Chapter 13

9. And of the union of flutes with the lyre (for that concert has often been a great delight to us ourselves), Ephippus, in his Traffic, speaks as follows:—

Clearly, O youth, the music of the flute,And that which from the lyre comes, does suitWell with our pastimes; for when each resoundIn unison with the feelings of those present,Then is the greatest pleasure felt by all.

Clearly, O youth, the music of the flute,

And that which from the lyre comes, does suit

Well with our pastimes; for when each resound

In unison with the feelings of those present,

Then is the greatest pleasure felt by all.

And the exact meaning of the word συναυλία is shown by Semus the Delian, in the fifth book of his Delias, where he writes—"But as the term 'concert' (συναυλία) is not understood by many people, we must speak of it. It is when there is a union of the flute and of rhythm in alternation, without any words accompanying the melody." And Antiphanes explains it very neatly in his Flute-player, where he says—

Tell me, I pray you, what this concert (ἡ συναυλία αὕτη) wasWhich he did give you. For you know; but theyHaving well learnt, still played[66]. . . .* * * * *A concert of sweet sounds, apart from words,Is pleasant, and not destitute of meaning.

Tell me, I pray you, what this concert (ἡ συναυλία αὕτη) was

Which he did give you. For you know; but they

Having well learnt, still played[66]. . . .* * * * *

. . . .

A concert of sweet sounds, apart from words,

Is pleasant, and not destitute of meaning.

But the poets frequently call the flute "the Libyan flute," as Duris remarks in the second book of his History of Agathocles, because Seirites, who appears to have been the first inventor of the art of flute-playing, was a Libyan, of one of the Nomad tribes; and he was the first person who played airs on the flute in the festival of Cybele. And the different kinds of airs which can be played on the flute (as Tryphon tells us in the second book of his treatise on Names) have the following names:—the Comus, the Bucoliasmus, the Gingras, the Tetracomus, the Epiphallus, the Choreus, the Callinicus, the Martial, the Hedycomus, the Sicynnotyrbe, the Thyrocopicum, which is the same as the Crousithyrum (or Door-knocker), the Cnismus, the Mothon. And all these airs on the flute, when played, were accompanied with dancing.

10. Tryphon also gives a list of the different names of songs, as follows. He says—"There is the Himæus, which is also called the Millstone song, which men used to sing while grinding corn, perhaps from the word ἱμαλίς. But ἱμαλὶς is a Dorian word, signifying a return, and also the quantity of corn which the millers gave into the bargain. Then there is the Elinus, which is the song of the men who worked at the loom; as Epicharmus shows us in his Atalantas. There is also the Ioulos, sung by the women who spin. And Semus the Delian, in his treatise on Pæans, says—"They used to call the handfuls of barley taken separately, ἀμάλαι; but when they were collected so that a great many were made into one sheaf, then they were called οὔλοι and ἴουλοι. And Ceres herself was called sometimes Chloe, and sometimes Ioulo; and, as being the inventions of this goddess, both the fruits of the ground and also the songs addressed to the goddess were called οὖλοι and ἴουλοι: and so, too, we have the words δημήτρουλοι and καλλίουλοι, and the line—

πλεῖστον οὖλον οὖλον ἵει, ἴουλον ἵει.

SONGS.

But others say that the Ioulis is the song of the workers inwool. There are also the songs of nurses, which are called καταβαυκαλήσεις. There was also a song used at the feast of Swings,[67]in honour of Erigone, which is called Aletis. At all events, Aristotle says, in his treatise on the Constitution of the Colophonians—"Theodoras also himself died afterwards by a violent death. And he is said to have been a very luxurious man, as is evident from his poetry; for even now the women sing his songs on the festival of the Swing."

There was also a reaper's song called Lityerses; and another song sung by hired servants when going to the fields, as Teleclides tells us in his Amphictyons. There were songs, too, of bathing men, as we learn from Crates in his Deeds of Daring; and a song of women baking, as Aristophanes intimates in his Thesmophoriazusæ, and Nicochares in his Hercules Choregus. And another song in use among those who drove herds, and this was called the Bucoliasmus. And the man who first invented this species of song was Diomus, a Sicilian cowherd; and it is mentioned by Epicharmus in his Halcyon, and in his Ulysses Shipwrecked. The song used at deaths and in mourning is called Olophyrmus; and the songs called Iouli are used in honour of Ceres and Proserpine. The song sung in honour of Apollo is called Philhelias, as we learn from Telesilla; and those addressed to Diana are called Upingi.

