe habentes singulae tres species ornationis, quae, cum aut fabularum mutationes sunt futurae, seu deorum adventus cum tonitribus repentinis, versentur mutentque speciem ornationis in fronte’, &c. Serv. on Verg. Georg. iii. 24 ‘scaena quae fiebat aut versilis erat aut ductilis erat. Versilis tum erat cum subito tota machinis quibusdam convertebatur, et aliam picturae faciem ostendebat’. A change of τόπος means a change from one part of the same district to another; a change of χώρα means an entire change of district. Niejahr (Comment. Scaen. pp. 1 ff.), Oehmichen (Bühnenwesen, p. 241), and P. Gardner, J. Hell. Stud. 1899, p. 262, think the passage ἡ μὲν δεξιὰ ... ἀδυνατεῖ refers, not to the periaktoi, but to the side-doors. But (1) the run of the passage is against this view, (2) δηλοῦσα could hardly be used of a door, (3) Vitruvius says the periaktoi were used for introducing gods, and thus proves that θεοὺς ἐπάγει in Pollux also refers to the periaktoi.