among the Ancients. 57^ 



certo loco centra conjlituto ad lineas naturali rat'iane 

 refpondere : uti de incertdre cert a imagines ^difi^ 

 ciorum injcenarum ■piSlaris redderent Jpeciem j et qii^e 

 in direEiis plenifque frontibus fint figurata^ alia ab~ 

 Jcedentia qlia -prominentia ejfe videantur. This paf- 

 fage is decifive to prove that perfpedive was 

 reduced to a fcience among the ancient artifts. 

 The pafiage herein before quoted from Virru- 

 vius, under the divifion of the coutume, furnifhes 

 another proof of fkill in perfpedive fcene-paint- 

 ing. So alfo does the inftance of the bull, by 

 Paufias, painted in front on a black ground 

 and forefhortened. 



Pliny alfo notices a fcene- painting with 

 much commendation,* Habuit etjcena ludis Claudii 

 Pulchri magnam admirationem pi£iur^ cum ad te- 

 gularum Jimilitudinem corvi decepti imagine advo- 

 larent. Indeed the ancients appear to have ar- 

 rived at confiderable fkill in the management 

 of their fcenes; which confifted like ours, both 

 of fcenes to draw afide, and fcenes in parts 

 jointed, fuch as are ufed in our pantomimes. 

 Scena aut verfilis erat, aut du^tilis. VerftUs tunc erat, 

 cum Jubito tota machinis quibujda?n convertebatur et 

 alia pi£iura faciem oftendebant. Bu^ilis tunc cum 

 iraBis tabulatis hac atque iliac /pedes pi^ura nuda^ 

 batur interior. ^ 



* PHn. XXXV. 7. 

 t Servius ad verf. 24. lib. IVti. Georgic. 



I have 