There were also laws composed by Charondas, which were sung at Athens at drinking parties; as Hermippus tells us in the sixth book of his treatise on Lawgivers. And Aristophanes, in his catalogue of Attic Expressions, says—"The Himæus is the song of people grinding; the Hymenæus is the song used at marriage-feasts; and that employed in lamentation is called Ialemus. But the Linus and the Ælinus are not confined to occasions of mourning, but are in use also in good fortune, as we may gather from Euripides."

11. But Clearchus, in the first book of his treatise on matters relating to Love, says that there was a kind of song called Nomium, derived from Eriphanis; and his words are these:—"Eriphanis was a lyric poetess, the mistress of Menalcas the hunter; and she, pursuing him with her passions, hunted too. For often frequenting the mountains,and wandering over them, she came to the different groves, equalling in her wanderings the celebrated journeys of Io; so that not only those men who were most remarkable for their deficiency in the tender passion, but even the fiercest beasts, joined in weeping for her misfortunes, perceiving the lengths to which her passionate hopes carried her. Therefore she wrote poems; and when she had composed them, as it is said, she roamed about the desert, shouting and singing the kind of song called Nomium, in which the burden of the song is—

The lofty oaks, Menalcas."

And Aristoxenus, in the fourth book of his treatise on Music, says—"Anciently the women used to sing a kind of song called Calyca. Now, this was a poem of Stesichorus, in which a damsel of the name of Calyca, being in love with a young man named Euathlus, prays in a modest manner to Venus to aid her in becoming his wife. But when the young man scorned her, she threw herself down a precipice. And this disaster took place near Leucas. And the poet has represented the disposition of the maiden as very modest; so that she was not willing to live with the youth on his own terms, but prayed that, if possible, she might become the wedded wife of Euathlus; and if that were not possible, that she might be released from life." But, in his Brief Memoranda, Aristoxenus says—"Iphiclus despised Harpalyce, who was in love with him; but she died, and there has been a contest established among the virgins of songs in her honour, and the contest is called from her, Harpalyce." And Nymphis, in the first book of his History of Heraclea, speaking of the Maryandyni, says—"And in the same way it is well to notice some songs which, in compliance with a national custom, they sing, in which they invoke some ancient person, whom they address as Bormus. And they say that he was the son of an illustrious and wealthy man, and that he was far superior to all his fellows in beauty and in the vigour of youth; and as he was superintending the cultivation of some of his own lands, and wishing to give his reapers something to drink, he went to fetch some water, and disappeared. Accordingly, they say that on this the natives of the country sought him with a kind of dirge and invocation set to music, which even to this day they are in the habit of using frequently. And asimilar kind of song is that which is in use among the Egyptians, and is called Maneros."

RHAPSODISTS.

12. Moreover, there were rhapsodists also present at our entertainments: for Laurentius delighted in the reciters of Homer to an extraordinary degree; so that one might call Cassander the king of Macedonia a trifler in comparison of him; concerning whom Carystius, in his Historic Recollections, tells us that he was so devoted to Homer, that he could say the greater part of his poems by heart; and he had a copy of the Iliad and the Odyssey written out with his own hand. And that these reciters of Homer were called Homeristæ also, Aristocles has told us in his treatise on Choruses. But those who are now called Homeristæ were first introduced on the stage by Demetrius Phalereus.

Now Chamæleon, in his essay on Stesichorus, says that not only the poems of Homer, but those also of Hesiod and Archilochus, and also of Mimnermus and Phocylides, were often recited to the accompaniment of music; and Clearchus, in the first book of his treatise on Pictures, says—"Simonides of Zacynthus used to sit in the theatres on a lofty chair reciting the verses of Archilochus." And Lysanias, in the first book of his treatise on Iambic Poets, says that Mnasion the rhapsodist used in his public recitations to deliver some of the Iambics of Simonides. And Cleomenes the rhapsodist, at the Olympic games, recited the Purification of Empedocles, as is asserted by Dicæarchus in his history of Olympia. And Jason, in the third book of his treatise on the Temples of Alexander, says that Hegesias, the comic actor, recited the works of Herodotus in the great theatre, and that Hermophantus recited the poems of Homer.

13. And the men called Hilarodists (whom some people at the present day call Simodists, as Aristocles tells us in his first book on Choruses, because Simus the Magnesian was the most celebrated of all the poets of joyous songs,) frequently come under our notice. And Aristocles also gives a regular list of them in his treatise on Music, where he speaks in the following manner:—"The Magodist—but he is the same as the Lysiodist." But Aristoxenus says that Magodus is the name given to an actor who acts both male and female characters;[68]but that he who acts a woman's part in combination with a man's is called a Lysiodist. And they both sing the same songs, and in other respects they are similar.

