Ethical View of Music in Ancient Greece

The Sources and Development of the Ethical View of Music in Ancient Greece
Author(s): Edward A. Lippman

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Apr., 1963), pp. 188-209
Published by: Oxford University Press
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THE SOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

THE ETHICAL VIEW OF MUSIC
IN ANCIENT GREECE
By EDWARD
OF
A. LIPPMAN
of the ethicalforceof musicare a characteristic

and
CONCEPTS
intrinsicfeatureof the Greek outlook; long before they become
explicitin philosophytheyare expressedboth in mythsof musical magic

and in various fieldsof musical practice,which involve more properly
ethicalif less spectaculareffects.Myth,religion,medicine,and ceremony
all unite to give moral conceptstheirstrengthand diversity,and these
formulationsdo not simply disappear with the advent of philosophic
thought;theircontributionto ethical theoryis especiallysignificantbecause theycontinueon alongside philosophy,givingit depth and social
relevance.
Mythsthat tell of the power of music are concernedprimarilywith
the compulsivecharacterof human response;thus it is not surprisingto
findman in the companyof animals,plants,and inanimatenature.The
irresistible
and fatal attractionof the Sirenshas its parallel in the fascinationArionexercisedover dolphins,or in Amphion'sabilityto make stones
arrange themselvesin order, while the universal influenceexerted by
Orpheus extendsfromnatureto the gods. It is accordinglythe suspension
of the will that appears as the moststrikingfeatureof musicalmagic; the
action of music is so directand potentthat it knowsno resistance.Most
typicallya kind of hypnosisis produced, an enchantmentin which the
heareris renderedmotionless;yetwe can say that the music affectsfeeling as well as will, forthe influenceis a total one in which the faculties
are not distinguished.
The mental cures of orgiasticritual are quite different.
We are still
in the magical provinceof physicalmedicinewhen Odysseus'swound is
staunchedby a chant,' but in Dionysiac riteswe leave magic formatters
1 Odyssey, XIX, 457.
188

The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece
189
of fact.2Both the Thracian cult of Bacchus and the relatedPhrygiancult

of Cybele made use of wild dance and music,withthe effectof purgation
and purification.The ferventand stimulatingcharacterof the music was
due to a greatextentto the aulos, an instrument
also played withintoxicating effectby Marsyas, the Phrygiannature god who is the counterpart of Pan. In Plato's Laws,3 dance and the syrinxare made responsible
forquietingthe frenzyof the Bacchantes,whilein the Ion,4 we learn that
the revelerswere not in
duringthe dancing of the Corybantianmysteries
theirrightmind. Orgiasticpracticesare connectedin generalwithAsiatic
religion,withThrace and Phrygia,and theyforma sharp contrastto the
more characteristically
Greek mythsof musical magic, which revolve
around the use of the lyreand the voice, and are centeredin calm rather
than excitement.Again, however,feelingis not distinctfromwill; there
is a highlyemotionalbut also thoroughlycompulsiveresponse.But in addition,the essentiallymagical effectsof tone and of particularmelodies
are joined by a direct and frenziedparticipation; to the stimulusof
melodythereis added the excitementof dance, and finallythe purging
and purificationthat are the more indirectbut equally intrinsiceffectof
the whole. Thus music is both a cure and a cause of the disturbance,for
if it does not produce it altogether,it certainlybringsabout an intensification.5The resultantcure, accordingly,is homeopathicratherthan allopathic; the final calm-or exhaustion-is not the outcome of soothing
music but of catharsisor emotionaldischarge.These ritesare evidently
quite like the epilepticfitsof the shaman, the dancing epidemicsof the
outbreaksof Tarantism,or the uncontrolMiddle Ages, the 17th-century
lable jerks of American revivalistmeetings;probablyin everycase, religionis an essentialfactor.
Thus we are dealing not only with a medical phenomenonbut also
witha spiritualone, not simplywitha purification
but witha heightening
of human power untilit becomes identifiedwithdivinity.In termsof religious activity,this is the route of mysticismratherthan reason, or of
2 A great deal of informationabout the Dionysiac,

Orphic, and Pythagorean
cults is assembled in the classic work of Erwin Rohde, Psyche, transl. from the 8th
ed. by W. B. Hillis, London, 1925, Chs. 8-11. See also Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 3rd ed., Cambridge, 1922, and W. K. C.
Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion, London, 1935.
3Laws, 790e-791a. Plato actually describes the cure of Bacchic frenzy as an
allopathic process; music produces a quietness of the soul not by aggravating and
then discharging an evil affection,but by combatting and overcoming it with an
opposed and beneficial external motion. Yet the process is thought of as cathartic.
4 Ion, 533e-34a.
5 Evidence may be found in the remarksAristotlemakes on the Phrygian mode
(Politics, 1340b, 4-5) and the aulos (ibid., 1342b, 2-7).

190
The Musical Quarterly
emotionratherthan contemplation;it is turnedinward to the divine in

man ratherthan outwardto the heavens.Indeed the mythof the devouring of Dionysusby the Titans made it possibleto account for the presence of god in man, and the mysticexperiencesfosteredby intoxication
and music provided a confirmation.In a transienttype of madness the
soul was ecstaticallyseparatedfromthe body; its divinenatureenabled it
to achieve mantic power. But most importantof all is the fact that rite
involvesan elementof imitation,which readilyentersalong with dance.
The imitationtakes the formof pantomime,but not as a consciousart
exercisedwith detachment;instead it becomes an identificationof the
initiateswith the actual followersof Dionysus,and throughthem,with
the god himself.In thisactivitywe have the archetypeof mimesisand of
drama; imitation-like Greek educational and ethical conceptsin general-is associated originallywith music and pantomimicdance rather
thanwithpaintingand sculpture.And it is theimitativeaspectof religious
orgythatmakesit comparableto normaleducationalproceduresas well as
in the natureof music.
entailinga greaterconcreteness
The Orphic movementof the sixthcenturyB.C., by contrast,reveals
conceptionsclose to thoseof musical myth.AlthoughOrphismcontinues
the fruitful
to pay allegianceto Dionysus,it actuallyrepresents
composite
of the Dionysianand Apollonian cultsthatwas manifestedmostconspicuouslyin the Delphic shrine.Clear perceptionand knowledge-the whole
visual mentalityeventuallyconsummatedin the Platonic Ideas-become
of Apollo, the lyre.The reimportantfactors,along with the instrument
be
almost
can
thoughtof as a new influenceof
ligious amalgamation
musicon theApollonianoutlook.Withit all, Orphismremainedmystical;
itsaim was to purifythesoul; itsprophet,althoughoftenconsideredto be
the son of Apollo, was a Thracian musical magician. Elaborate doctrine
was added to rite,and mythicalthoughtmoved closerto philosophy.The
of the soul were clearlyformudual natureof man and the immortality
and the primitiveDionysiancult,
lated in the conceptof transmigration,
whichhad developed centuriesearlier,was elaboratedinto a whole monastic code of life.WithDionysusbecome an Olympiangod, onlyremnants
of the originalchthonianaspect of orgiasticritualwere preservedin the
wheel of birthand its interesting
parallel of Orpheus's tripto the underworld. But in general the Dionysian heritageiS easily seen; Herodotus
mentionsthe "rites called Orphic and Bacchic" in one breath,6and
Orpheus himselfis torn apart by the maenads quite like the sacrificial
bull of the Bacchic communion,althoughhis fatemighthave been earned
6 The Persian Wars, II, 81.

