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referved for perfon* and t ran factions of more modern 
times, and of greater certitude. Indeed feveral of them 
have been mentioned already ; and, as the reft will na¬ 
turally appear in their places in the alphabet, we ihall 
here notice only Thamyris and Demodocus. 
Thamyris is called by Homer xi 0 a|ir - /)s, “ one who plays 
on the cithara.” Plutarch, in his Dialogue on Mufic, 
tells us, that he was born in Thrace, the country of 
Orpheus, and had the fweeteft and moll fonorous voice 
of any bard of his time. He was the fon of Philammon, 
of whom mention has already been made. Homer, in 
his Catalogue of Ships, where he fpeaks of the cities un¬ 
der the dominion of Neftor, mentions Dorion as the 
place where Thamyris contended with the Mufej, whom 
he had the arrogance to challenge to a trial of fkill in 
poetry and mufic. The conditions and confequences of 
this contention are fully defcribed by the poet; 
And Dorion, fam’d for Thamyris’ difgrace, 
Superior once of all the tuneful race, 
Till, vain of mortals’ empty praife, he drove 
To match the feed of cloud-compelling Jove : 
Too daring bard ! whofe unfuccefsful pride 
Th’ immortal Mufes in their art defy’d ; 
Th’ avenging Mufes of the light of day 
Depriv’d his eyes,'and fnatch’d his voice away : 
No more his heav’nly voice was heard to fing, 
His hand no more awak’d the filver firing. Iliad ii. 
Plutarch informs us alfo, that the painter Polvgnotus, 
in his celebrated pifture of Ulyffes’ defcent into hell, 
which was preferved in the temple of Delphos, had re- 
prefented the wretched Thamyris with his eyes put out, 
his hair and beard long and diftievelled, and his lyre, 
broken and unftrung, lying at his feet. It is certain too, 
according to Paufanias, that this bard was not only the 
fubjeft of painting and poetry, but of fculpture; for he 
tells us, that, among the ftatues with which Mount He¬ 
licon was decorated, he law one of Thamyris, repre- 
fented blind, and holding a broken lyre in his hand. 
According to Diodorus Siculus, he learnt mufic at the 
fchool of Linus. Pliny tells us that he was the firft who 
performed on an inftrument without the voice, i. e. the 
firft J'olo-player; and, if we may credit Suidas, he was ge¬ 
nerally regarded as the eighth among the epic poets who 
preceded Homer. As to his works, which are wholly loft, 
antiquity has preferved the names of feveral. Tzetzes 
mentions a Colinogony, or creation of the world, in five 
hundred verfes, and Suidas a Theogony in three thou- 
fand; perhaps both thefe writers fpeak of one and the 
fame poem. He was faid chiefly to have excelled in the 
compofition of hymns ; on which account Plato com¬ 
pares him with Orpheus; and, as he makes the foul of 
this bard, after death, pais into that of a fwan, he fixes 
the refidence of that of Thamyris in a nightingale. We 
only know his poem upon the War of the Titans by what 
Plutarch tells us of it from Heraclides of Pontus. Cle¬ 
mens Alexandrinus attributes to him the invention of 
the Dorian mode or melody, which, if it could be proved, 
would be of more importance to our prefent enquiries 
than the afcertaining his poetical works. But this mode, 
it has been fuggefted already, was fo ancient, that it may 
well be imagined to have been brought out of Egypt by 
the firft invaders of Greece, who fettled in that part of it 
which was called Doria. 
