Note 571 — Chapter IV · THE SCENERY

Aristot. Poet. c. 4 τρεῖς δὲ καὶ σκηνογραφίαν Σοφοκλῆς. Vitruv. vii. praef. § 11 primum Agatharchus Athenis Aeschylo docente tragoediam scaenam fecit et de ea commentarium reliquit. Prof. Jebb (Dict. Antiq. ii. p. 816) thinks the two statements may be reconciled by supposing that the words ‘Aeschylo docente tragoediam’ merely fix the date, without implying that Aeschylus had anything to do with the innovation. [Prof. P. Gardner (J. Hell. Stud. 1899, p. 253) points out that, according to Vitruvius, Agatharchus, like Democritus and Anaxagoras, seems to have studied perspective theoretically; and the story that he was enticed by Alcibiades into his house, and not released till he had painted its interior, combined with Vitruvius’ notice, suggests that he was precisely the kind of painter for a stage; while the date suggested has nothing chronologically against it.]