DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0143
chap, xxxviii.] THE ANCIENT THEATRE. 127
if they take up with such haunts; no way akin to the
frolicsome, mischief-loving sprites, "the moonshine revellers"
of merry England—
" Oh these be Fancy's revellers by night!
These be the pretty genii of the flowers—
Daintily fed with honey and pure dew—
Midsummer's phantoms in her dreaming hours !"
Such dark, dank, dripping, dismal " dens" as these would
freeze the heart of a Mab or a Titania.
This Theatre was long thought to be of Etruscan origin;
but more extensive research into what may be called the
comparative anatomy of antiquities, has determined it to
be Roman.7
Near the Theatre is a half-buried arch, similar to that
outside the walls, but of smaller span. It leads into a
vault of opus incertum; and a little above is a second
similar vault. Near the Theatre also are a few large
rectangular stones beneath the surface, which have received
7 Niebuhr, however, has thrown the is in the grandest Etruscan style."
weight of his great name into the oppo- Miiller also thinks it was " probably of
site scale, and has said, "That this old Etruscan construction" (II. p. 241).
theatre was built before the time of Inferior men, it may be, but better anti-
Sylla is indubitable; its size and mag- quaries, have decided, however, to the
nificence are far beyond the scale of a contrary. Indeed these great men lose
Roman military colony ; and how could much of their authority when they treat
such a colony have wished for anything of matters within the province rather of
but an amphitheatre %" (I. p. 135, the practical antiquary than of the his-
Eng. trans.) It may be remarked that torian. Their want of personal ac-
Faesulse must have fallen under Roman quaintance with localities and monu-
domination with the rest of Etruria two ments, or of opportunities of extensive
centuries before Sylla's time ; and that comparison of styles of construction and
other towns of Etruria which received of art, leads them at times into mis-
military colonies, such as Veii, Falerii, statements of facts, or to erroneous
and Luna, had theatres, as we learn from opinions, which, under more favourable
local remains or from inscriptions, even circumstances, they would never have
where, as in the first two cases, we can uttered, or with the candour of great
find no vestiges or record of amphi- minds, they would have been most ready
theatres. Niebuhr elsewhere (III. p. to renounce.
311) asserts that " the theatre of Fsesulse
if they take up with such haunts; no way akin to the
frolicsome, mischief-loving sprites, "the moonshine revellers"
of merry England—
" Oh these be Fancy's revellers by night!
These be the pretty genii of the flowers—
Daintily fed with honey and pure dew—
Midsummer's phantoms in her dreaming hours !"
Such dark, dank, dripping, dismal " dens" as these would
freeze the heart of a Mab or a Titania.
This Theatre was long thought to be of Etruscan origin;
but more extensive research into what may be called the
comparative anatomy of antiquities, has determined it to
be Roman.7
Near the Theatre is a half-buried arch, similar to that
outside the walls, but of smaller span. It leads into a
vault of opus incertum; and a little above is a second
similar vault. Near the Theatre also are a few large
rectangular stones beneath the surface, which have received
7 Niebuhr, however, has thrown the is in the grandest Etruscan style."
weight of his great name into the oppo- Miiller also thinks it was " probably of
site scale, and has said, "That this old Etruscan construction" (II. p. 241).
theatre was built before the time of Inferior men, it may be, but better anti-
Sylla is indubitable; its size and mag- quaries, have decided, however, to the
nificence are far beyond the scale of a contrary. Indeed these great men lose
Roman military colony ; and how could much of their authority when they treat
such a colony have wished for anything of matters within the province rather of
but an amphitheatre %" (I. p. 135, the practical antiquary than of the his-
Eng. trans.) It may be remarked that torian. Their want of personal ac-
Faesulse must have fallen under Roman quaintance with localities and monu-
domination with the rest of Etruria two ments, or of opportunities of extensive
centuries before Sylla's time ; and that comparison of styles of construction and
other towns of Etruria which received of art, leads them at times into mis-
military colonies, such as Veii, Falerii, statements of facts, or to erroneous
and Luna, had theatres, as we learn from opinions, which, under more favourable
local remains or from inscriptions, even circumstances, they would never have
where, as in the first two cases, we can uttered, or with the candour of great
find no vestiges or record of amphi- minds, they would have been most ready
theatres. Niebuhr elsewhere (III. p. to renounce.
311) asserts that " the theatre of Fsesulse