191
by apostasy.We cannot doubt that the conceptof musichad been radically changed; the Orphics are concerned with the lyre and the voice
ratherthan the aulos, with enchantmentratherthan frenzy,and even
prophecytakes on a reasonable instead of a rapturouscharacter.Dance
is apparentlyabsent, while the appearance of song means that some
contributionis made by the specificallyrational elementof music. In
general,music is no longeran inarticulateoutpouringof emotiongiven
forceonly by pantomime,but a harmonicscience with a tonal as well
as a verbal logos. This is all a concomitantof an interestin the purification of the soul ratherthan its identification
with divinity,and of a reliance on asceticismand on freedomfromcontaminationratherthan on
exhilarationand frenzy.
The most importantof the Orphic sectswere the Pythagoreans,and
theyseem to have added an Egyptianelementto the movement;Herodotus goes so far as to state that the Orphic riteswere reallyEgyptianand
Orphism,
Pythagorean.7Possiblyit was thisconstituentthat transformed
movingit in the directionof philosophyand science,which were capable
of new growth and wider influence.Eventually there was a division
between the esoteric or religious Pythagoreans,who were known as
akousmatikoi,and the exoticor scientificgroup,knownas mathematikoi.
The two parties differednot only with respect to their interests,but
also because the one was monastic and the other public in its way of
life.The novel characteristics
of Pythagoreanthoughtare evidentin the
in
change theyeffected cosmogony.The Orphic cosmogonyextendsthe
Hesiodic by its tendencyto personifyabstractions;it is still a theogony,
but its gods are oftenconceptsexpressedin an old form.In the Pythagorean cosmogonythereis stilla formalcorrespondencewiththe Orphic
hierarchicalpicture of divinities,but the gods themselveshave disappeared, leaving onlytracesbehind in the creativeMonad and the indefinite Dyad. Mythologyhas with this step become philosophy; and althoughthe mathematicalstudiesof the PythagoreanBrotherhoodreflect
in theirveryconstitutionthe dominantpositionof music, there can be
no doubt that a new and higherpurificationwas discovered,and that
theorywas substitutedfor sonority.Even the stresson abstinence and
asceticismin the conduct of life has unmistakableimplicationsfor the
kind of music the Pythagoreansmay have employed, if indeed they
it is
employedany at all; forneo-Pythagoreanlegends notwithstanding,
that
the
turned
more
or
less
quite possible
Pythagoreans
away
completely
fromsensoryexperience,even from that which might involve tenuous
7Loc. cit.

192
emotions,and towardsquiet contemplationand speculativethought.Certainlythe later "so-called" Pythagoreansto whom Aristotlerefers'were

mathematicians;the akousmatikoidisappeared with little trace, and
we can only conjectureabout the natureof theirpractices,althoughthe
religioussociety,stillmore than the privatephilosophicor poetic school,
is verylikelyto have made use of music, perhaps in a fashionclose to
that of the medieval cloister.In any event,it is the soothingeffectof
music that will bear a directrelationto knowledgeand harmony;even
the Sirens,who would appear to representthe purelysonorousmagic of
tone, promise knowledge to Odysseus and attract him partly for this
reason also.9 Words can be combined with the lyre but not with the
aulos, and Aristotleis not indulgingin a casual fancywhen he interprets
Athena's rejectionof the aulos as an expressionof her attributeof knowledge, and of the fact that the instrumentcontributesnothingto the
mind.10
Plato takes the orgiasticuses of music very seriouslyindeed, and
triesto explain them and generalizethemso that theyare applicable to
normal educational procedures.He even comes to classifyeducation in
general as a typeof purification."Justas he retainsmythin his metaphysicsforthoseproblemsthat dialecticis helplessto solve,so he is really
not willingin his ethicsto abandon eitherthe orgiasticor the hypnotic
effectsof music. Even philosophicdiscourse,itselfa kind of music,takes
on a magical aspect, and Socrates is describedas casting a spell over
Meno, and enchantinghim.12Plato may rejectthe aulos in theRepublic,13
but thisseverity- necessitatedby a highercause - can become admirationelsewhere.When AlcibiadescomparesSocratesto Marsyas,forexample, all the powersof music over the human soul appear as achievements
thatphilosophyemulates:
And are you not an aulos player? That you are, and a performer far more
wonderful than Marsyas. He indeed with instrumentsused to charm the souls of
men by the powers of his breath, and the players of his music do so still: for the
melodies of Olympus are derived from Marsyas who taught them, and these,
whether they are played by a great master or by a miserable aulos-girl, have a
power which no others have; they alone possess the soul and reveal the wants of
8 See, forexample, Metaphysics,985b, 24.
9 OdysseyXII, 39-45.
1oPolitics, 1341b.
11Sophist, 231b. In Laws, 790c-92e, after describingthe musical cure of Bacchic
frenzy,Plato proceeds to apply the theory of this process to education, seeking to
avoid occasions of sorrow and fear altogether,as well as to strengthenthe habits of
cheerfulnessand courage.
12Meno, 80a.
13 Republic, 399c-d.

193
thosewho have need of gods and mysteries,

because theyare divine.But you produce the same effectwithyourwordsonly,and do not requirethe aulos; that is
the difference
betweenyou and him. When we hear any other speaker,even a
verygood one, he producesabsolutelyno effectupon us, or not much, whereas
the mere fragments
of you and yourwords,even at second-hand,and howeverimperfectlyrepeated,amaze and possessthe souls of everyman, woman,and child
who comes withinhearingof them.And if I were not afraidthatyou would think
me hopelesslydrunk,I would have swornas well as spokento the influencewhich
theyhave alwayshad and still have over me. For my heartleaps withinme more
than that of any Corybantianreveller,and my eyes rain tearswhen I hear them.
And I observethat many othersare affectedin the same manner.I have heard
Periclesand othergreatorators,and I thoughtthattheyspokewell,but I neverhad
any similar feeling;my soul was not stirredby them,nor was I angryat the
thoughtof my own slavishstate. But this Marsyas has oftenbroughtme to such
a pass, that I have feltas if I could hardlyendurethe life which I am leading
(this,Socrates,you will admit); and I am consciousthatif I did not shutmy ears
againsthim,and flyas fromthe voice of the Siren,my fatewould be like thatof
others,- he would transfixme, and I should grow old sittingat his feet.For he
makesme confessthatI oughtnot to live as I do, neglectingthe wantsof myown
soul, and busyingmyselfwith the concernsof the Athenians;thereforeI hold my
ears and tear myselfaway fromhim.14
Here we have a depictionboth of the emotional potencyof music and

