The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, Volume 1 (of 3)St. John, James Augustus
History
The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, Volume 1 (of 3)
St. John, James Augustus
Greece -- Social life and customs
The music of the flute[609] was supposed to be peculiarly delightful
to the gods, so that those who died while its sounds were on their
ears were permitted to taste of the gifts of Aphrodite in Hades, as
Philetæros expresses it in his Flute-lover:
“O Zeus! how glorious ’tis to die while piercing flutes are near
Pouring their stirring melodies into the faltering ear;
On these alone doth Eros smile within those realms of night,
Where vulgar ghosts in shivering bands, all strangers to delight,
In leaky tub from Styx’s flood the icy waters bear,
Condemned, for woman’s lovely voice, its moaning sounds to hear.”
Footnote 609:
On the effect of music on the mind, see Magius, Var. Lect. p. 204 b.
The teachers of music were divided into two classes: the Citharistæ,
who simply played on the instrument, and the Citharœdi who accompanied
themselves on the cithara with a song.[610] Of these the humble and
poorer taught, as we have already observed, in the corners of the
streets, while the abler and more fortunate opened schools of music or
gave their lessons in the private dwellings of the great. The Cithara,
however, was not anciently in use at Athens, if we may credit the
tradition which attributes to Phrynis its introduction from
Ionia.[611]
Footnote 610:
Kühn ad Poll. iv. p. 711. Cf. Plat. de Legg. t. viii. p. 49.
Footnote 611:
Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 958; Vesp. 574.
Damon the great Athenian musician[612] used to observe, that wherever
the mind is susceptible of powerful emotions there will be the song
and the dance, and that wherever men are free and honourable their
amusements will be liberal and decorous, where men are otherwise the
contrary. A very judicious remark was likewise made by Caphesias the
flute-player. Observing one of his pupils striving to produce loud
sounds, he stamped on the ground and said,—"Boy, that is not always
good which is great; but that is great which is good."[613]
Footnote 612:
Cf. Plat. Repub. t. vi. p. 133.
Footnote 613:
Athen. xiv. 26.
The power of music in assuaging passion and anger is well illustrated
by an anecdote of Cleinias the Pythagorean philosopher, a man
distinguished for his virtue and gentleness. If at any time he felt
himself moved to wrath, taking up his lyre he would touch the chords
and chaunt thereto some ode, and if any questioned why he did so, he
would reply, “I am in search of serenity.”[614]
Footnote 614:
Πραΰνομοι. Cham. Pont. ap. Athen. xiv. 18.
Like the Hebrews, also, the people of Hellas attributed to music still
more marvellous virtues,[615] conceiving it to be able to cure
diseases both of the mind and body. Thus the sounds of the flute were
supposed to remove epilepsy, and sciatica, and faintness, and fear,
and paroxysms of long-established madness,[616] which will probably
remind the reader of David playing before Saul, when his mind was
troubled.
Footnote 615:
Thus demons were expelled by the sound of brass bells.—Magius, Var.
Lect. p. 205. b.
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