Here the mass of the
hill affronts you, which the ingenious Romans treated simply as the
material of their auditorium. They inserted their stone seats, in a
semicircle, in the slope of the hill, and planted their colossal wall
opposite to it. This wall, from the inside, is, if possible, even more
imposing. It formed the back of the stage, the permanent scene, and its
enormous face was coated with marble. It contains three doors, the middle
one being the highest, and having above it, far aloft, a deep niche,
apparently intended for an imperial statue. A few of the benches remain on
the hillside, which, however, is mainly a confusion of fragments. There is
part of a corridor built into the hill, high up, and on the crest are the
remnants of the demolished castle.
The whole place is a kind of wilderness of ruin; there are scarcely any
details; the great feature is the overtopping wall. This wall being the
back of the scene, the space left between it and the chord of the
semicircle (of the auditorium) which formed the proscenium is rather less
than one would have supposed.
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