FIG. 3.—THE SHRINE OF BACCHUS. SECTION SHOWING
THE PROPELLING MECHANISM.
As such representations were often given on the stages of large theaters, a method was devised later on of causing the case to start from the scenes behind which it was hidden from the spectators, and of moving automatically to the front of the stage, where it exhibited in succession the different tableaux, after which it returned automatically behind the scenes. Here is one of the scenes indicated by Heron, entitled the “Triumph of Bacchus”:
The movable case shows at its upper part a platform from which arises a cylindrical temple, the roof of which, supported by six columns, is conical, and surmounted by a figure of Victory with spread wings and holding a crown in her right hand. In the center of the temple Bacchus is seen standing, holding a thyrsus in his left hand and a cup in his right. At his feet lies a panther. In front of and behind the god, on the platform of the stage, are two altars provided with combustible material. Very near the columns, but external to them, there are Bacchantes placed in any posture that may be desired. All being thus prepared, says Heron, the automatic apparatus is set in motion. The theater then moves of itself to the spot selected, and there stops. Then the altar in front of Jupiter becomes lighted, and, at the same time, milk and water spurt from his thyrsus, while his cup pours wine over the panther. The four faces of the base become encircled with crowns, and, to the noise of drums and cymbals, the Bacchantes dance round about the temple. Soon, the noise having ceased, Victory on the top of the temple, and Bacchus within it, face about. The altar that was behind the god is now in front of him, and becomes lighted in its turn. Then occurs another outflow from the thyrsus and cup, and another round of the Bacchantes to the sound of drums and cymbals. The dance being finished, the theater returns to its former station. Thus ends the apotheosis.
FIG. 4.
We shall try to briefly indicate the processes which permitted of these different operations being performed, and which offer a much more general interest than one might at first sight be led to believe; for almost all of them had been employed in former times for producing the illusions to which ancient religions owed their power.
There is a general belief among mechanicians that vehicles containing within themselves the means of their own propulsion are of comparatively recent origin; and the fact of the adhesion of the rims of their wheels to the earth or a supporting rail being sufficient to enable adequate power applied to the wheels to move the vehicle was a discovery of not earlier than the middle of the last century; but in this instance the writers on locomotive machines have not dived deep enough or stayed down long enough among the records of antiquity to discover the bottom facts in the history of such mechanisms.