116 PELOPONNESUS. 
CHAP, acquisition. Indeed, we know that, upon some 
occasions, temporary sheds and large awnings 
were erected for the convenience of the spectators. 
Every provision of this kind was doubly neces- 
sary in the Hieron; by its nature sultry, owing 
to its surrounding mountains, and rilled with 
inhabitants selected from all the invalids of 
Greece, the feeble, the enervated, the effemi- 
nated votaries of the God, vainly seeking in 
these retreats a renovation of exhausted nature; 
or aged and infirm persons, anxiously looking 
for some gleam of cheerfulness, wherewith to 
gladden the termination of a career that knew 
no hope beyond the grave. It is evident that 
the disposition of this popular place of amuse^ 
ment was arranged with luxury as well as 
convenience; for, in addition to the shade it 
offered, the salutary waters of the HIEROX 
flowed in the deep bed of a torrent immediately 
beneath its front 1 . With regard to the theatre 
itself, the Scene, or, as it has been sometimes 
improperly called, the Proscenion*, has totally 
(1) It is impossible to multiply the number of engravings so often 
s the insufficiency of a written description renders their aid requisite; 
but the Reailer is particularly referred to a view of this Theatre, of 
the torrent's course, which is now dry, and of the whole Hieron, as 
engraved from a drawing made upon the spot by Sir ff. Cell. Se 
Itinerary of Greece, Plate 22. />.104. Land. 1810. 
(2) This njime applies only to the Stage of a Creek Theatre. 