of the compoundof seductivenessand knowledge.The passage is remarkable in the care withwhichit elaboratesthe detailsof its comparison;the
madnessof Alcibiades even containsa counterpartof the alcoholic stimulation that was combinedwith the music of the Dionysian rites.
The chief basis of Greek ethical views of music, however, is not
magic and orgy,but the customaryeducational and social uses of the
art. There is obviously an interrelationshipbetween these fields of
musical practice; the ethicalvalue of music cannot be confinedto formal
education,forschoolingsimplyforeshadows,or more usuallyechoes,life
in general: the place of music in education should provide a view of its
place in society,or in societyas it once was or desiresitselfto be. And at
the same time,social occasionsnot explicitlydefinedas educativemay be
of the greatestsignificancein moldingideals and character.
Even though they can be distinguishedreadily from magical and
the values of musical practicehave some basis in religion
orgiasticeffects,
and rite,formusic is invariablythe main constituentof commemorative
ritual. Celebrationsof heroes or of importanthistoricalevents are intrinsicallyeducative ceremonies.Participantscome to know the ideals
of societyas these are manifestedin deeds and in men; they learn to
admire and to emulate particular virtues and moral characters.The
is byJowett.
215b-16b.The translation
14Symposium,

194
whole process takes place by means of music; cultural values are

embodied in words, dance, and melody,becoming the basis of specific
musical genres- of closelydefinedstylesand typesof melodywithparticular ethical natures. And rituallysignificantmusic of this kind has
divinesanctionas well; the commemoratedeventhas the approval of the
gods, one of whom, especiallyinvolved,may even supplythe melodyor
the appropriate instrument.Divinely originated,music must then be
who take
preservedand refashionedby successivecomposer-performers
each
occasion
of
use.
Even
to
the
the
defined
auditors,
strengthof
up
the effectis far above that of absolute music; it is not possibleto comprehendsuch an ethical world fromthe vantage point of pure art. In
the characteristicGreeksetting,music is given the utmostforceby social
traditionand religiousbelief, and the concretenessit assumes is due
ultimatelyto its real contextof communityideals as concentratedin the
decisivehistoriceventthat in part broughtthem about and at the same
timeexemplifiedthemmostfullyforthe edificationof futuregenerations.
The music in questionhere is actuallya representational
art of rhythm:
Hellenic
of
theories
musical
ethics
are
generallyconmusic-poetry-dance.
cerned with music in thisfullerform.
The componentarts were on occasion separated,of course,although
much less oftenand much less completelythan we mightthink.If unaccompanieddance existedat all, it was notofmuch importance,whilepure
instrumentalmusic was not only relativelyunimportant,but also either
explicitlyprogrammaticor doubtlessin its form,melody, and rhythm
especiallyfullof meaningderivedfromvisual and verbal and kinesthetic
experience.On the otherhand, singingand speakingare veryclose in all
ancientcivilizations,verymuch as theyare in primitivecultures;the two
verbsthemselvesare coupled or used interchangeably,
and in numberless
we
tell
or
whether
cannot
literarydescriptions
speech song is in question.
This ambiguityhas a counterpartin the indeterminatenature of much
preservedGreek poetry,for which melody,like dance, was unrecorded,
although the euphony of the language, the qualities of the feelingexpressed,and especiallythe meter,will oftenpointunequivocallyeitherto
speaking or to singing.The complex relationshipsof duration can be
such as to make spokenperformanceout of the questionunlesswe are to
omit completelythe rhythmicalfeaturesof the music (along with the
melodic ones); the durationscan be measured only by means of the
precise power of temporaljudgment that we can secure throughtone.
In its original forms,poetrywas invariablymusical. The epic incorporatedheroicballads sung to the lyre,and everypart of it doubtlesswas

195
intonedin some fashioneven as late as classicaltimes.Elegiac and iambic

versewere also initiallysung, accompanied by the aulos and the lyrerespectively.Aeolian monody and Dorian choral poetry remained truly
melic arts,choral song encompassingdance also as a regularconstituent.
Later centurieshad no parallel for Greek melic poetry,which, as it has
come down to us, is only too obviouslya torso.The drama too, derived
fromthe cult of Dionysus,was sung to a greatextent,incorporatingboth
solo and choral song, along withdance. Only withthe new dithyrambof
Phrynisand Timotheus did music begin to undergo a fatefuland irreversiblefractionationin which its unitywas foreverlost. The complete
combinationof poetry,melody,and dance, however,was the ideal type
of music as well as the predominanttype; and it must thereforebe our
point of referencein the studyof both Greek music and Greek poetry.
But we have not fullyaccounted for the connectionof the musical arts
unlesswe realize thattheirseparationis oftenmoreapparentthan actual.
Performanceintermediatebetween speech and song was undoubtedly
prevalent,in the formof chant or recitativeor intonation,and the Greek
language was in any event remarkablyphysicaland measured. It could
neverlose an inherentmusicwhichwas characterizedby preciselydefined
durations.
The comparison of choral poetryto a mosaic has justly gained a
certain currency:15the Greek syllables are like unalterable stone tiles
which are assembled contiguouslyin intricatesuccessionsof length.In
sharp contrastis the fabricationof poetryout of the aura of feelingand
fancy that surroundswords: the result here is an intangibleplay of
meaningssupportedby the punctuationof accented pointsin a pattern
made up of silence as well as sound. If Greek poetryis much more
physicalthan this,it has its place appropriatelyin a literaturethat,even
afterthe coming of prose, was conceived for oral deliveryand almost
always heard ratherthan read. Each tone, also, was ideally coupled to
a gesture; the melody was mirroredin bodily motion. The very term
chorosmeant round dance with song, and the concretenature of Greek
music is revealed even in the fundamentalunits of rhythm,which are
not abstract durations of given length, but are defined as steps and
syllables- as physicalfactsor events.But still more fundamentalthan
physicalmotionis the word; Greek musicworthyof the name necessarily
involves language. Wordless music is regarded as inferior,and instru15 See, for example, the interestingstudy by Thrasybulos Georgiades, Der griechische Rhythmus;Musik, Reigen, Vers und Sprache, Hamburg, 1949 (or the reworked
English version,Greek Music, Verse and Dance, New York, 1956).

