m the Temperature of Winter, 51 



nnd sowing of land was constantly carried on in winter, 

 and where the palm tree flourished in perfection, ordinary 

 winters would not render the temporary lodging in booths 

 very uncomfortable ; nor could such a country be neces- 

 •sarily destitute of green boughs. Let it be added also, 

 that m the second chapter of the Song of Solomon, w-e 

 find the winter was a season of rain, and not of snow. 

 " The winter is past ; the rain is over and gone." 



In opposition to Prideaux's opinion, and to the gene- 

 ral hypothesis of the rigorous winters of antiquity, it may 

 be remarked that in Greece, six degrees of latitude north 

 of Judea, the theaters were not covered, but -plays were 

 acted in the open 2:\\\..See Anarch, ch. Ixx. xvhere Fitru- 

 -vuis, lib. V. cap, 9, is cited as an authority. The Roman 

 theaters and amphitheaters were also without roofs. In- 

 deed for centuries after theatrical representations were 

 nitroduced at Rome, the theaters v/ere temporary struct- 

 ures of wood, without seats, the spectators standing dur- 

 ing the exhibition. . . . Tacit, yin. xiv. 20. It is evident al- 

 so from a passage in Quintilian, lib. 10. ch. iii. that the 

 courts of justice WTre held in apartments without roofs; 

 and so was the Areopagus in Athens.... .^cf^xvii. 



Authors inform us that in the later ages of refinement 

 at Athens, the stage, and a part of the theater occupied 

 by the ladies, were covered ; but the spectators in gen- 

 eral had no covering but their clothes. Plays were in- 

 deed acted in Greece in the day time ; but as they were 

 acted at all seasons of the year, the open theaters forbid 

 us to suppose the winters more rigorous and tempestuous 

 formerly than in modern days. 



The thin dress of the Romans and Greeks is another 

 proof of the mildness of their climate. The Romans 

 wore no garments answering to the modern breeches and 

 stockings ; their principal garments being the Tu?iica, or 

 :)lose coat worn at home, and the Toga, or loose gowa 

 ivithout sleeves, worn in public ; to which may be added 

 :he Trabea, Paludamentum, Chlamys and Leena, robes 

 vorn by men of distinction and military officers.,.. /few- 

 let. Antiq. Rom. ii. 5. 7. Hence the close garments 

 vhich invested the lower limbs of the Celtic and Teuton- 

 c nations, were objects of notice among the Romans 



