But nothing can shew more fully the power of antient harmony than the character given of the Sirens. Their cruelty the antients held in detestation; yet always speak feelingly of their music. They represent their songs as so fatally winning, that nobody could withstand their sweetness. All were soothed with it; though their life was the purchase of the gratification. The Scholiast upon Lycophron makes them the children of the muse [669]Terpsichore. Nicander supposes their mother to have been Melpomene: others make her Calliope. The whole of this is merely an allegory; and means only that they were the daughters of harmony. Their efficacy is mentioned by [670]Apollonius Rhodius: and by the Author of the Orphic [671]Argonautica: but the account given by Homer is by far the most affecting. [672]Σειρηνας μεν πρωτον αφιξεαι, ἁι ῥα τε παντας Ανθρωπους θελγουσιν, ὁτις σφεας εισαφικανει. Ὁστις αϊδρειῃ πελασει, και φθογγον ακουσει Σειρηνων, τῳ δ' ουτι γυνη, και νηπια τεκνα Οικαδε νοστησαντι παρισταται, ουδε γανυνται· Αλλα τε Σειρηνες λιγυρῃ θελγουσιν αοιδῃ, Ἡμενοι εν λειμωνι· πολυς τ' αμφ' οστεοφιν θις Ανδρων πυθομενων, περι δε ῥινοι φθινυθουσιν. They are the words of Circe to Ulysses, giving him an account of the dangers which he was to encounter. [673]Next where the Sirens dwell, you plough the seas. Their song is death, and makes destruction please. Unblest the man, whom music makes to stray Near the curst coast, and listen to their lay. No more that wretch shall view the joys of life, His blooming offspring, or his pleasing wife. In verdant meads they sport, and wide around Lie human bones, that whiten all the ground: The ground polluted floats with human gore, And human carnage taints the dreadful shore. Fly, fly the dangerous coast. The story at bottom relates to the people above-mentioned; who with their music used to entice strangers into the purlieus of their temples, and then put them to death. Nor was it music only, with which persons were seduced to follow them. The female part of their choirs were maintained for a twofold purpose, both on account of their voices and their beauty. They were accordingly very liberal of their favours, and by these means enticed seafaring persons, who paid dearly for their entertainment. Scylla was a personage of this sort: and among the fragments of Callimachus we have a short, but a most perfect, description of her character. [674]Σκυλλα, γυνη κατακασα, και ου ψυθος ουνομ' εχουσα.