196
mental performancecan be distinguishedas techni (which is in no wise

different
fromcraftsince it lacks imitativecapacity) fromthe more elevated mousikJ,which generallydesignatesvocal music. There can be no
doubt that the union of melodywith word and gestureproduced an art
of extraordinarydefinition,especiallysince the unitingfactor,rhythm,
was identicalin all threecomponents;therewas not a complexinterplay
of threepatterns,but a singlerhythmic
expression,whichwas apparently
the mostimportantaspect of Greek music. Nor was thisrhythmin itself
a layered construction,as in the rhythmof an 18th- or 19th-century
melody,wherethe sounded patternis heard againstan impliedbut inaudible measuredbackground.And the unityof Greek rhythmwas further
solidifiedby unison singingand "unison" dancing; thus Greek music is
comparable to Greek statuaryand architecturein that it possessed a
remarkablydefinitephysicalcharacter.
The imitativenatureof music,its unifiedconcreteness,
and its ethical
forceare all importantly
it
is
and
interrelated,
onlythroughan awareness
of theirinterconnection
that we can secure an insightinto the musical
ethicsof antiquity.If the basic task of music is the productionof a likeness,forexample,it is understandablethatmelodymustnot be separated
fromwords,forthenits imitativecapacitywould decreaseand its meaning would become vague. Also, it is the power of music to imitatevirtue
that explains its capacity to influenceand mold character. Thus the
conception of imitationacts as an intermediarybetween the concrete
nature of music and its ethical effects,and undertakesto explain how
the one can bringabout the other.This whole circleof notionsis not so
a characterizationof art as it mightseem; for one thing,the
restrictive
Greekconceptof imitationactuallyincludesthe generalnotionof formative activityin itselfand of the synthesisor simulationof appearance
apart from referenceto a model. But even if we take mimesisin its
specificallyimitativesense,it is apparent that the matterto be imitated
can be verydiverse,extendingfromvisual objects to characterand even
The
to the idea of virtueitselfratherthan its particularmanifestations.
imitationof characterby music has a very definitesense in the literal
imitationof the speech and behavior of a person by means of vocal
music and gesture,particularlyin the portrayalof characterin drama.
This is as concreteas or reallymore concretethan imitationin sculpture
and painting.Greek music was an imitation,however,less of visual appearance than of dispositionor temperamentalnature, expressedmost
typicallyin measuredlanguage and tone. But by virtueof a rapprochementbetweenmusical theoryand harmonicmetaphysics,it also enjoyed

197
the privilegeunique among the arts of imitatingdivine and ideal order;

and as a manifestationof this order it is capable in Plato's Timaeus of
leading man to virtue and knowledge as directlyas the more literally
conceived imitationsof the Republic are able to inculcate the more
specificvirtuesof valor and temperance.Music in the Timaeus is thought
of as a purely tonal art;16 all that mattersis its ability to reflectthe
abstract values of noetic harmony; its slight imitativecapacity in the
absence of words and physical gesture has ceased to be of interest.
natureof musical imitation,the ethical
Partlyas a resultof the diversified
of
music
have
an
aspects
impressivescope, rangingfrommedical cures
to an influenceon the feelings,from the precept and moral example
contained in sung words to the most pervasiveand powerfuleffectson
behavior and character.
Throughoutthe gradual redirectionof Greekideals fromthe physical
to the intellectual,fromthe hero in combatto the philosopherand orator,
poetryand musiccontinuedto occupya positionof the utmostimportance
both in formaleducation and in the various educative occasions of life.17
The great diversityof the ethical effectsof music seemed to endow it
with value for every task. Even apart fromthe question of imitation,
instructionin music has always been an essentialpart of an aristocratic
ethic; fromHomer to the European Renaissance, instrumentalperformance and song and dance have been indispensableaccomplishmentsof
the knight and the courtier; they are part of the whole aristocratic
patternof life. The ritual observancesof the knightlyculture depicted
by Homer made use of religiouschoral dance-songs,but ethical values
can be found also in the individualdancing and singingand lyre-playing
thatservedas entertainment,
forprominentin thissecular spherewas the
rehearsal in song of great militaryexploits. Singing such heroic narrations was a private pastime of Achilles, and there can be no doubt of
theirmoral influence.We know also of the ceremonialmusic at funeral
games, which in an ethical respect would appear to stand somewhere
betweenthe religiouspaean and the heroicballad. The descriptionin the
16Timaeus, 80a-b. Because instrumentalmusic lacks imitative
power, it readily
becomes either dedication to pleasure as opposed to good, or a manifestation of
harmony,which makes it morallysignificantand at the same time a sensuous approximation of scientificknowledge.
17 Important recent historiesof ancient education are Werner Jaeger's Paideia;
The Ideals of Greek Culture, New York, 1943-45; Henri Ir6n'e Marrou's A History
of Education in Antiquity,transl. by George Lamb, New York, 1956; and Francois
Lasserre's L'Rducation musicale dans la grace antique, in his Plutarque; De la
musique, Olten and Lausanne, 1954.

198
Iliad of specificallyeducationalactivitiesin the case of the tutorsChiron

and Phoenixsupplementsthe generalpicture: educationrevolvedaround
whichincludedtrainingin song and dance and
courtlyaccomplishments,
as prominentfeatures,and around the heroic deed, which
lyre-playing
was inspiredby greatmodels of the past. It is thisidea of gloryachieved
by valor that was centralin the life of the Homeric noble, and that was
fosteredby the Iliad and the Odysseythemselvesin theirlong historyas
the fundamentsof Greek education. The eventsof the Iliad itselflook
back to still older prototypes;this is the heart of the process through
which the culturesecurescontinuity;and verymuch as the actual educational use of the heroic ballad is describedin the epic, so the epics in
turn,originallythemselvessung, became the examples furnishingmoral
inspirationto successivegenerations.Also, the gloryto which the hero
aspiresand forwhich he is willingto sacrificehis lifeis reallya musical
one, for it consistsin the poetic celebrationthat immortalizeshis deed.
Of this,again, the Iliad both relatesexamples and is itselfthe greatest
example.Thus in theHomericworld,musicand poetryhave theirhighest
functionin the glorificationof the hero and in an education that is
based on this.And theyemployan appropriateeducationalmethod,forby
lending gloryto some past exploit they turn it into an ideal of action
and thus arouse the verycompetitivespiritthat impelsthe hero to excel
in battle.
The ethical functionsof the Homeric epic were time and again
adopted and modifiedby later Greek poetry,and the ideals it expressed
neverceased to be an inspiration.An educativeintentbecame common,
manifestedin a protrepticor admonitorytone and associated with the
direct address of the poem to a particular person. The catalogue of
maximswas a characteristic
poetic genre.Most importantof all was the
continual concern with ideals and virtue, with the expressionof the
highestvalues of the poet and his culture. On occasion this took the
formof a detailed code of behavior.Hesiod's Worksand Days represents
an earlytransformation
of the epic in whichthe formis explicitlydidactic
and the concernis withthe virtuesof workand justice,values not of the
aristocracybut of the Boeotian peasantry.An explicit moral intention
became a conspicuous feature of the philosophic epic also, here connected with metaphysicaltruth. It is this whole poetic traditionthat
Socratesand Plato revitalize,and in theircriticalinspectionof the nature
of virtue,theylogicallyreviewall the specificideals of the poets. To the
ethical influencethat poetryexertsthroughits meaning, however,we
must add its abilityto reinforcethe values that inhere primarilyin a

199
situationratherthan in the words themselves;the occasion of performance takeson increasedsignificanceand moralinfluence.

