The standard instrument of the Greeks was the octave lyre. The lowest and highest strings were tuned respectively A, fifth line bass staff, and A, second space, treble. [Music: Dorian Octave. Signature B♭ Phrygian Octave. Signature F♯ Lydian Octave. Signature F, C and G sharps. Mizo-Lydian Octave. Signature B and E flats. Hypo-Dorian Octave. Hypo-Phrygian Octave. Signature F and C sharps. Hypo-Lydian Octave. Signature F, C, G & D sharps.] These were fixed sounds, but the tuning of the remaining six strings _might be changed_ at will; therefore, a series of sounds belonging to any one of these scales could be made; and it will be seen, on examining the following table, that all the seven scales may be represented _without changing the extreme notes_, A to A. Suppose we make the B flat. Now B-flat is the characteristic note of the Dorian Scale, in our term, its signature. Therefore this octave would be called the Dorian Octave, _not_ Dorian Scale. We speak of a scale as beginning and ending on its _keynote_; if it does not, we call it a scale passage in such and such a key. The notes marked + are the keynotes (_Mese_). It will be seen at once that the positions of the halftones differ in _each_ of these octaves. One cannot help feeling a slight suspicion that some confusion between scale and octave had a great deal to do with the growth of the Ecclesiastical Scales. One of the latest of the ancient writers on music, =Claudius Ptolemy= (about 130 A. D.), proposed that all these octaves should be transposed a _fourth lower_; this made the Dorian Octave E to E (all naturals). One result of this change is that many authorities at the present time call this the Dorian Scale, whereas it is evident that it is simply the Dorian Octave, as given above, transposed a _fourth lower_. Other scales were added from time to time, called _Hyper_-Dorian, _Hyper_-Phrygian, etc., a _fourth above_ the standard scales; but it is very uncertain whether they were in practical use; they were probably purely matters of theory. =Characteristics Attributed to the Different Greek Scales=.—The Greeks attributed many fanciful characteristics to the various modes or scales, much as some modern musicians, Berlioz, for example, do to the different keys. But all seem to have agreed as to the Dorian. This was considered the true Greek mode, and was called severe, firm and manly, suitable for martial songs. The Lydian mode was esteemed to be effeminate, suited to love songs, possibly because the Lydian Octave corresponds with the scale of A major, and a major scale was not relished by the Greeks, any more than it was by the early ecclesiastical musicians. A more probable explanation of this attribution of different characters to the different scales is, that it was customary to use certain modes for songs on certain subjects, and the character of the poetry was transferred to the music.