M U 
Callimachus,' Polybius, and many others, produced all 
within a (pace lei's than three hundred years, diftinguilh 
this illuftrious and uncommon period as that in which the 
whole powers of genius feem to have been exerted to en¬ 
lighten and inftruft mankind in future ages. Then it 
was that eloquence, poetry, mufic, architecture, hillory, 
painting, fculpture, like the fpontaneous blofl'oms of na¬ 
ture, flourifhed without the appearance of labour or of art. 
The poets, as well epic as lyric and elegiac, were all 
likevvife muficians ; fo ItriCtly connected were mufic and 
poetry for many ages. It would afford amufement to col¬ 
lect the biographical anecdotes of thefe favourites of ge¬ 
nius, and to afiign to each the refpeCtive improvements 
made by him in mufic and poetry; but our limits do not 
admit of loextenfive a difquiiition ; for which, therefore, 
reference mull be made to the editors and commentators 
of thefe authors, and to the voluminous hiltories of mufic 
publifiied by Burney and Hawkins. 
The invention of notation and mufical characters 
marked a diftinguillied sera in the progrefs of mufic. 
There is a diveriity of accounts refpeCting the perfon to 
whom the honour of that invention is due ; but the evi¬ 
dences feem to preponderate in favour of Terpander, a 
celebrated poet and mufician, to whole genius mufic is 
much indebted. He flourifhed about the 27th Olympiad, 
or 671 years before Chriit. 
Before that valuable difcovery, mufic, being entirely 
traditional, mull have depended much on the memory 
and tafte of the performer ; and there is an incident men¬ 
tioned in the accounts handed down to us of the Olympic 
games, which may ferve in fome degree to. mark the cha¬ 
racter of mufic at that time. Lucian relates, that a young 
flute-player named Harmonides, at his firft public appear¬ 
ance in thefe games, began a l'olo with fo violent a blaft, 
that he breathed his luji breath into his flute, and died on the 
J'pot. When to this anecdote, wonderful to us, and almolt 
incredible, is added the circumftance, that the trumpet- 
players at thefe public exhibitions expreifed an excels of 
joy when they found their exertions had neitherrent their 
cheeks nor buril their blood-veflels, fome idea may be 
formed of the noify and vociferous lfyle of mufic which 
then pleafed; and from fuch faCts only can any opinion be 
obtained of the aClual Hate of ancient mufic. In whatever 
manner the flute was played on, there is no doubt that it 
waslongin Greece an inftrument of high favour, and that 
the flute-players were held in much eflimation. The flute 
ufed by Ifinenias; a celebrated Theban mufician, coll at 
Corinth three talents, or 58il. 5s. If, fays Xenophon, a 
bad flute-player would pal's for a good one, he mufl, like 
the great flute-players, expend large fums on rich furni¬ 
ture, and appear in public with a great retinue of fervants. 
The ancients, it appears, were not lefs extravagant in 
gratifying the minifiers of their pleafures than ourfelves. 
Amcebauis, a harper, was paid an Attic talent, or 193I. 15s. 
per day for his performance. 
It is proper tooblerve, that the celebrated muficians of 
Greece who performed in public were of both l'exes; and 
that the beautiful Lamia, who was taken captive by De¬ 
metrius, in the fea-engagement in which he vanquilhed 
Ptolemy Soter, and who herfelf captivated her conqueror, 
was a public performer, as well as were many other ele¬ 
vated female fpirits, who are recorded by ancient authors 
in terms of admiration. This will not lb much furprife 
us, when it is added, that in modern times, at the confer- 
vatorios, or mufical fchools, of Venice, of which there 
are four, the performers, both vocal and inflrumental, 
are all females : the organs, the flutes and French horns, 
the violins, violoncellos, and even the double-balfcs, are 
all played by women. 
The ilate of mufic among the Romans retained but 
little of the elegance of the Greeks. Their mufic in ge¬ 
neral was rough and difcordant, and even their hymeneal 
odes w'ere full x>f noife and clamour. In the time of 
Cicero, though the chief part of Greece was fubdued by 
the Romans, yet the Greeks preferved a kind of fupe- 
s I C. 295 
riority over their conquerors, and even their confuls fub- 
mitted to apply for inftrudlion at Athens, and to become 
difciples of Greek mailers. We find feveral of the Ro¬ 
man emperors wonderfully attached to mufic. Nero and 
Commodus make a conliderable figure in the hillory of 
the art. Nero was very early in life inftru6led in mufic. 