The elegiac poetryof Tyrtaeusadvanced a changed ideal of heroism
that applied to the soldier of Sparta in the seventhcenturyB.C. Every
warriorin the ranksbecame a hero,not onlythe greatindividualengaged
in single combat, and the goal was serviceto the community:the glory
of the polis supplanted personal glory.At the same time, the powerful
effectsof the aulos and the marching-songwere put to use in military
music. In addition,music became an eventof competitivegames, alongside athletics,and in this way it provided a means of achieving that
individual glory no longer a dominant factor in actual combat, or at
least a means of combiningpersonal and civic fame. Most importantof
all, musical ceremoniesand festivalsunited the polis in a trulycommon
religiousexperience.WithAlcman towardstheend oftheseventhcentury,
choral poetrybecame the characteristicmusical expressionof Sparta.
Like the elegy,however,which originatedin Ionia but in the work of
Tyrtaeusand Solon and Theognis spread to all of Greece, Dorian communal poetrywas by no means confinedto Laconia, but was found also
in Sicily,Boeotia, Ionia, and Athens. But as contrastedwith the elegy,
whichtaughtby precept,and withthe iambic,whichmade use of maxim,
fable,satire,and invective,choral poetrytaughtlargelyby participation.
Spartan festivalsfurnishedthe occasions for a wide varietyof dancesongs devoted to specificdeities and ranging from solemn processions
to banter. Participationin any choral poetry meant dedication to a
tradition,and could hardlyremainwithouta strongethicaleffect.Taken
functionofpraise,which
overfromthe epic was thetypicalreligious-social
made choral poetrycharacteristically
hymnlikein nature. Praise could
commemoration
of
dead or patrioticexhortation;it
the
easilyencompass
tended to absorb everysocial and ethical value. That it was a universal
theme can be clearly seen in the Hellenistic division of melic poetry
into threetypes,all of them concernedwith praise and differing
only in
theirobjects: gods, gods and men, and men respectively.
Startingin the
middle of the sixth century,Spartan education assumed the formthat
became so well knownand influentialin latertimes;it became less intellectual, more strictlymilitary,and increasinglyresistantto change. Importantin the subsequenthistoryof musical influencesare the military
use of music forits directlystimulatingeffect,and the standardizationof
repertorythat guarded traditionalsocial and militaryvalues.
In contrastto the strongcollectivismin Sparta, Greek cultureelsewhere preservedmuch of the individualisticstandards of older times.

200
The gnomic elegiesof Theognis, for example, which were sung at symposia, conveyedexplicitmoral principlesof aristocraticbehavior.And up
to thetimeof Plato, educationwas conductedverylittlein formalschools,
but was based on an individualrelationship,the love betweenmasterand
pupil, which dominatedthe philosophicacademy as well as privatetutoring. In thislies its strength,and perhaps the ultimatereason for its vast
influenceon the courseof educationalhistory;insteadof being a relatively
superficialmatterof impartingknowledge,it is a fundamentallymoral
undertakingof cultivatingand moldingcharacter,of fashioningthe whole
personin accordance with a particularway of life. In such a framework
the importanceof music becomes more readily understandable.Before
schools were public, they were for centuriessocietiesof the elect, each
pupil bound by personal ties to the master. Music took its part in a
leisured and aristocraticlife; but still more importantwas its role in
ritual,which involvedthe age-old connectionof music with knowledge,
and more especially,with wisdom (which contains an ethical component). The philosophicschool was dedicated to music,or we can equally
well say, to culture. In the activitiesof the PythagoreanBrotherhood,
music may verywell have displayedthe fullvarietyof its ethical powers,
many of them without any basis in imitation; it was a constituentof
ritual, a medical purificationof the soul, and even - in the form of
theoreticand scientificstudy- a keyto metaphysicalknowledge;it was
studied,that is, for directlyphilosophicaland religiousreasons,and not
only employedin sonorousformfor more palpable influenceson health
and piety.In the case of Sappho's school in Lesbos, therewas continual
use of music in periodic ritual and ceremony;and instructionin lyreplaying,singing,and dance was an importantpart of the curriculum.
not
This impliesa pervasiveethicalinfluence;but the Sapphic fragments
only provideglimpsesof the place of music in the school of the poetess:
theyare remnantsof a potentart that was itselfmusic and that brought
to Greek consciousnessmany subtle shades of subjective experience.In
this way, her poems possesseda broad educational value that extended
far beyond her immediatecircle.
But if the public natureof Spartan education contrastswith the aristocraticGreek traditionof privatetutoring,anothercontrastis provided
by Athenian education of the earlier fifthcentury,for this was civilian
ratherthan military.But neitherthis significantchange nor the growth
of democracy radically affectedthe persistenceof aristocraticvalues.
These proved to be compatiblewith the ideal of social justicewhich the
poetryof Solon had long beforeenvisaged as a counterpartof the bal-

201
anced order of nature, and now valor and glory were retained in a
civilian and democratic settingsimply by transferring
them from the
battlefieldto athletics.As a result,sport took on a new intensity,and
the celebrationof victoryin the various games, especiallyas we see it
in the victoryodes, or epinikia, of Pindar, was of the highestdignity
and impressiveness.
But at the same time,the processof democratization
a
presented problem. Athleticswas to a great extentopen to all, and
in the public school, which grew up side by side withindividual education,aristocraticideals and curriculawere similarlyadopted forcommon
use. The outcome was a serious controversy,
for the belief did not die
that culture was a restrictedphenomenonand education necessarilya
selectivematter.In any event, music retainedits historicalethical role
and its commandingstatus. As far as intellectualeducation was concerned - that is, apart fromgymnastics- the chief mark of a cultivated man was the abilityto sing and dance and play the lyre.
Outside the formaleducation of the schools,choral poetrycontinued
to exert its powerfulmoral influence,especially in Sparta, while the
drinkingparty,highlyorganizedand probablythe most importantinstitutionof Greek culturallife,provideda more restrictedaristocraticclass
with trainingthat was almost exclusivelymoral and almost exclusively
musical. Dancing, and performanceson lyre and aulos, were secondary
to the skolion,in which each guest sang in his turn. A knowledgeof
poetrythat extended from epic to lyric was a presuppositionof such
gatherings:Homer and Tyrtaeusand Solon and Theognis furnishedan
extremelycomprehensivemoral cultivation,in which the explicitteachings of elegiac poetryoccupied a centralposition.It was the symposium
that was mainlyresponsibleforthe preservationof an aristocraticethic.
the older choral poetryof Stesichorus,Alcman, SimoMost importantly,
nides,and Pindar knownto thecultivatedman throughhisparticipation
in choral song- came to be performedmonodically,so that the symposium incorporatedtheideals of civic educationand ensuredthe continuity
of themusicaltraditionof liberalstudies.
Prior to the Sophistsand Socrates,Greek education was in general
more physical and moral than it was intellectual,and it consequently
made use more of actual music than of music as a theoreticand philosophic study. As a reflectionof aristocraticideals, it reallynever lost its
liberal interestsand its distrustof occupational training,and it aimed
at cultivationfor a leisuredway of life compounded of sportand intellectual pleasures,withpoliticalactivityas the typicalseriouspursuit.But
in the later fifthcentury,education took on a more purelyintellectual