The Ionic dialect also supplies us with poems of Sotades, and with what before his time were called Ionic poems, such as those of Alexander the Ætolian, and Pyres the Milesian, and Alexas, and other poets of the same kind; and Sotades is called κιναιδόλογος. And Sotades the Maronite was very notorious for this kind of poetry, as Carystius of Pergamus says in his essay on Sotades; and so was the son of Sotades, Apollonius: and this latter also wrote an essay on his father's poetry, from which one may easily see the unbridled licence of language which Sotades allowed himself,—abusing Lysimachus the king in Alexandria,—and, when at the court of Lysimachus, abusing Ptolemy Philadelphus,—and in different cities speaking ill of different sovereigns; on which account, at last, he met with the punishment that he deserved: for when he had sailed from Alexandria (as Hegesander, in his Reminiscences, relates), and thought that he had escaped all danger, (for he had said many bitter things against Ptolemy the king, and especially this, after he had heard that he had married his sister Arsinoe,—

He pierced forbidden fruit with deadly sting,)

Patrocles, the general of Ptolemy, caught him in the island of Caunus, and shut him up in a leaden vessel, and carried him into the open sea and drowned him. And his poetry is of this kind: Philenus was the father of Theodorus the flute-player, on whom he wrote these lines:—

And he, opening the door which leads from the back-street,Sent forth vain thunder from a leafy cave,Such as a mighty ploughing ox might utter.

And he, opening the door which leads from the back-street,

Sent forth vain thunder from a leafy cave,

Such as a mighty ploughing ox might utter.

MAGODI.

14. But the Hilarodus, as he is called, is a more respectable kind of poet than these men are; for he is never effeminate or indecorous, but he wears a white manly robe, and he is crowned with a golden crown: and in former times he used to wear sandals, as Aristocles tells us; but at the present day he wears only slippers. And some man or woman sings an accompaniment to him, as to a person who sings to the flute. And a crown is given to a Hilarodus, as well as to a person who sings to the flute; but such honours are not allowed to a player on the harp or on the flute. But the man who is called a Magodus has drums and cymbals, and wears all kindsof woman's attire; and he behaves in an effeminate manner, and does every sort of indecorous, indecent thing,—imitating at one time a woman, at another an adulterer or a pimp: or sometimes he represents a drunken man, or even a serenade offered by a reveller to his mistress. And Aristoxenus says that the business of singing joyous songs is a respectable one, and somewhat akin to tragedy; but that the business of a Magodus is more like comedy. And very often it happens that the Magodi, taking the argument of some comedy, represent it according to their own fashion and manner. And the word μαγῳδία was derived from the fact that those who addicted themselves to the practice, uttered things like magical incantations, and often declared the power of various drugs.

15. But there was among the Lacedæmonians an ancient kind of comic diversion, as Sosibius says, not very important or serious, since Sparta aimed at plainness even in pastimes. And the way was, that some one, using very plain, unadorned language, imitated persons stealing fruit, or else some foreign physician speaking in this way, as Alexis, in his Woman who has taken Mandragora, represents one: and he says—

If any surgeon of the country says,"Give him at early dawn a platter fullOf barley-broth," we shall at once despise him;But if he says the same with foreign accent,We marvel and admire him. If he callThe beet-root σεύτλιον, we disregard him;But if he style it τεύτλιον, we listen,And straightway, with attention fix'd, obey;As if there were such difference betweenσεύτλιον and τεύτλιον.

If any surgeon of the country says,

"Give him at early dawn a platter full

Of barley-broth," we shall at once despise him;

But if he says the same with foreign accent,

We marvel and admire him. If he call

The beet-root σεύτλιον, we disregard him;

But if he style it τεύτλιον, we listen,

And straightway, with attention fix'd, obey;

As if there were such difference between

σεύτλιον and τεύτλιον.

And those who practised this kind of sport were called among the Lacedæmonians δικηλισταὶ, which is a term equivalent to σκευοποιοὶ or μιμηταί.[69]There are, however, many names, varying in different places, for this class of δικηλισταί; for the Sicyonians call them φαλλοφόροι, and others call them αὐτοκάβδαλοι, and some call them φλύακες, as the Italians do; but people in general call them Sophists: and the Thebans, who are very much in the habit of giving peculiar names to many things, call them ἐθελονταί. But that the Thebans do introduce all kinds of innovations with respect to words, Strattis shows us in the Phœnissæ, where he says—

You, you whole body of Theban citizens,Know absolutely nothing; for I hearYou call the cuttle-fish not σηπία,But ὀπισθότιλα. Then, too, you termA cock not ἀλεκτρύων, but ὀρτάλιχος:A physician is no longer in your mouthsἰατρὺς—no, but σακτάς. For a bridge,You turn γέφυρα into βλέφυρα.Figs are not σῦκα now, but τῦκα : swallows,κωτιλάδες, not χελιδόνες. A mouthfulWith you is ἄκολος; to laugh, ἐκριδδέμεν.A new-soled shoe you call νεοσπάτωτον.