As foon as he became emperor, he fent for Terpnus, a 
harpey in the highell eflimation for his excellence in his 
profeflion ; and W'ould fit till very late for many lucceed- 
ing days, to hear him ling. Thus by degrees he applied 
himfelf to mufic, till at length he raifed himfelf fo high 
in his own opinion, as to think himfelf fufliciently (killed 
for a public performer. He inftituted exercifes of mufic, 
poetry, and eloquence, to be performed at Rome every 
fifth year. In the year 60, he appeared, on the llage at 
Naples as a public finger, and performed there many 
days. Among other things, he fung Canace in Labour, 
Oreftes the Matricide, the Blind Oedipus, and the Mad 
Hercules. His next appearance was in Greece, where he 
entered the liils with common muficians at the Olympic 
Games, and, by corrupting the judge, or his competitors, 
he obtained the prize. He travelled through Greece for 
the foie purpofe of difplaying his ikill, in finging and 
playing on the cithara. He every-where challenged the 
bell performers ; and, as may be imagined, was always 
declared vidor. He commanded the ttatues of other vic¬ 
tors to be pulled down and defaced, that their memorials 
might be forgotten. On his return from Greece, he en¬ 
tered Naples drawn by white horfes, in the manner of con¬ 
querors in the facred games ; and, after having vifited 
many other cities, he made his public entry into Rome 
through a breach in the wall, with the greateft fplendour 
and lolemnity as an Olympic vidor, with eighteen hun¬ 
dred prizes, which he had extorted from arbitrators in 
mufical contefts. He was drefled in a purple veil, and his 
robe was adorned with liars of gold ; on his head he wore 
the Olympic crown, and in his right hand he carried the 
Pythian crown. He was met by all ranks of people ; fome 
thoufand Haves followed the chariot of Augullus, in 
which he rode ; and the llreets were every-where ftrqwed 
with flowers. He was induced to vifit Greece, by being 
told that he excelled the moll celebrated performers on 
the Grecian llage. He was likewife flattered into an opi¬ 
nion that he underftood the poets perfectly ; and ima¬ 
gined himfelf fuperior to them all, though he was mean 
enough to recite the compofitions of one of his paralites, 
and to pals them on the public as his own. He was fo 
anxious about his voice, that he ufed to lie on his back 
with a thin plate of lead on his ftomach ; he abftained 
from all kind of fruits, and fuch meats as were thought 
prejudicial to the voice ; he cealed to harangue the l’ol- 
diery or fenate, giving out all his orders in writing ; he 
appointed a phonojcus, or officer to take care of his voice, 
and would never lpeak but in his company, whom he or¬ 
dered, in cafe he ihould at any time feem to (train his 
voice, to flop' his mouth with a napkin. But we find 
that Nero united a fondnefs for the fofteft pleafures with 
a third for the greateft cruelties ; and that, while he was 
enjoying the irrefiftible charms of mufic, he premeditated 
the molt dreadful and diabolical fchemes that ever de¬ 
based the character of man. The emperor Commodus 
alfo, who was almoft as great a monfter as Nero, appeared 
frequently on the Itage as a public finger. 
We (hall travel back to Egypt, in order to introduce 
another royal tyrant who was a lover of mufic. Ptolemy, 
the father of Cleopatra, derived his cognomen of Au/eles, 
the “ flute-player,” from his excelfive attachment to that 
inftrument. Strabo fays of him, that, befides his de¬ 
baucheries, he applied himfelf in a particular manner to 
playing the flute. He had fuch an opinion of his own 
abilities, as to inftitute mufical contefts at his palaces ; 
and had there the courage to difpute the prize, publicly, 
with the firft muficians of his time ; and, as the drefs of 
players on the flute among the ancients was peculiar to 
that profeflion, this prince fubmitted to wear the robe, 
1 the 