202
intensityand a new ideal of wisdom. The scientificand philosophicaspects of music grew in importancealongside of practical music and for
the mostpart unrelatedto it. In thischange, the philosophersupplanted
the poet as an educator,and we can consequentlysee a particularlogic in
Plato's designationof philosophyas the highestmusic. But as philosophy
was music in an abstractsense more than an actual one, so the educational ideal it advocated was more one of musical science than of practical music. The stresson intellectualeducation did not necessarilyinvolve a discard of ethical cultivation,however,but only a change in
standards. Practical music was reinterpretedas a preparationfor the
rational trainingthat came afterward,although its direct social and
moral values were not overlooked.Much of the new outlook had been
anticipatedlong beforeby Xenophanes: he turnedto poetryratherthan
prose as a philosophicmedium,he recitedat symposia,thususurpingthe
positionof the poets,he took directissue withHomer in much the terms
Plato did, criticizinghim as immoral,and he advanced an intellectual
ratherthan a physicalideal. More subtly,Plato reducesgymnasticsto a
the soul ratherthan the body;1 but he by no means loses
matteraffecting
of
inherent
its
values, and seeks only to turn them back to their
sight
older significanceas preparationfor battle rather than for victoryin
athletic competition.Almost symbolically,in the Symposium,he explicitlyrelegates music to the category of entertainment,"while the
time of the company is spent in the higher activityof philosophical
discussion,the new and superiorkind of music. This is doubtlessa conscious depictionof new educational ideals, which Plato was quite ready
to view froma musical standpoint.With the Sophists,relativismcould
easily lead to a discard of music as an ethical force; in the world of
dialecticsand oratorythat theycreated it was to be retainedonly as an
emotional and technical aid to the speaker. But the renewed faith of
Socrates and Plato in an absolute moral standard brought with it a
belief in the older ethical values of music and in musical value in
general.Yet the nature of music was changing,and as the old unityfell
apart the educational ideals and curriculumbased on it changed also;
politicaland social changeswere a counterpart- or a result,as Damon
and Plato believed; the logical outcome was the destructionof the
polis and the growthof the cosmopolitancity,a process accompanied
and
by an equivalent disruptionof music. In attemptingto reinterpret
Republic, 410c-12b.
19Symposium, 176e. See also Protagoras, 347, where the entertainmentfurnished
by girls who dance and play the aulos and lyre is similarly set aside in favor of
discourse.
18

203
preservethe older ideals, Plato found himselfopposed to what was actually a more progressiveattitude,forphilosophyfoughtwith rhetoricover
the educational leadership abandoned by music, and rhetoricfrankly
accepted the musical disintegrationand the new intellectualspecialization, replacing universalitywith versatility.
In any event,the musical-poetictraditionreveals that the educative
functionof music existsin poetryof whatevertype,althoughthe precise
functionvaries with the genre. The teachingvalues of gnomic verse are
there for all to see, but even the philosophic epic evolved from the
didactic epic, and traces of its origin are still evident in so late a descendant as Lucretius.The motifof moral instruction,intimatelyallied
to music,runsthroughthe entirehistoryof Greekpoetryand philosophy,
and indeed throughall the literatureof antiquity.In its directaddressto
a singleindividual,the prose protrepticcontinuesthe mannerof didactic
and moral poetry;philosophyhas already adopted the device in Empedocles's time, and with Isocrates it becomes an establishedgenre. The
Epinomis (intended as a final section of Plato's Laws), Aristotle's
Protrepticus,Cicero's Hortensius,Boethius'sConsolation,and the patristic "Exhortation" are outstandingexamples. But vastlymore impressive
than the explicitexhortationis the Platonic dialogue itself,withitspowerful inspirationaleffect.The education of Greece was the high ethical
purpose that philosophycarriedover frompoetry,and if Homer was the
teacher of Greece, Plato became the teacher of the West. But in its
superiorrealizationof this purpose, philosophydirectedtowards poetry
not gratitudebut criticism.For poetrydid not deal in abstractargument;
it made use of feelingsand the concreteinstance. Furthermorepoetry
was degenerating,in Plato's opinion; it had lostsightof itssocial mission,
while those participatingin it became effeminateand depraved. The
actors in Atheniantragedystood on a plane vastlyinferiorto that of the
participantsin Dorian choral dance. It was symptomaticthat the aulos
had taken on a new popularity,and ornate musical styleshad appeared,
in conjunctionwith virtuosityand purely instrumentalmusic.20"Imitation ran riot,Plato tellsus, with attemptedduplicationsof the sounds of
nature and animals and various musical instruments;the citharoedic
singer imitated the quavering excitement of the aulos; modulation,
chromaticism,and a mixtureand confusionof stylesaccompanied a continuous search for novel effects,and music was dedicated to senseless
pleasure and applause.
20 Laws, 700a-Olc,
provides a picture of the moral decay of music and its
repercussionsin the earlier fourthcentury. See also Republic, 700a-b.