You, you whole body of Theban citizens,

Know absolutely nothing; for I hear

You call the cuttle-fish not σηπία,

But ὀπισθότιλα. Then, too, you term

A cock not ἀλεκτρύων, but ὀρτάλιχος:

A physician is no longer in your mouths

ἰατρὺς—no, but σακτάς. For a bridge,

You turn γέφυρα into βλέφυρα.

Figs are not σῦκα now, but τῦκα : swallows,

κωτιλάδες, not χελιδόνες. A mouthful

With you is ἄκολος; to laugh, ἐκριδδέμεν.

A new-soled shoe you call νεοσπάτωτον.

16. Semos the Delian says in his book about Pæans—"The men who were called αὑτοκάβδαλοι used to wear crowns of ivy, and they would go through long poems slowly. But at a later time both they and their poems were called Iambics. And those," he proceeds, "who are called Ithyphalli, wear a mask representing the face of a drunken man, and wear crowns, having gloves embroidered with flowers. And they wear tunics shot with white; and they wear a Tarentine robe, which covers them down to their ancles: and they enter at the stage entrance silently, and when they have reached the middle of the orchestra, they turn towards the spectators, and say—

Out of the way; a clear space leaveFor the great mighty god:For the god, to his ancles clad,Will pass along the centre of the crowd.

Out of the way; a clear space leave

For the great mighty god:

For the god, to his ancles clad,

Will pass along the centre of the crowd.

And the Phallophori," says he, "wear no masks; but they put on a sort of veil of wild thyme, and on that they put acanthi, and an untrimmed garland of violets and ivy; and they clothe themselves in Caunacæ, and so come on the stage, some at the side, and others through the centre entrance, walking in exact musical time, and saying—

For you, O Bacchus, do we now set forthThis tuneful song; uttering in various melodyThis simple rhythm.It is a song unsuited to a virgin;Nor are we now addressing you with hymnsMade long ago, but this our offeringIs fresh unutter'd praise.

For you, O Bacchus, do we now set forth

This tuneful song; uttering in various melody

This simple rhythm.

It is a song unsuited to a virgin;

Nor are we now addressing you with hymns

Made long ago, but this our offering

Is fresh unutter'd praise.

And then, advancing, they used to ridicule with their jests whoever they chose; and they did this standing still, but the Phallophorus himself marched straight on, covered with soot and dirt."

HARP-PLAYERS.

17. And since we are on this subject, it is as well not to omit what happened to Amœbeus, a harp-player of our time, and a man of great science and skill in everything that related to music. He once came late to one of our banquets, and when he heard from one of the servants that we had all finished supper, he doubted what to do himself, until Sophon the cook came to him, and with a loud voice, so that every one might hear, recited to him these lines out of the Auge of Eubulus:—

O wretched man, why stand you at the doors?Why don't you enter? Long ago the geeseHave all been deftly carvèd limb from limb;Long the hot pork has had the meat cut offFrom the long backbone, and the stuffing, whichLay in the middle of his stomach, hasBeen served around; and all his pettitoes,The dainty slices of fat, well-season'd sausages,Have all been eaten. The well-roasted cuttle-fishIs swallow'd long ago; and nine or tenCasks of rich wine are drain'd to the very dregs.So if you'd like some fragments of the feast,Hasten and enter. Don't, like hungry wolf,Losing this feast, then run about at random.

O wretched man, why stand you at the doors?

Why don't you enter? Long ago the geese

Have all been deftly carvèd limb from limb;

Long the hot pork has had the meat cut off

From the long backbone, and the stuffing, which

Lay in the middle of his stomach, has

Been served around; and all his pettitoes,

The dainty slices of fat, well-season'd sausages,

Have all been eaten. The well-roasted cuttle-fish

Is swallow'd long ago; and nine or ten

Casks of rich wine are drain'd to the very dregs.

So if you'd like some fragments of the feast,

Hasten and enter. Don't, like hungry wolf,

Losing this feast, then run about at random.

