THE ARTS AND RELIGION 269 



what they would do, and boasts of what they had 

 done, varying with the various ages ; as, for example, 

 they had three choirs in their solemn festivals, the 

 first of the old men, the second of the young men, 

 and the last of the children; the old men began 

 thus : 



" We once were young and brave and strong." 

 The young men answered them, singing : 



" And we're so now, come on and try." 

 The children came last and said : 



" But we'll be strongest by and by." 



Many examples could be given to show that the 

 music of the Greeks was related to the idea of valor 

 and military glory much more than to the refined 

 sentiments of humanity which have their pivot in 

 the relations of family life. And this need excite no 

 wonder, for nothing else could be expected from a 

 nation which made the family secondary to the state, 

 and which was satisfied to permit a large number of 

 its best and most intelligent women to lead the lives 

 of prostitutes. That under these conditions the 

 typical Greek music should be dull, unimaginative, 

 and lacking in ideas is only what might be predicted 

 of any nation, however brilliant, where the relations 

 between men and women are wanting in delicacy 

 and deeply romantic and self-sacrificing attachments. 

 The Greek poverty of instruments capable of express- 