204
The ethical values of poetrybecame an importantissue in the case

of Athenian tragedy,and indeed were the core of the controversy
over
the relativemeritsof Aeschylusand Euripides. In the Frogs of Aristophanes, Aeschylusrehearsesthe traditionalmoral and social functionof
the poet: "Those are the subjectsthat poetsshould use. Note how useful,
even fromremotesttimes,the poetsof noble thoughthave been! Orpheus
taught us the mysticritesand the horridnature of murder; Musaeus,
the healing of ailmentsand the oracles; Hesiod, the tillingof the soil
and the timesfor delvingand harvest.And does not divine Homer owe
his immortalgloryto his noble teachings?Is it not he who taught the
warlike virtues,the art of fightingand of carryingarms?"21And in
answer to a question about the truthof a storyused by Euripides, he
says, "No, the storyis true enough; but the poet should hide what is
vile and not produce nor representit on the stage. The schoolmaster
teaches little children and the poet men of riper age. We must only
display what is good."22 Truth is not an adequate standard of poetic
value, then,a concept that Plato developsin detail.
It is clear at the close of the play that Aeschyluscarriesthe day precisely by virtue of his social role. Aristophanestakes the occasion to
of rhetoric,
criticizeSocrates also, whom he treatsas the representative
forengagingin idle talk- that is, in an activitynot sociallyuseful.Even
the medical power of music is wielded by Aeschylus,as it is by Musaeus
in the passage cited above. "Let us beware of jabbering with Socrates,"
the chorussings,"and of disdainingthesublimenotesof the tragicMuse.
To pass an idle lifereelingoffgrandiloquentspeechesand foolishquibbles,
is the part of a madman."23And Pluto continues: "Farewell, Aeschylus!
Go back to earth and may your noble preceptsboth save our cityand
cure the mad; thereare such, a many of them!"" In the Clouds, Aristophanes paints a vivid pictureof the immoral and outrageousresultsof
sophisticaleducation; yet howevermistakenit may be in its attribution
to Socrates and howeverludicrouslydistorted,it reallyhas a foundation
As a poet,
of truthin the dangerousethical relativismof the Sophists.25
Aristophaneswill naturallypreferpoetryto rhetoric,but his truemotives
go beyond this,as we can see in his detailed criticismof Euripides. For
21Aristophanes, Five Comedies, Cleveland, 1948, p. 272.
22Ibid., p. 273.
23Ibid., p. 287.
24Ibid., pp. 287-88.

25This can be seen clearly in the intransigentand rebellious views defended by
Callicles in Plato's Gorgias, 482c-84c.

205
Aristophanesis not only the greatestof craftsmen;he is a defenderand

of the highethicalmissionof his art.
representative
was a contemporaryof Aeschylusand, with Theognis,
who
Pindar,
the chief champion of the great aristocratictradition,gives us our
deepestinsightinto the culturalforceof music in a commemorativecontext. Not only are his odes themselvesmusic, actually servingthe high
purpose to which choral dance was dedicated, but theyoftenexplicitly
describemusic in its centralreligiousand social function.In the twelfth
PythianOde we are fortunatein having an epinikionhonoringan aulos
player; the Pythian games included music as a field of competition.
There
interwoven.26
The poem is a richtapestryof meanings,wonderfully
is an invocation to the Greek colony of Agrigentum,in Sicily, for this
is the home of the victor,Midas. Then the mythof Athena's invention
of the aulos is told: how Perseus beheaded Medusa, and how Athena
heard the mournfulcries of Medusa's sistersand inventedthe "manyheads melody"in imitationof them.Breathflowsthroughthe aulos reed,
mirroringthe action of the human voice. The reed has grownin a holy
regionnear the cityof Charites,which is known forits beautifulround
dances; thusit has alwayslooked upon dancingas it is doingon thisoccasion. There is a moral also: as it alwayshas in thepast,successcomesonly
witheffortand withdivineaid.
Music has a remarkablyelaborate significancein this ode; it permeateseveryvalue, ennoblinghero,city,ritual,and tradition.The aulos is
physicallypartofthe ceremonyof celebration,but it is also discussedin the
poem itself;itsreedhas come froma land devotedto dance. And thevictor's
gloryis reallythegloryof thecity,but it is givenstilldeepermeaningbythe
and the melody-type:Midas is something
divineoriginof the instrument
likethepriestof a specificmusicalritual.Choral dance is basicallyreligious
music, and thus naturallyencompassesboth mythand moral teaching.
In all the longerodes mythoccupiesthe centralpart,tied somehowto the
victoriousoccasion, eitherto the hero, to his family,or to his city and
its particulargods and heroes.It is reallyonlyin thisreferenceto current
occasions and places that the epinikia differfromthe dithyrambs.Thus
both music and life are given depth and meaning; they are viewed as
continuouswith a sacred traditionextendinginto a divine past.
It becomes especially evident here that the ethical force of music
derivesfromitsreligiousand social nature,whichis manifestedboth in its
ritual importanceand in its public and patrioticfunctions.Choral song
was the heart of the Pythiangames, and the drama an essentialfeature
26See the discussionin Georgiades, Greek Music...

206
of the Dionysian festivals.Furthermore,in its content,Greek literature

almost always has a social orientation;the isolated individual, like the
autonomyof art, hardlyhad a meaning. Consequentlythe poet was not
just a national hero as an artist,but was regardedliterallyas a teacher
and leader, and at times as a prophet. Plato is not simplybeing contentiouswhen he demands an active political or social role from the
poet beforehe will considerhim a worthwhilememberof society.27An
outstandingexample of the poet as a leader - and of the practical
importof moralityin poetryis that of Solon, the great statesmanof
Athens; and it is obvious that the numeroustales of poets in the guise
of rulersand peacemakers,like the storiesof Sparta's repeated recourse
to musicians in hours of need, cannot be totallywithout foundation.
Thus when philosophyand oratorylaid claim to teachingand to leadership, they could do so only in a conscious attemptto fill the role of
poetry.Plato's disputewith the poets and the rhetoriciansrevolvesto no
small extent around the educational value of these rival pursuits,although,to be sure,possessingbothpoeticgeniusand an incrediblemastery
of rhetoric,he is easily able to carryoffthe victory.
But music does not merely present conceptual material to the
intellect;it molds charactermore directlyin the psychologicalimpact of
still in the fact
its rhythmand meterand melody,and more forcefully
musical perfor
that choral dance-song compels participation,calling
formerswho also must take part in a ceremonialexperience.This is in
particular the Dorian tradition of music, exemplifiedby Sparta; it
is the great Grecian ideal that Plato unhesitatingly
adopts. Compared
with it all othervarietiesof art shrinkto insignificance:the tragedians
have come to pander to the public, instrumentalvirtuosityis directed
solely to pleasure, the monodistsare lascivious, art in general is false
and corrupting.
There can be no doubt that everyelementof music contributedits
share to the whole ethical quality.28The moral contentof the words
was reinforcedby bodily movements,by meterand melodyof the same
quality and character,and by an appropriatetempo. Even in isolation,
each componentwould have somethingof the same natureas the whole,
27 As an imitator alone, the artist has little claim to respect; if he really understood the objects he imitated, he would devote himself to them and not to art. See
Republic, 597d-602c.
28Even though issue can be taken with it in some respects, Hermann Abert's
study of the ethical character of the various constituentsof Greek music, Die Lehre
vom Ethos in der griechischen Musik, Leipzig, 1899, is still a basic and definitive
collection of the evidence, most of it unfortunatelyfrompost-classical sources.