For as that delightful writer Antiphanes says, in his Friend of the Thebans,—

A.We now are well supplied with everything;For she, the namesake of the dame within,The rich Bœotian eel, carved in the depthsOf the ample dish, is warm, and swells, and boils,And bubbles up, and smokes; so that a man,E'en though equipp'd with brazen nostrils, scarcelyCould bear to leave a banquet such as this,—So rich a fragrance does it yield his senses.B.Say you the cook is living?A.There is nearA cestreus, all unfed both night and day,Scaled, wash'd, and stain'd with cochineal, and turn'd;And as he nears his last and final turnHe cracks and hisses; while the servant bastesThe fish with vinegar: then there's Libyan silphium,Dried in the genial rays of midday sun:—B.Yet there are people found who dare to sayThat sorcerers possess no sacred power;For now I see three men their bellies fillingWhile you are turning this.A.And the comrade squidBearing the form of the humpback'd cuttle-fish,Dreadful with armed claws and sharpen'd talons,Changing its brilliant snow-white nature underThe fiery blasts of glowing coal, adornsIts back with golden splendour; well excitingHunger, the best forerunner of a feast.

A.We now are well supplied with everything;

For she, the namesake of the dame within,

The rich Bœotian eel, carved in the depths

Of the ample dish, is warm, and swells, and boils,

And bubbles up, and smokes; so that a man,

E'en though equipp'd with brazen nostrils, scarcely

Could bear to leave a banquet such as this,—

So rich a fragrance does it yield his senses.

B.Say you the cook is living?

A.There is near

A cestreus, all unfed both night and day,

Scaled, wash'd, and stain'd with cochineal, and turn'd;

And as he nears his last and final turn

He cracks and hisses; while the servant bastes

The fish with vinegar: then there's Libyan silphium,

Dried in the genial rays of midday sun:—

B.Yet there are people found who dare to say

That sorcerers possess no sacred power;

For now I see three men their bellies filling

While you are turning this.

A.And the comrade squid

Bearing the form of the humpback'd cuttle-fish,

Dreadful with armed claws and sharpen'd talons,

Changing its brilliant snow-white nature under

The fiery blasts of glowing coal, adorns

Its back with golden splendour; well exciting

Hunger, the best forerunner of a feast.

So, come in—

Do not delay, but enter: when we've dinedWe then can best endure what must be borne.

Do not delay, but enter: when we've dined

We then can best endure what must be borne.

And so he, meeting him in this appropriate manner, replies with these lines out of the Harper of Clearchus:—

Sup on white congers, and whatever elseCan boast a sticky nature; for by such foodThe breath is strengthen'd, and the voice of manIs render'd rich and powerful.

Sup on white congers, and whatever else

Can boast a sticky nature; for by such food

The breath is strengthen'd, and the voice of man

Is render'd rich and powerful.

And as there was great applause on this, and as every one with one accord called to him to come in, he went in and drank, and taking the lyre, sang to us in such a manner that we all marvelled at his skill on the harp, and at the rapidity of his execution, and at the tunefulness of his voice; for he appeared to me to be not at all inferior to that ancient Amœbeus, whom Aristeas, in his History of Harp-players, speaks of as living at Athens, and dwelling near the theatre, and receiving an Attic talent a-day every time he went out singing.

18. And while some were discussing music in this manner, and others of the guests saying different things every day, but all praising the pastime, Masurius, who excelled in everything, and was a man of universal wisdom, (for as an interpreter of the laws he was inferior to no one, and he was always devoting some of his attention to music, for indeed he was able himself to play on some musical instruments,) said,—My good friends, Eupolis the comic poet says—

And music is a deep and subtle science,And always finding out some noveltyFor those who're capable of comprehending it;

And music is a deep and subtle science,

And always finding out some novelty

For those who're capable of comprehending it;

on which account Anaxilas, in his Hyacinthus, says—

For, by the gods I swear, music, like Libya,Brings forth each year some novel prodigy;

For, by the gods I swear, music, like Libya,

Brings forth each year some novel prodigy;

MUSIC.

for, my dear fellows, "Music," as the Harp-player of Theophilus says, "is a great and lasting treasure to all who have learnt it and know anything about it;" for it ameliorates the disposition, and softens those who are passionate and quarrelsome in their tempers. Accordingly, "Clinias the Pythagorean," as Chamæleon of Pontus relates, "who was a most unimpeachable manboth in his actual conduct and also in his disposition, if ever it happened to him to get out of temper or indignant at anything, would take up his lyre, and play upon it. And when people asked him the reason of this conduct, he used to say, 'I am pacifying myself.' And so, too, the Achilles of Homer was mollified by the music of the harp, which is all that Homer allots to him out of the spoils of Eetion,[70]as being able to check his fiery temper. And he is the only hero in the whole Iliad who indulges in this music."

Now, that music can heal diseases, Theophrastus asserts in his treatise on Enthusiasm, where he says that men with diseases in the loins become free from pain if any one plays a Phrygian air opposite to the part affected. And the Phrygians are the first people who invented and employed the harmony which goes by their name; owing to which circumstance it is that the flute-players among the Greeks have usually Phrygian and servile-sounding names, such as Sambas in Alcman, and Adon, and Telus. And in Hipponax we find Cion, and Codalus, and Babys, from whom the proverb arose about men who play worse and worse,—"He plays worse than Babys." But Aristoxenus ascribes the invention of this harmony to Hyagnis the Phrygian.

