MUSICIANS 261 



even the eloquence of Plato was not thought to 

 suffer by a comparison with it. At Surinam the 

 noise of the Cicada tibicen is still supposed so much 

 to resemble the sound of a harp or lyre, that they 

 are called there harpers {Lierman). Whether the 

 Grecian Cicadas maintain their ancient character 

 for music, travellers do not tell us." 



The Romans appear to have differed from the 

 Greeks in their appreciation of this music, for 

 Virgil in his Georgics accuses his native Cicadas 

 of bursting the very shrubs with their noise, and 

 he is supported by the comparatively modern 

 Sir J. E. Smith, who says it " makes a most disagree- 

 able dull chirping." Dr. Shaw, again, alluding to 

 the Seventeen-year Cicada, says : 



" In the hotter months of summer, especially 

 from midday to the middle of the afternoon, the 

 Cicada, Tettix, or grasshopper, as we falsely trans- 

 late it, is perpetually stunning our ears with its 

 most excessively shrill and ungrateful noise. It is 

 in this respect the most troublesome and impertinent 

 of insects, perching upon a twig and squalling some- 

 times two or three hours without ceasing ; thereby 

 too often disturbing the studies, or short repose 

 that is frequently indulged in in these hot climates, 

 at those hours. The Tettix of the Greeks must 

 have had quite a different voice, more soft, 

 surely, and melodious ; otherwise the fine 

 orators of Homer, who are compared to it, can 

 be looked upon as no better than loud, loquacious 

 scolds." 



