0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

3 ANCIENT TIMES.
lilt in a fertile region on mountains or hills in the
cinity of forests and woods which protected them from
jurious winds and evil epidemic influences and by the
de of streams and springs yielding a fresh, sweet-tasting
ater.* Some had salubrious thermal and mineral springs
great celebrity for the cure of disorders. These
mples of health were surrounded by pleasant well
ired-for gardens, in which fresh water was continually
wing, and contained in their interior statues, frescoes,
id votive offerings of all sorts. By the side of statues of
SKLEPIOS and other deities were memorial tablets keep-
g alive the fame of celebrated doctors as favourites of the
)ds.f
Stringent rules provided that these sanctuaries should be
ipt clean and free from anything which might endanger
eir sanitary condition. On the gate of the temple at
Didauros were inscribed these words : " Whoso desires to
iter here, must possess a pure spirit."J There, as strictly
in Delos, it was forbidden that a birth a burial or a
emation should take place in the precincts of the temple.
/en if a patient died there the sanctuary was held to be
filed. The persons who sought relief were compelled to
•serve scrupulous cleanliness, to bathe in the stream, in
e sea, or at the fountain, and to fast and abstain from wine
certain number of days before venturing to approach the
mple or to make prayers or offerings to the deity.
veet-smelling vapours which arose from the fumigations
ed the air, and the song of priests extolling the might
d power of the god of healing entranced the soul. Con-
rsation with fellow-sufferers whom the patients met in
2 halls of the temple, and the sight of the numerous
tive tablets and inscriptions telling of happy restora-
ns to health which had occurred in the place, imparted
nfidence and hope. Willingly did they therefore submit
* PAUSANIAS iii, 24. viii, 32. VITRUV. : dearchit. i, c. 2.
+ ANAGNOSTAKIS in the Bull, de corn hellen: i, p. 212, pi. ix.
J CLEMENS ALEXAND. : Stromat. v, c. i, 13.