207
and would expressthe same feelingand have the same effect,albeit in

less precise and powerfulform. What remains of Greek music permits
us to verifythis only for meter; melody and gesturehave disappeared
with hardly a trace. Only theoreticaldiscussionof musical ethos opens
to us somethingof the specificcapabilities of various scales and types
of melody and dance. But in the application of meter to reflect
the moral nature of ideas we have a storehouse of practice that
helps to round out technical and estheticdiscussion; and it becomes
clear that each varietyof meterhas its own ethical nature which helped
it to definea particulargenreof poetryto begin with,so that poetryand
drama slowlydevelop a stockof moral and expressivevalues. The ethos
of meterbecomes particularlyprominentwhen the nature of the poetic
genre permitscombinationsof differentmetricaltypesor the construction of new ones, as is conspicuouslythe case in dramatic composition,
which is not only analogous to "panharmonic" music but liable to the
same Platonic criticismof playing a wanton game with human feelings
ratherthan inculcatingthe patternof officiallyapproved virtue.Dochmiac meterhad an effectof anxietyor despair, anapaestic one of dignity,the paeonic was excited,the epitritegrave. Some meterswere obviouslycapable of a varietyof effects,even apart fromtempo,which of
course would always be an influentialfactor.Also, metricalcomposition,
like melodic, could involve complex and individual constructionsfor
each work, as it does in Pindar. The musical genius of the composer
might arrange long and short syllables and syncopationswithout the
guidance of theory,but in quite the same way as it arranged the constituentpitchesand intervalsin a melody.
Both the technical theoryof musical ethics and its general moral
and social philosophywere formulatedtowards the middle of the fifth
centuryB.C. by Damon,2 an Athenianphilosopherand musical theorist.
This influentialman was a pupil of the Sophist Prodicus,an adviser of
Pericles,and a teacher of Socrates, but in spite of his importance,our
knowledge of his ideas is due almost exclusivelyto fragmentsof an
oration, his Areopagitikos,and to several referencesto him by Socrates
and Plato, who speak of him with the greatestrespect.The discovery
and analytical application of the metrical foot seem to have been his
work,as well as contributionsto the systemof the harmoniai. Ethically
29 See Franz Buecheler, Hoi peri Damona, in Rheinisches Museum 40, 1885;
Karl von Jan, Damon, in A. Pauly and G. Wissowa, eds., Real-Enzyklopiidie der
klassischen Altertumswissenschaft,
Stuttgart, 1893ff.; Heinrich Ryffel,Eukosmia; Ein
Beitrag zur Wiederherstellungdes Areopagitikos des Damon, in Museum Helviticum
4, 1947, and Lasserre, op. cit., pp. 53-79.

208
he was concerned with the effectsof various rhythmicand melodic

patternsupon human nature, and set up typologiesof rhythmsand
modes and characters.He was the leading authorityin the fieldof the
specificmoral effectsof music,maintainingalso that therewas an indissoluble connectionbetween music and society,so that musical changes
inevitablyentailed legal ones. The thesisof his orationwas undoubtedly
that the guardianshipof good law and good ordershould remain as the
functionof the Areopagus, the oldest and most distinguishedof the
Athenian tribunals,and that this functionwas best dischargedthrough
music,which in affectingthe human soul could similarlyaffectthe soul
of the state - its laws and political constitution.
When Athenian philosophyconcerned itselfwith the teaching of
virtue,it naturallyhad to come to termswith traditionaland current
conceptionsof education,which were representedchieflyby the Sophists.
Training in music and gymnasticwere prescribedby law,30and the
of his
great Sophist Protagoras,in contrastto the later representatives
In
influences.
musical
of
value
and
in
the
believed
strength
profession,
the dialogue of Plato named forhim, Protagorasis interestedin demonstratingthat virtue can be taught, and he appropriatelyrecountsthe
whole customarycourse of education.3 He describesepic poetry'sadmonitions,praises,and encomia of ancient famous men which the child
must learn by heart so that he may imitateor emulate them and desire
to become like them. And he discussesalso how the child learns lyric
poetryand its accompanimentby the lyre,which makes the harmoniai
and rhythmsfamiliarto his soul, thus teachinghim to be more gentle,
harmonious,and rhythmical.Then gymnasticis used to strengthenhis
body, so that it may betterministerto his virtuousmind.
It is only in the writingsof Plato and Aristotlethat we come upon
an elaborated ethical theoryof music, along with a detailed educational
program;but a considerationof the finalimpressiveproductsof Hellenic
musical thoughtfalls outside the scope of the presentdiscussion,which
seeksonlyto expose the foundationsof the Platonic conceptionsby examining the nature of Greek musical practicetogetherwith what littlecan
be discerned of earlier speculation. It may be mentioned by way of
conclusion,however,that the Platonic moral and social philosophyof
music is by no means a clear and coherentwhole; perhapsbecause of its
vast scope, much is omittedand unexplained.The relationsbetweenthe
moral values derived fromimitationand those derived fromharmonic
3o Plato, Crito, 50d.
31 Protagoras, 325c-26e.

209
structure,between the dangers and the benefitsof imitation,between

vocal and instrumentalmusic, between the educational advantages of
musical practice and those of musical theory,between the ethical and
estheticaspectsof the effectof music,all presentproblemsof considerable
In theirsolution,a studyof the sourcesof Plato's musical ideas
difficulty.
will be an indispensableaid.32
32 A
comprehensive examination of Hellenic musical ideas will be included in
my forthcomingbook on ancient conceptions of music.


Ethical View of Music in Ancient Greece

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The Sources and Development of the Ethical View of Music in Ancient Greece

Author(s): Edward A. Lippman

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THE SOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

of the ethicalforceof musicare a characteristic

explicitin philosophytheyare expressedboth in mythsof musical magic

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

of fact.2Both the Thracian cult of Bacchus and the relatedPhrygiancult

2 A great deal of informationabout the Dionysiac,

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The Musical Quarterly

emotionratherthan contemplation;it is turnedinward to the divine in

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

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The Musical Quarterly

emotions,and towardsquiet contemplationand speculativethought.Certainlythe later "so-called" Pythagoreansto whom Aristotlerefers'were

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

thosewho have need of gods and mysteries,

Here we have a depictionboth of the emotional potencyof music and

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The Musical Quarterly

whole process takes place by means of music; cultural values are

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

intonedin some fashioneven as late as classicaltimes.Elegiac and iambic

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The Musical Quarterly

mental performancecan be distinguishedas techni (which is in no wise

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

the privilegeunique among the arts of imitatingdivine and ideal order;

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The Musical Quarterly

Iliad of specificallyeducationalactivitiesin the case of the tutorsChiron

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

situationratherthan in the words themselves;the occasion of performance takeson increasedsignificanceand moralinfluence.

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The Musical Quarterly

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

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The Musical Quarterly

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

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The Musical Quarterly

The ethical values of poetrybecame an importantissue in the case

24Ibid., pp. 287-88.

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

Aristophanesis not only the greatestof craftsmen;he is a defenderand

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The Musical Quarterly

of the Dionysian festivals.Furthermore,in its content,Greek literature

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The Ethical View of Music in AncientGreece

and would expressthe same feelingand have the same effect,albeit in

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The Musical Quarterly

he was concerned with the effectsof various rhythmicand melodic