5-24 
MERGE TO GYRENE. 
of appropriating hollow spaces beneath the seats of their theatres to 
the reception of brazen vases, by means of which the sound was con- 
siderably improved. We were led to imagine the possibility of this, 
from the fact of the spaces to which we allude having been carefully 
formed, and not left merely for the purpose of saving material, or 
adding to the lightness of the building. We found nothing, how- 
ever, which could be said to verify the conjecture ; and a few frag- 
ments of pottery, which were picked up in some of these apertures, 
were all that presented themselves, in confirmation of the practice 
alluded to, during the progress of our excavation*. 
* The passage of Vitruvius in question, is as follows, as we have exti-acted it from 
Wilkins’s translation : — 
“ From the foregoing investigations,” — those of Aristoxenus on the doctrine of har- 
mony, “ brazen vases have been made upon mathematical calculations, proportioned to 
the magnitude of the theati-e. They are so constructed, that upon being struck, they 
form amongst themselves concords of the fourth, fifth, regularly in succession, on to the 
double octave. They are then arranged amongst the seats of the theatre according to a 
certain musical proportion, in cells made for their reception. They ought not to be 
placed in contact with the wall, but have a vacant space above and around them. They 
should be inverted, and the edge next the stage raised by means of wedges, six inches 
in height at the least : apertures ought to be made in the seats of the lower I'ow, oppo- 
site to the cells, two feet in width, and one in height.” 
“ If the theatre be not very spacious,” continues our author, “ thirteen arched cells 
will be sufficient, in which as many vases are to be placed in the order which he pro- 
ceeds to point out, by observing which, the voice,” he says, “ which diverges every where 
from the stage, as from a centre, striking each of these hollow vases, will acquire an 
increase of clearness and strength, and at the same time produce corresponding tones in 
concord with itsown sounds.” “ It may, perhaps, be said,” continues Vitruvius, “ that 
many theatres are built every year at Rome, in which no attention has been paid to 
these points : the objection, however, is not applicable ; because it is not considered that 
all public theatres constructed with wood have many surfaces, which act as sounding- 