19. But Heraclides of Pontus, in the third book of his treatise on Music, says—"Now that harmony ought not to be called Phrygian, just as it has no right either to be called Lydian. For there are three harmonies; as there are also three different races of Greeks—Dorians, Æolians, and Ionians: and accordingly there is no little difference between their manners. The Lacedæmonians are of all the Dorians the most strict in maintaining their national customs; and the Thessalians(and these are they who were the origin of the Æolian race) have preserved at all times very nearly the same customs and institutions; but the population of the Ionians has been a great deal changed, and has gone through many transitions, because they have at all times resembled whatever nations of barbarians have from time to time been their masters. Accordingly, that species of melody which the Dorians composed they called the Dorian harmony, and that which the Æolians used to sing they named the Æolian harmony, and the third they called the Ionian, because they heard the Ionians sing it.

"Now the Dorian harmony is a manly and high-sounding strain, having nothing relaxed or merry in it, but, rather, it is stern and vehement, not admitting any great variations or any sudden changes. The character of the Æolian harmony is pompous and inflated, and full of a sort of pride; and these characteristics are very much in keeping with the fondness for breeding horses and for entertaining strangers which the people itself exhibits. There is nothing mean in it, but the style is elevated and fearless; and therefore we see that a fondness for banquets and for amorous indulgences is common to the whole nation, and they indulge in every sort of relaxation: on which account they cherish the style of the Sub-Dorian harmony; for that which they call the Æolian is, says Heraclides, a sort of modification of the Dorian, and is called ὑποδώριος. And we may collect the character of this Æolian harmony also from what Lasus of Hermione says in his hymn to the Ceres in Hermione, where he speaks as follows:—

I sing the praise of Ceres and of Proserpine,The sacred wife of Clymenus, Melibœa;Raising the heavy-sounding harmonyOf hymns Æolian.

I sing the praise of Ceres and of Proserpine,

The sacred wife of Clymenus, Melibœa;

Raising the heavy-sounding harmony

Of hymns Æolian.

But these Sub-Dorian songs, as they are called, are sung by nearly everybody. Since, then, there is a Sub-Dorian melody, it is with great propriety that Lasus speaks of Æolian harmony. Pratinas, too, somewhere or other says—

Aim not at too sustain'd a style, nor yetAt the relax'd Ionian harmony;But draw a middle furrow through your ground,And follow the Æolian muse in preference.

Aim not at too sustain'd a style, nor yet

At the relax'd Ionian harmony;

But draw a middle furrow through your ground,

And follow the Æolian muse in preference.

And in what comes afterwards he speaks more plainly—

But to all men who wish to raise their voices,The Æolian harmony's most suitable.

But to all men who wish to raise their voices,

The Æolian harmony's most suitable.

MUSIC.

"Now formerly, as I have said, they used to call this the Æolian harmony, but afterwards they gave it the name of the Sub-Dorian, thinking, as some people say, that it was pitched lower on the flute than the Dorian. But it appears to me that those who gave it this name, seeing its inflated style, and the pretence to valour and virtue which was put forth in the style of the harmony, thought it not exactly the Dorian harmony, but to a certain extent like it: on which account they called it ὑποδώριον, just as they call what is nearly white ὑπόλευκον: and what is not absolutely sweet, but something near it, we call ὑπόγλυκυ; so, too, we call what is not thoroughly Dorian ὑπόδωριον.

20. "Next in order let us consider the character of the Milesians, which the Ionians display, being very proud of the goodly appearance of their persons; and full of spirit, hard to be reconciled to their enemies, quarrelsome, displaying no philanthropic or cheerful qualities, but rather a want of affection and friendship, and a great moroseness of disposition: on which account the Ionian style of harmony also is not flowery nor mirthful, but austere and harsh, and having a sort of gravity in it, which, however, is not ignoble-looking; on which account that tragedy has a sort of affection for that harmony. But the manners of the Ionians of the present day are more luxurious, and the character of their present music is very far removed from the Ionian harmony we have been speaking of. And men say that Pythermus the Teian wrote songs such as are called Scolia in this kind of harmony; and that it was because he was an Ionian poet that the harmony got the name of Ionian. This is that Pythermus whom Ananius or Hipponax mentions in his Iambics in this way:—

Pythermus speaks of gold as though all else were nought.

And Pythermus's own words are as follows:—

All other things but gold are good for nothing.

