./data/phi0134/phi002/phi0134.phi002.perseus-lat2.xml
' It is clear that the opening scene of the play is laid at evening, when     Menedemus is just finishing his day's work  The Third Act commences with the     following morning, and in the interval the supper at Chremes' house takes place      This in itself, though an exception to the general arrangement of Terence's plays,     is not a very important matter  The theory of the 'Unities' is not to be received     as an absolute law for the Drama: and there is nothing in this case which is not     abundantly justified by many other instances  Upon this point turns a theory which     was first mooted by Scaliger, and afterwards maintained by Madame Dacier,—that     this play was acted in two portions: the first two Acts at night, after sunset;     and the three remaining Acts the next morning at break of day; the interval     between the two parts being taken up with the supper at Chremes' house  This idea     proceeds entirely upon the supposed necessity of filling up the interval between     the Second and Third Acts; and is, as far as we are informed, entirely gratuitous      Colman has shown the absurdity of the idea very well in his remarks on this     subiect  Any one who considers that the Roman Drama was performed in the open air,     will at once see the improbability of such a mode of representation  The Roman     Amphitheatre was at any time a disadvantageous arena for the Drama  What must have     been the success of a play, acted partly at night-fall, partly before breakfast     next morning? Nothing but a devotion to the 'Unities' could have led to such an     idea; and it will be dismissed without any further discussion, now that a more     artistic idea of Dramatic Unity is generally recognized