the same straight line, but if continued inwards would meet in an obtuse angle in the orchestra. This arrangement was the one generally adopted by the Greeks. [Illustration: FIG. 3. GROUND-PLAN OF THEATRE AT ATHENS.] The above description, together with the plan, will give a fair idea of the general outline of the auditorium. If we compare it with the theatre of Epidaurus (Fig. 6), which was built at the end of the fourth century, and designed on one harmonious plan, we shall perceive at once the great inferiority of the Athenian theatre in point of grace and symmetry of outline. In most Greek theatres the auditorium was of the same width from one end to the other, and was shaped in a symmetrical curve. In the theatre at Athens the two wings of the auditorium are narrowed so considerably towards the south as to be less than half the depth of the central part. The outside boundary does not run in a regular curve, but is very much flattened where it encounters the rock of the Acropolis, and terminates in a straight line at each of the southern corners. But the strangest point of all is that the eastern wing, at its termination, is several yards wider than the western wing—an arrangement utterly destructive of symmetry of design. The theatre at Athens was built for use rather than for show. Its shape was determined by the conformation of the ground and by the situation of the adjoining rocks. Although, therefore, it is the most interesting of Greek theatres on account of its historical associations, in point of mere beauty it cannot take the highest rank.