Therefore, according to this statement, it is probable that Pythermus, as coming from those parts, adapted the character of his melodies to the disposition of the Ionians; on which account I suppose that his was not actually the Ionian harmony, but that it was a harmony adapted in some admirable manner to the purpose required. And those arecontemptible people who are unable to distinguish the characteristic differences of these separate harmonies; but who are led away by the sharpness or flatness of the sounds, so as to describe one harmony as ὑμερμιξολύδιος, and then again to give a definition of some further sort, refining on this: for I do not think that even that which is called the ὑπερφρύγιος has a distinct character of its own, although some people do say that they have invented a new harmony which they call Sub-Phrygian (ὑποφρύγιος). Now every kind of harmony ought to have some distinct species of character or of passion; as the Locrian has, for this was a harmony used by some of those who lived in the time of Simonides and Pindar, but subsequently it fell into contempt.

21. "There are, then, as we have already said, three kinds of harmony, as there are three nations of the Greek people. But the Phrygian and Lydian harmonies, being barbaric, became known to the Greeks by means of the Phrygians and Lydians who came over to Peloponnesus with Pelops. For many Lydians accompanied and followed him, because Sipylus was a town of Lydia; and many Phrygians did so too, not because they border on the Lydians, but because their king also was Tantalus—(and you may see all over Peloponnesus, and most especially in Lacedæmon, great mounds, which the people there call the tombs of the Phrygians who came over with Pelops)—and from them the Greeks learnt these harmonies: on which account Telestes of Selinus says—

First of all, Greeks, the comrades brave of Pelops,Sang o'er their wine, in Phrygian melody,The praises of the mighty Mountain Mother;But others, striking the shrill strings of the lyre,Gave forth a Lydian hymn."

First of all, Greeks, the comrades brave of Pelops,

Sang o'er their wine, in Phrygian melody,

The praises of the mighty Mountain Mother;

But others, striking the shrill strings of the lyre,

Gave forth a Lydian hymn."

MUSIC.

22. "But we must not admit," says Polybius of Megalopolis, "that music, as Ephorus asserts, was introduced among men for the purposes of fraud and trickery. Nor must we think that the ancient Cretans and Lacedæmonians used flutes and songs at random to excite their military ardour, instead of trumpets. Nor are we to imagine that the earliest Arcadians had no reason whatever for doing so, when they introduced music into every department of their management of the republic; so that, though the nation in every other respect was most austere in its manner of life, they neverthelesscompelled music to be the constant companion, not only of their boys, but even of their youths up to thirty years of age. For the Arcadians are the only people among whom the boys are trained from infancy to sing hymns and pæans to regular airs, in which indeed every city celebrates their national heroes and gods with such songs, in obedience to ancient custom.

"But after this, learning the airs of Timotheus and Philoxenus, they every year, at the festival of Bacchus, dance in their theatres to the music of flute-players; the boys dancing in the choruses of boys, and the youths in those of men. And throughout the whole duration of their lives they are addicted to music at their common entertainments; not so much, however, employing musicians as singing in turn: and to admit themselves ignorant of any other accomplishment is not at all reckoned discreditable to them; but to refuse to sing is accounted a most disgraceful thing. And they, practising marches so as to march in order to the sound of the flute, and studying their dances also, exhibit every year in the theatres, under public regulations and at the public expense. These, then, are the customs which they have derived from the ancients, not for the sake of luxury and superfluity, but from a consideration of the austerity which each individual practised in his private life, and of the severity of their characters, which they contract from the cold and gloomy nature of the climate which prevails in the greater part of their country. And it is the nature of all men to be in some degree influenced by the climate, so as to get some resemblance to it themselves; and it is owing to this that we find different races of men, varying in character and figure and complexion, in proportion as they are more or less distant from one another.

"In addition to this, they instituted public banquets and public sacrifices, in which the men and women join; and also dances of the maidens and boys together; endeavouring to mollify and civilize the harshness of their natural character by the influence of education and habit. And as the people of Cynætha neglected this system (although they occupy by far the most inclement district of Arcadia, both as respects the soil and the climate), they, never meeting one another except for the purpose of giving offence and quarrelling, became atlast so utterly savage, that the very greatest impieties prevailed among them alone of all the people of Arcadia; and at the time when they made the great massacre, whatever Arcadian cities their emissaries came to in their passage, the citizens of all the other cities at once ordered them to depart by public proclamation; and the Mantineans even made a public purification of their city after their departure, leading victims all round their entire district."

