In connexion with this subject a difficulty has been raised by some scholars which deserves consideration. It is generally admitted that the Vitruvian stage was well adapted for the later kind of drama. But from the fourth century down to Roman times the theatre was used quite as much for the revival of old plays as for the representation of new ones. It is contended that the ancient plays, with their intimate connexion between actors and chorus, could not possibly have been exhibited on a stage which was raised twelve feet above the level of the orchestra. In answer to this objection it may be pointed out that the only ancient plays which were ever revived during the period with which we are now dealing were those of Sophocles and Euripides. Aeschylus and Aristophanes had gone out of fashion. The plays of Sophocles and Euripides could easily have been adapted for the Vitruvian stage by excisions and modifications in the choral part. If the chorus, as sometimes happened, took an important share in the dialogue, its part on such occasions might be given to extra characters on the stage. That the old plays were revised and adapted in this manner at a later period is proved by the express testimony of Dion Chrysostomus,[430] and there is no improbability in assuming that the same practice had begun to prevail as early as the third century B.C. It might, however, sometimes be necessary, during the revival of the ancient dramas, to provide a means of communication between stage and orchestra. In such cases temporary wooden steps were placed in front of the proscenium. There is ample evidence for the use of this contrivance. Pollux tells us that when the players entered by the orchestra they ascended the stage by means of steps.[431] Athenaeus, the writer on military engines, speaks of the steps which were placed in front of the stage for the use of the actors.[432] Steps of this kind are depicted in several vase-paintings from Magna Graecia, belonging to the third century B.C., and representing theatrical scenes.[433] There is also a wall-painting at Herculaneum, which shows us one of these flights of steps standing by itself, with an actor’s mask at the top.[434] From these indications we see that, although there was no permanent means of communication between stage and orchestra in the Hellenistic theatres, a temporary connexion could always be supplied when necessary. § 9. _Puchstein’s Theory of the Stage-buildings._