The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
General
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
80. I am acquainted, too, with other kinds of flutes, the tragic flute,
and the lysiodic[283:1] flute, and the harplike flute; all which are
mentioned by Ephorus, in his Inventions, and by Euphranor the
Pythagorean, in his treatise on Flutes, and also by Alexon, who wrote
another treatise on Flutes. But the flute made of reeds is called
tityrinus among the Dorians in Italy, as Artemidorus the Aristophanian
tells us, in the second book of his History of Doris. And the flute
which is called magadis, which is also named palæo-magadis, sends forth
a sharp and a deep note at the same time, as Anaxandrides says in his
Armed Fighter--
I will speak like a magadis, both loudly and gently.
And the flutes called lotus flutes are the same which are called
photinges by the Alexandrians; and they are made of the plant called the
lotus; and this is a wood which grows in Libya. But Juba says that the
flute which is made out of the leg bones of the kid is an invention of
the Thebans; and Tryphon says that those flutes also which are called
elephantine flutes were first bored among the Phœnicians. I know,
too, that the magadis is a stringed instrument, as is the harp, the
lyre, and the barbitos. But Euphorion the epic poet says in his book on
the Isthmian Games--"Those men who are now called players on the nablas,
and on the pandurus, and on the sambuca, do not use any new instrument,
for the baromus and the barbitos (both of which are mentioned by Sappho
and Anacreon), and the magadis, and the triangle, and the sambuca are
all ancient instruments. At all events, a statue of one of the Muses was
erected in Mitylene by Lesbothemis, holding a sambuca in her hand." But
Aristoxenus calls the following foreign instruments--phœnices, and
pectides, and magadides, and sambucæ, and triangles, and clepsiambi, and
scindapsi, and the instrument called the enneachord or nine-stringed
instrument. But Plato, in the third book of his Polity, states--"'We
shall not, then,' said I, 'have much need of many strings or of much
harmony in our songs and melodies.' 'I think not,' said he. 'But we
shall have triangles, and pectides, and all sorts of instruments which
have many strings and are very harmonious.'"
81. But the scindapsus is an instrument of four strings, as Matron the
parodist says in the following lines--
Nor did they hang it upon pegs where hung
The sweet scindapsus with its fourfold strings,
Joy of the woman who the distaff hates.
And Theopompus the Colophonian likewise mentions it, the Epic poet, I
mean, in his poem entitled the Chariot--
Shaking the large and lyre-toned scindapsus,
Made of young tamarisk, in his skilful hand.
Anaxilas, too, in his Lyre Maker, says--
But I was making three-string'd barbiti,
Pectides, citharæ, lyres, and scindapsi.
But Sopater the parodist, in his poem entitled "The Initiated," says
that the pectis is an instrument with two strings, saying--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account