23. Agias, the musician, said that "the styrax, which at the Dionysiac festivals is burnt in the orchestras, presented a Phrygian odour to those who were within reach of it." Now, formerly music was an exhortation to courage; and accordingly Alcæus the poet, one of the greatest musicians that ever lived, places valour and manliness before skill in music and poetry, being himself a man warlike even beyond what was necessary. On which account, in such verses as these, he speaks in high-toned language, and says—

My lofty house is bright with brass,And all my dwelling is adorn'd, in honourOf mighty Mars, with shining helms,O'er which white horse-hair crests superbly wave,Choice ornament for manly brows;And brazen greaves, on mighty pegs suspended,Hang round the hall; fit to repelThe heavy javelin or the long-headed spear.There, too, are breastplates of new linen,And many a hollow shield, thrown basely downBy coward enemies in flight:There, too, are sharp Chalcidic swords, and belts,Short military cloaks besides,And all things suitable for fearless war;Which I may ne'er forget,Since first I girt myself for the adventurous work—

My lofty house is bright with brass,

And all my dwelling is adorn'd, in honour

Of mighty Mars, with shining helms,

O'er which white horse-hair crests superbly wave,

Choice ornament for manly brows;

And brazen greaves, on mighty pegs suspended,

Hang round the hall; fit to repel

The heavy javelin or the long-headed spear.

There, too, are breastplates of new linen,

And many a hollow shield, thrown basely down

By coward enemies in flight:

There, too, are sharp Chalcidic swords, and belts,

Short military cloaks besides,

And all things suitable for fearless war;

Which I may ne'er forget,

Since first I girt myself for the adventurous work—

although it would have been more suitable for him to have had his house well stored with musical instruments. But the ancients considered manly courage the greatest of all civil virtues, and they attributed the greatest importance to that, to the exclusion of other good qualities. Archilochus accordingly, who was a distinguished poet, boasted in the first place of being able to partake in all political undertakings, and in the second place he mentioned the credit he had gained by his poetical efforts, saying,—

MUSIC.

But I'm a willing servant of great Mars,Skill'd also in the Muses' lovely art.

But I'm a willing servant of great Mars,

Skill'd also in the Muses' lovely art.

And, in the same spirit, Æschylus, though a man who had acquired such great renown by his poetry, nevertheless preferred having his valour recorded on his tomb, and composed an inscription for it, of which the following lines are a part:—

The grove of Marathon, and the long-hair'd Medes,Who felt his courage, well may speak of it.

The grove of Marathon, and the long-hair'd Medes,

Who felt his courage, well may speak of it.

24. And it is on this account that the Lacedæmonians, who are a most valiant nation, go to war to the music of the flute, and the Cretans to the strains of the lyre, and the Lydians to the sound of pipes and flutes, as Herodotus relates. And, moreover, many of the barbarians make all their public proclamations to the accompaniment of flutes and harps, softening the souls of their enemies by these means. And Theopompus, in the forty-sixth book of his History, says—"The Getæ make all their proclamations while holding harps in their hands and playing on them." And it is perhaps on this account that Homer, having due regard to the ancient institutions and customs of the Greeks, says—

I hear, what graces every feast, the lyre;[71]

as if this art of music were welcome also to men feasting.

Now it was, as it should seem, a regular custom to introduce music, in the first place in order that every one who might be too eager for drunkenness or gluttony might have music as a sort of physician and healer of his insolence and indecorum, and also because music softens moroseness of temper; for it dissipates sadness, and produces affability and a sort of gentlemanlike joy. From which consideration, Homer has also, in the first book of the Iliad, represented the gods as using music after their dissensions on the subject of Achilles; for they continued for some time listening to it—

Thus the blest gods the genial day prolongIn feasts ambrosial and celestial song:Apollo tuned the lyre,—the Muses round,With voice alternate, aid the silver sound.[72]

Thus the blest gods the genial day prolong

In feasts ambrosial and celestial song:

Apollo tuned the lyre,—the Muses round,

With voice alternate, aid the silver sound.[72]

For it was desirable that they should leave off their quarrels and dissensions, as we have said. And most people seem to attribute the practice of this art to banquets for the sake of setting things right, and of the general mutual advantage. And, besides these other occasions, the ancients also established by customs and laws that at feasts all men should sing hymns to the gods, in order by these means to preserveorder and decency among us; for as all songs proceed according to harmony, the consideration of the gods being added to this harmony, elevates the feelings of each individual. And Philochorus says that the ancients, when making their libations, did not always use dithyrambic hymns, but "when they pour libations, they celebrate Bacchus with wine and drunkenness, but Apollo with tranquillity and good order." Accordingly Archilochus says—

I, all excited in my mind with wine,Am skilful in the dithyrambic, knowingThe noble melodies of the sovereign Bacchus.

I, all excited in my mind with wine,

Am skilful in the dithyrambic, knowing

The noble melodies of the sovereign Bacchus.

And Epicharmus, in his Philoctetes, says—

Back to Index Next