MERGE TO GYRENE. 
523 
we have first mentioned ajjpears to have been, there are five 
passages (or vomitoria), by which the spectators entered, and two 
communicating with some place beneath the front of the stage which 
are so much blocked up with rubbish, occasioned chiefly by the fall 
of the roof, that we could not explore them to the end. These 
passages descend very abruptly towards the centre, and appear to 
communicate with the same point, or with each other ; they have 
been arched with blocks of stone, ranged longitudinally, and are of 
very good construction. We were able to go down tliirty-two feet 
in one of them, after some little trouble in clearing the entrance ; but 
the impediments which then presented themselves were too serious 
for our time and resources. A casual observer would not have been 
aware that there were any passages in this theatre by which the 
spectators entered, so much w^as the whole building covered with 
soil and vegetation ; and it was only on close examination, that some 
appearance of the arched roofs which covered them was discernable ; 
and we determined upon excavating in the same line below. 
It soon appeared, that passages really existed ; and we succeeded 
in clearing one of them sufficiently to determine the fact beyond 
dispute. W e found that the roofs descended with the seats, some 
of which they probably supported, but the floors appear to have 
been level ; or, at least, the inclination is so slight (if there be 
any) as not to be ascertained by the eye. In the course of this 
excavation we found that some of the rows of seats w'ere hollow ; and 
were in hopes of discovering a further confirmation of the circum- 
stance mentioned by Vitruvius, that the Greeks were in the habit 
3X2 
