1 
MUSIC. 
204 
that the earlieft melodies muft have had a greater com- 
pafs than this ; although fome fuppofe the'' three livings 
of the oldeft lyre to have been lucceffive notes of the 
fcale. It is uncertain when, or by whom, the fourth 
firing was added : but the merit of increafing the num¬ 
ber to feven is attributed to Terpander, about the year 
700 before Chrift, two centuries after Homer : although 
fome perfons have afl'erted that he only brought the 
improvement from Egypt, and that Hermes was alfo the 
inventor of the lyre with feven firings. Pythagoras, or 
Simonides, about the year 500, added an eighth, and 
Timotheus a ninth, tenth, and eleventh, firing: the num¬ 
ber was afterwards extended to two octaves : and Epigo- 
nus is faid to have ufed a lyre of forty firings, or rather a 
harp, as he played without a pleftrum. But the theory of 
the ancient mufic foon became more intricate than in- 
terefling. The lyre of eight firings comprehended an 
o(Slave, correfponding pretty accurately with the notes of 
our natural fcale ; but there was a confiderable diver- 
fity in the manner of tuning the lyre, according to the 
great variety of modes and genera that were introduced. 
Thefe modes were of a nature totally different from the 
modern modulations into various keys ; but they muft 
have afforded a more copious fund of flriking, if not of 
pleafmg, melodies^ than we have at prefent. In fome of 
the genera, intervals of a quarter-tone were employed 5 
but this pra&ice, on account of its difficulty, was foon 
abandoned ; a difficulty which is not eaiily overcome by 
the moll experienced of modem fingers; although 1’orae 
great mailers have been faid to introduce a progreffion of 
quarter-tones, in pathetic palfages, with lurprifing efie 61 . 
The narrative of the famous fenatus confultuni , or 
rather decree, againll the mufician Timotheus, at Sparta, 
for augmenting the number of firings on bis lyre, is con¬ 
firmed by Paufanius and Suidas. This curious piece of 
antiquity is preferved at full length by Boethius, (De 
Mufica, cap. i.) Mr. Stillingfleet (Princ. and Power of 
Harm. § 185.) has given an extrafl from it, in proof of 
the fimplicity of the ancient Spartan mufic. The fa6l is 
mentioned in Athenseus ; and Cafaubon, in his notes on 
that author, has inferted the whole original text from 
Boethius, with corredlions, to which we refer the learned 
reader. We ffiall here, however, give a faithful tranila- 
tion of this extraordinary Spartan acl of parliament. 
“ Whereas Timotheus the Milefian, coming to our city, 
has diffionoured our ancient mufic, and, defpifing the 
lyre of feven firings, has, by the introdudlion of a greater 
variety of notes, corrupted the ears of our you.th ; and 
by the number of his firings, and the novelty of his me¬ 
lody, has given to our mufic an effeminate and artificial 
drefs, inflead of the plain and orderly one in which it has 
hitherto appeared ; rendering melody infamous, by com- 
pofing in the chromatic, inflead of the enharmonic;- 
The kings and the ephori have, therefore, refolved to pals 
cenfure upon Timotheus for thefe things ; and, farther, to 
oblige him to cut off all the l'uperfiuous firings of his eleven, 
leaving only th e feven tones ; and to banifh him from our 
city, that men may be warned for the future, not to in¬ 
troduce into Sparta any unbecoming cufloms.” 
The fame flory, as related in Athenaeus, has this addi¬ 
tional circumftance ; that, when the public executioner 
was on the point of fulfilling the fentence, by cutting off 
the new firings, Timotheus, perceiving a little flatue in 
the fame place, with a lyre in his hand of as many firings 
as that which had given the offence, and fhowing it to the 
judges, was acquitted. Indeed the decree only informs 
us, that the ufe of a lyre with more than feven firings 
was not allowed at this time by the Lacedaemonians 5 but 
does not prove that the reft of Greece had confined their 
mufic within the compafs of Jeven notes ; nor, confequent- 
ly, afcertain how many of the eleven firings were addi¬ 
tions peculiar, to Timotheus. That the outcry againll the 
novelties of this mufician was, however* not confined to 
Sparta, appears from a palfage in Plutarch’s Dialogue, 
where he gives a lift of the innovators who had corrupted 
and enervated the good old melody, by additional notes 
both upon the flute and lyre. “ Lafus of Hermione,” 
fays he, by changing mufical rhythms to the dithyram- 
bic irregularity of movement, and, at the fame time, emu¬ 
lating the compafs and variety of the flute, occafioncd a 
great revolution in the ancient mufic. Melanippides, who 
fucceeded him, in like manner, would not confine him- 
felf to the old mufic, any more tharr his fcholar Philoxe- 
nus, or Timotheus.” 
