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��Arria Marcella.
��Octavio was placed near the prosceni- um. All eyes were turned towards him with a wondering curiosity, and a wave of audible laughter passed over the house.
The play had not yet commenced. Octavio looked around him. The semi- circular rows of seats ended on each side by a magnificent lion's paw sculp- tured from Vesuvian lava; in front of this was an open space corresponding to our parterre, and paved with mosaics of Greek marble ; a longer row of seats extended in the rear; and four stair- ways, corresponding to the entrances, ascended to the highest seats, dividing them into four sections. The specta- tors were furnished with programmes made of little leaves of ivory, and bear- ing the title of the piece, the name of the author, and each having the num- ber and position of the seat which the holder was to occupy upon it. The judges, nobles, married men, young men, soldiers (whose casques of bronze glittered in the light), occupied sepa- rate rows.
It was a beautiful sight to see those elegant togas and fine mantles filling the first rows, and contrasting with the varied costumes of the women ranged behind, and the gray capes of the common people sitting in the back rows, near the columns which supported the roof, and through which the in- tensely blue heaven could be seen. A fine mist of perfumed water fell from the frieze in imperceptible drops, and perfumed the air which it refreshed. Octavio thought of the hot, ill-smelling interiors of our theatres, so uncom- fortable that they become places of torture ; and it occurred to him that civilization had not progressed much.
The curtain, sustained by a transverse beam, was lost in the depths of the
��orchestra. The musicians came into their stalls ; and the " prologue " ap- jjeared, grotesquely clothed, and with his head covered by an immense mask.
After having saluted the audience, he began a ridiculous argumentation. " The old pieces," said he, " were like wine which grew better with years ; and ' Casina,' dear to the old ones, ought not to be less so to the young. All could take pleasure in it, — the old because they knew it, and the young because they did not know it. The piece had been, moreover, put on with care ; and one must listen with a soul free from all anxiety, without thinking of one's debts nor of one's creditors, for .they cannot arrest at the theatre. This was to be a happy day, and the halcyons hovered over the theatre." Then he gave an analysis of the play which they were about to give, with a detail which proved that surprise did not enter into the Roman idea of enjoyment at the theatre. He told how the old Stalino, in love with his beautiful slave Casina, wishes to marry her to his farmer, Omlympio, a weak man, whom he will replace on the wedding night ; and how Lycostra, the wife of Stalino, in order to prevent the luxury of her vi- cious husband, wants to unite Casina to the riding-master, Chalinus, with the idea of favoring the love of her sons ; and the manner in which Stalino, mystified, takes a young slave disguised for Casina, who marries the young rid- ing-master, whom she loves, and by whom she is beloved.
The young Frenchman looked dis- tractedly at the actors, with their masks with bronze mouths. The slaves ran here and there, to represent haste ; the old wagged their heads, and held out their trembling hands ; the matrons, with high voices and disdainful airs,
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