In fpeaking of Demodocus, Homer has taken occafion 
to exalt the charafter of poet and bard to the fummit of 
human glory; and it has been generally thought, fays 
Pope, that Homer reprefented himfe^f in the perfion of 
Demodocus. It is remarkable, at leaft, that he takes 
very extraordinary care of his brother-poet, and intro¬ 
duces him as a perfon of great diftinftion. He calls him 
(Odylf. viii.) “ the hero Demodocus he places him on 
a throne ftudded with filver, and gives him an herald for 
his attendant. Nor is he lefs careful to provide for his 
entertainment; he has a particular table, and a capacious 
s 1 C. $55 
bowl fet before him to drink from “ as often as he had a 
mind,” as the original exprefles it. Some merry wits 
have'turned the laft circumftance into raillery, and infi¬ 
ll uate that Homer in this place, as well as in the former, 
means himfelfin the perfon of Demodocus; an intima¬ 
tion that he would not be difplealed to meet with the 
like hofpitality. Homer feveral times in this book afi- 
cribes the long of Demodocus to immediate infpiration ; 
but to cite all the praife bellowed upon Demodocus, 
would be to tranfcribe the whole eighth book of the 
Odyfley. It may be worth obferving, that he fung and 
played extempore : “ The bard, advancing, meditates the 
lay.” And again : 
O more than man ! thy foul the Mu.fe infpires, 
And Phoebus animates with all his fires : 
For who, by Phoebus uninform’d, could know 
The woe of Greece, and fing fo well the woe ? 
Juft to the tale, as prefent at the fray, 
Or.taught the labours of the dreadful day; 
The long recalls paft horrors to my eyes, 
And bids proud Ilion from her allies rife. Pope. 
Euftathius obferves, that Homer in this paflage very art¬ 
fully reprefents himfelfin the perfon of Demodocus': it 
is he who wrote the war of Troy with as much faithful- 
nefs as if he had been prefent at it; it is he who had little 
or no alfiftance from former relations of that ftory, and 
confequently receives it from Apollo and the Mufes. 
This is moreover a fecret infinuation, that we are not to 
look upon the Iliad as all fifilion and fable, but in general 
as a real hiftory, related with as much certainty as if the 
poet had been prefent at thole memorable actions. 
Euftathius adds, that poets were ranked in the clafs of 
philofophers ; and the ancients made ufe of them as pre¬ 
ceptors in mufic and morality. But he tells us likewife, 
that thefe aoi&n were faid by fome writers to have had 
their names from this circumftance, a; aiS'aia. py egotist ;; 
exafilly relembling the Italian fingers. “If this be true, 
(lays Pope,) it makes a great difference between the an¬ 
cient and modern poets, and is the only advantage that I 
know' of which we have over them.” This idea luflici- 
ently qualifies a bard for the office of guardian to the 
chaftity of a frail princefs, and puts .him upon a footing 
with the chamberlains, the stna^oi of ancient Perfia, and 
other eaftern countries. And accordingly, Demodocus 
is fuppofed by the fame critic, and by others, to have 
been the bard, already mentioned at p. 296. with whom 
Agamemnon left Clytemnellra in charge. Fie was blind, 
as well as Tirefias, Thamyris, and Homer. The inftru¬ 
ment he played upon is called in the Odyfley phorminx. 
Plutarch fays, that he wrote the Deftrufition of Troy in 
verfe, and the Nuptials of Vulcan and Venus. And 
Ulylfes is faid, by Ptolemy Hephseftion, to have gained 
the prize at the Tyrrhene games, by finging the verfes of 
Demodocus. 
Thaletas of Crete is the next poet-mufician upon re¬ 
cord, after Hefiod and Homer. This bard has been con¬ 
founded by fome writers with Thales, the celebrated 
Milefian philofopher ; but, according to Plutarch, he was 
cotemporary with Lycurgus, the Spartan legillator, and 
lived about three hundred years after the Trojan war. 
Plutarch alfo informs us, that, though Thaletas was only 
ftyled a lyric poet and mufician, he was likevvile a great 
philofopher and politician ; infomuch that Lycurgus 
brought him from Crete, when he returned from his 
travels, to Sparta, in order to have alfiftance from him, in 
eftablilhing his new' form of government. His Odes, 
continues Plutarch, were fo many exhortations'to obedi¬ 
ence and concord, which he enforced by the fiweetneis of 
his voice and melody. Plato, likewife, deferibes his cap¬ 
tivating manner of finging; and Plutarch, in his Dialogue 
on Mufic, aferibes to Thaletas many mufical compofitions 
and inventions: finch as pecans, and new meafares ip verfe, 
as vtell as rhythms in mufic, which he had acquired from 
the flute-playing of Olympus, whom 1 he at firft had imi¬ 
tated. 
