protests from writers such as Philostratus and Dion Chrysostom.[565] CHAPTER IV THE SCENERY § 1. _General Character of the Scenery._ In the production of a play the chief objects on which care and money were bestowed were the training of the chorus, the payment of the actors, and the supply of suitable dresses. The scenery was never made a prominent feature of the exhibition. All that was required was an appropriate background to show off to advantage the figures of the performers. The simplicity in the character of the ancient scenery was a necessary result of the peculiar construction of the stage. The Attic stage, though from sixty to seventy feet long, was apparently never more than about fifteen feet in depth, and was still further contracted in after times. On a long and narrow platform of this kind, any representation of the interior of a building would be out of the question. All those elaborate spectacular illusions, which are rendered practicable by the great depth of the modern stage, were impossible. Nothing more was required than to cover over the wall at the back with a suitable view. Again, not only were the mechanical arrangements simple, but the number of scenes in use upon the Attic stage was very limited. Not only was a change of scene in the course of the same play practically unknown, but there was often very little difference between one play and another as regards the character of the scenery required. Each of the three great branches of the drama had a background of a conventional type, specially appropriated to itself, and this typical background was the one usually adopted. When therefore a series of tragedies was being exhibited, or a series of comedies, it must often have happened that the same scenery would do duty for several plays in succession.