Orestes, and Pylades are seen standing upon the roof of the palace. Examples also occur in comedy. In the Acharnians the wife of Dicaeopolis views the procession from the roof of the house. At the commencement of the Wasps Bdelycleon is seen sleeping upon the roof, and later on his father Philocleon tries to escape through the chimney. At the end of the Clouds Strepsiades climbs up a ladder to the roof of the phrontisterion, in order to set it on fire. In the Lysistrata Myrrhina and Lysistrata are seen upon the battlements of the Acropolis. The distegia may also have been used in that scene of the Supplices where Evadne appears upon the summit of a cliff, and then flings herself down.[586] In all these cases it used to be imagined that the standing-room for the actor was provided in the way described; that the lower part of the scene projected two or three feet, and so furnished a permanent platform in the background. But this theory is improbable on several grounds. We have seen that the distegia was only employed in comparatively few instances. It seems unlikely, therefore, that an elaborate structure of this kind should have been erected merely to meet these occasional requirements. Further than this, if the scene had been divided in half by a horizontal line, and the lower half had protruded several feet, this arrangement, though suitable enough when the background was a palace, would have been absurdly inappropriate when a country district was to be represented. It is also questionable whether the ancient stage was wide enough to permit the arrangement. If may have been possible in early times; but the Vitruvian stage, which was only ten feet across, can hardly have been encroached upon to the extent of two or three feet. It is far more probable that the back-scene was flat from top to bottom. This supposition is more in harmony with the simple style of the ancient scenery. As for the distegia, it was provided most likely by a projecting balcony or upper story, which might be introduced when required, without encroaching upon the narrow stage. Such balconies were not uncommon in Greek and Roman houses.[587] And that they were used in the theatre is expressly stated by Vitruvius, who tells us that the houses in comedy were of the type called ‘Maeniana’, or houses with projecting galleries.[588] In ordinary cases the distegia would resemble a structure of this kind. But where the surroundings were exceptional, as in the Lysistrata, it might easily be decorated in such a way as to conform to the rest of the scenery.