11. But for what reason is Apollo described as playing upon the cithara? for no other, assuredly, than that the music of the cithara was from times of remote antiquity connected with his worship; and that, because it appears best fitted to express a tranquil and simple harmony; the worship of Apollo, as we have frequently remarked, always endeavouring to produce a solemn quiet and stillness of the soul. Pindar beautifully says of this god that he “_invented the citharis and bestows the muse on whom he wills, in order to introduce peaceful law into the heart_.”(1414) To this also refer the golden κηληδόνες, which, according to the account of the same poet,(1415) were suspended from the roof of the brazen temple at Delphi; and they were without doubt intended as emblems of the mild and soothing influence of the god. This was naturally the chief object of music when used in purifications, and as an incantation (ἐπῳδὴ); when passions were to be overcome, and pain soothed; and in ancient times this was one of its most important applications.(1416) Chrysothemis, an ancient Pythian minstrel of mythology, was hence called the son of Carmanor, the expiatory priest of Tarrha;(1417) as also Thaletas, the Cretan poet, purified Sparta by music, when attacked with the plague.(1418) The Pythagoreans, who paid an especial honour to Apollo, went still further, and employed music as a charm to soothe the passions, attune the spirit to harmony, and cure both body and mind. Hence they much preferred the cithara to the flute,(1419) as, according to Grecian ideas, there was something in the sound of the flute wild, and at the same time gloomy; this, too, is the reason why Apollo disliked the music of that instrument.(1420) This also explains his contest with Marsyas, the Phrygian Silenus and flute-player, whose tough skin, having been stript off by the conqueror, always moved (according to the report of the inhabitants of Celænæ), with joy, as was believed, at the sound of flutes.(1421)