. The story of Verona . enience in the construction of a theatre being oftenresorted to in days of old. Nor was the hill at theback the only natural adjunct to the theatre. Theriver was also turned on to aid in whatever sceneryrequired water effects, and above all for the navaldisplays that formed a part in the representations whichwere given in the theatre. The excavations made herein 1836 by Cav. Andrea Monga have brought to lightalmost all that remains of this ruin, and revealed whathas so far escaped the destroying hand of Time. Thereis not however a great deal to be seen, for one thingaft
. The story of Verona . enience in the construction of a theatre being oftenresorted to in days of old. Nor was the hill at theback the only natural adjunct to the theatre. Theriver was also turned on to aid in whatever sceneryrequired water effects, and above all for the navaldisplays that formed a part in the representations whichwere given in the theatre. The excavations made herein 1836 by Cav. Andrea Monga have brought to lightalmost all that remains of this ruin, and revealed whathas so far escaped the destroying hand of Time. Thereis not however a great deal to be seen, for one thingafter another has combined to wreck this archjEologicalrelic. An earthquake in the year 793 damaged it toa great extent; and rather more than a century latertradition says that Berengarius I., under the impressionthat its stability was of so insecure a nature as tothreaten every habitation in its neighbourhood, issued adecree that anyone who chose might demolish it andcarry away the materials to use as they saw fit. How238. CaOiK STALL OF INTARSIO WOUK. iN S. MARIA 239 Colle di San Pietro many a building in Verona may not have been enrichedwith stones, or capitals, or columns from this mightyruin ! It is interesting to see among the recent excava-tions some of the seats where the spectators once sat inrows, together with what is said to have been the boxwith the name over its entrance of a private family, andpart of the stage, and to wander among the ruins ofwhat must certainly have been one of the finest theatresof antiquity. At no distance from the Teatro Antico rises thelittle church of SS. Siro and Libera, built over apart of the theatre, and deriving a legendary interestfrom the tradition that Christianity was introduced intoVerona by S. Siro, and that the first time mass wasever celebrated in the town it was celebrated by thesaint in the church now dedicated to him and toSta. Libera. The ground around and about here is replete withassociations of Roman and Gothic times, and
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