Plutarch alfo tells us, that the comic poetPberecrates in¬ 
troduced Mufic on the flage, under the figure of a woman, 
whole body was terribly torn and mangled. She is alked 
by Juflice, under the figure of another woman, the caufe 
of her ill-treatment ? when fhe relates her flory in the 
following words : “ The firft fource of all my misfortunes 
was Melanippides, who began to enervate and debilitate 
me by his twelve firings. However, this would not have 
reduced me to the deplorable condition in which I now 
appear, if Cinelias, that curled Athenian, had not con¬ 
tributed to ruin and disfigure me in his dithyrambic 
ftrophes, by his falfe and untuneable inflexions of voice. 
In fhort, his cruelty to me was beyond all defcription; 
and next to him, Phrynis took it into his head to abufe 
me by filch divifions and flourilhes as no one ever thought 
of before, making me fubfervient to. all his whims, twill¬ 
ing and twirling me a thoufand ways, in order to produce 
from Jive firings, the twelve different modes. But Hill, the 
freaks of fuch a man would not have been fufficient to 
complete my ruin, for he was able to make me fome amends. 
Nothing now was wanting but the cruelty of one Timo¬ 
theus to fend me to the grave, after maiming and mang¬ 
ling me in the moll inhuman manner.” “ Who is this 
Timotheus ?” fays Juflice. Mufic replies 
Oh ! ’tis that vile Milefian blade, 
Who treats me like an arrant jade ;■ 
Robs me of all my former fame ; 
And loads me with contempt and fiiam®; 
Contriving Hill, where’er he goes, 
New ways to multiply my woes: 
Nay more, the wretch I never meet, 
Be it in palace, houfe, or ftreet, 
But ftraight he tries to clip my wings. 
And ties me with a dozen firings. 
It has been imagined, with much appearances of proba¬ 
bility, that the occupation of the flrft poets and muficians 
of Greece refembled that of the Celtic and German bards 
and the fcalds of Iceland and Scandinavia,. They lung 
their poems in the ftreets of cities and in the palaces of 
princes. They were treated with high refpeft, and re¬ 
garded as infpired perfons. Such was the employment of 
Homer. His poems, fojuflly celebrated, exhibit the moll 
authentic pi6lure that can be found in the annals of anti¬ 
quity, although perhaps fomewhat highly coloured, of the 
times of which he wrote and in which he lived. Mulic is 
always named throughout the Iliad and Odyfley with rap¬ 
ture; but, as in thefe poems no mention is made of in r 
llrumental mufic unaccompanied with poetry and finging, 
a confiderable fliare no doubt of the poet’s praifes is to be 
attributed to the poetry. The inftruments molt frequent¬ 
ly named are the lyre, the flute, and the fyrinx. The 
trumpet appears not to have been known at the liege of 
Troy, although it had come to be in ufe in the days of 
Homer himfelf. 
From the time of Homer till that of Sappho, there is 
alinoft a total blank in literature. Only a few fragments 
remain of the works of thofe poets and muficians whole 
names are preferved as having flourilhed between thofe 
periods. During the century which elapfed between the 
days of Sappho and thofe of Anacreon, no literary pro¬ 
ductions are preferved entire’. From Anacreon to Pindar 
there is another chafm of near a century. Subfequent tQ 
this time, the works Hill extant of the three great tragic 
poets, HEfchylus, Sophocles, and Euripide , together with 
thofe of Plato, Ariftotle, Arilloxenus, Euclid, Theocritus, 
Callimachus, 
