The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
And Aristarchus the grammarian, (a man whom Panætius the Rhodian
philosopher used to call the Prophet, because he could so easily divine
the meanings of poems,) when explaining this verse, affirms that the
magadis was a kind of flute: though Aristoxenus does not say so either
in his treatise on the Flute-players or in that on Flutes and other
Musical Instruments; nor does Archestratus either,—and he also wrote
two books on Flute-players; nor has Pyrrhander said so in his work on
Flute-players; nor Phillis the Delian,—for he also wrote a treatise on
Flute-players, and so did Euphranor. But Tryphon, in the second book
of his essay on Names, speaks thus—"The flute called magadis." And in
another place he says—"The magadis gives a shrill and deep tone at
the same time, as Anaxandrides intimates in his Man fighting in heavy
Armour, where we find the line—
I will speak to you like a magadis,
In soft and powerful sounds at the same time.
And, my dear Masurius, there is no one else except you who can solve
this difficulty for me.
36. And Masurius replied—Didymus the grammarian, in his work entitled
Interpretations of the Plays of Ion different from the Interpretations
of others, says, my good friend Æmilianus, that by the term μάγαδις
αὐλὸς he understands the instrument which is also called κιθαριστήριος;
which is mentioned by Aristoxenus in the first book of his treatise on
the Boring of Flutes; for there he says that there are five kinds of
flutes; the parthenius, the pædicus, the citharisterius, the perfect,
and the superperfect. And he says that Ion has omitted the conjunction
τε improperly, so that we are to understand by μάγαδις αὐλὸς the flute
which accompanies the magadis; for the magadis is a stringed (ψαλτικὸν)
instrument, as Anacreon tells us, and it was invented by the Lydians,
on which account Ion, in his Omphale, calls the Lydian women ψάλτριαι,
as playing on stringed instruments, in the following lines—
But come, ye Lydian ψάλτριαι, and singing
Your ancient hymns, do honour to this stranger.
But Theophilus the comic poet, in his Neoptolemus, calls playing on the
magadis μαγαδίζειν, saying—
It may be that a worthless son may sing
His father or his mother on the magadis (μαγαδίζειν),
Sitting upon the wheel; but none of us
Shall ever play such music now as theirs.
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