358 MUSIC. 
of Sappho, with whom, it is pretended, he was violently 
enamoured. He is generally allowed to have been one of 
the greateft lyric poets in antiquity; and, as he lived before 
the reparation of the twin-fillers, poetry and mufic, this 
character mult imply that he was the friend and favourite 
of both. His numerous poems, on different fubjedts, were 
written in the iEolian dialeft, and chiefly in a meafure of 
his own invention, which has ever fince been diftinguilhed 
by the name of Alcaic. Of thefe only a few fragments 
remain. He compofed hymns, odes, and epigrams, upon 
very different fubjedls; fometimes railing at tyrants, and 
dinging their downfall; fometimes his own military ex¬ 
ploits ; his misfortunes; his fufferings at fea; his exile; 
and all, according to Quintilian, in a manner fo chafte, 
concife, magnificent, and fententious, and fo nearly ap¬ 
proaching to that of-Homer, that he well merited the' 
golden plettrum bellowed upon him by Horace. Some¬ 
times he defcended to lefs ferious fubjefts, finging cheer¬ 
fully the praifes of Bacchus, Venus, Cupid, and the 
Mufes. 
The adventures of Sappho, and the remains of her poe¬ 
tical w'orks, will be the lubjedl of a future article. A 
jnulical invention has, however, been attributed to her, 
of which it feems neceffary to take fotne notice in this 
place. This celebrated poetefs is laid by Plutarch, from 
Ariftoxenus, to have invented the Mixo-Lydian mode. 
Dr. Burney is of opinion, that the Lydian mode was the 
higheft of the five original modes, having its loweff found 
upon F*, the fourth line in the bals. The Mixo-Lydian 
was higher by half a tone ; the Hyper-mixo-Lydian a minor 
third higher, and the Hyper-Lydian a fourth higher. 
Plato, defirous of fimplifying mufic, and of keeping the 
fcale within moderate bounds, complains, in the third 
book of his Republic, of the licentioufnefs of thefe acute 
modes. Now, if the only difference in the modes u'as the 
place they occupied in the great lyftem, with refpetl to 
gravity or acutenefs, the invention , as it was called, of this 
mode, may have been fuggefted to Sappho, by her having 
a voice of a higher pitch than her predeceflors; Ihe was, 
perhaps, the Agujari of her time, and could tranfcend the 
limits of all former fcales with equal facility. But, though 
nature may have enabled this exquifite poetefs to ling her 
verfes in a higher key than any one had done before, yet, 
as it is allowed but to few to furpafs the common boun¬ 
daries of human faculties and talents, it is probable that 
her fuccefibrs, by attempting, with inferior organs, to 
afcend thole heights, had given offence to Plato, and deter¬ 
mined him to prohibit the ufe of this mode in his republic, 
as indecorous, and too effeminate even for women. If, 
however, it be true, that the charadteriftic of the modes 
depended partly, if not principally, upon the rhythm or 
cadence, it feems not an improbable conjecture, that be- 
fides the difference of pitch, the novelty of Sappho’s mode 
might, in a great meafure, confift in her firlt applying to 
melody the meafure called Sapphic, from her invention of 
it. This mode, as Plutarch informs us, was adopted by 
the tragic poets, as proper for pathos, and lamentation; 
a character for which it is not eafy to account, without 
fuppofing other differences befides thofe of mere rhythm, 
or pitch; though both Plato and Plutarch evidently af- 
cribe this character, in part, at leaft, to the circumltance 
of acutenefs. 
Simonides was born in the 55th Olympiad, 538 years 
B-C. and died in his ninetieth year. He waas a native 
of Ceos, one of the Cyclades, in the neighbourhood of 
Attica; and the preceptor of Pindar. Both Plato and 
Cicero not only give him the character of a good poet 
and mufician, but l’peak of him as a perfon of great vir¬ 
tue and wifdom. Such longevity gave him an opportu¬ 
nity of knowing a great number of the firlt characters in 
antiquity, with whom he was in lome meafure connected. 
It appears in Fabricius, from ancient authority, that he 
was cotemporary and in friendfhip with Pittacus of Mity- 
lene ; Hipparchus, tyrant of Athens ; Paufanias, king of 
•Sparta; Iliero, tyrant of Syracufe; with Themiftocles; 
and with Aleuades, king of Theffaly, He obtained th* 
prize in poetry at the public games when he was four- 
fcore years of age. According to Suidas, he added four 
letters to the Greek alphabet; and Pliny afligns to him 
the eighth firing of the lyre; but thefe claims are dif- 
puted by the learned. Among the numerous poetical 
productions, of which,' according to Fabricius, antiquity 
lias made him the author, are many fongs of victory and 
triumph, for athletic conquerors at the public games. 
He is. likewife laid to have gained there, liimfelf, the 
prize in elegiac poetry, when Ailchylus was his competi¬ 
tor. His poetry was fo tender and plaintive, that he ac¬ 
quired the cognomen of “ Meliccrtes, fweet as honey 
and the tearful eye of his mufe was proverbial. 
Bacchylides was the nephew' of Simonides, and the co¬ 
temporary and rival of Pindar. Both lung the victories 
of Hiero at the public games. Belides odes to athletic 
viCtors, he was author of Love Verfes ; Profodies; Dithy- 
rambics; Hymns; Pagans; Hyporchemes; and Parthenia, 
or fongs to be fung by a chorus of virgins at feftivals. 
The chronology of Eufebius places the birth of Bacchy¬ 
lides in the 8zd Olympiad, about 4.50 B.C. 
Pindar was born at Thebes in Baeotia, about 520 years 
B. C. He received his firft mufical inftruCtions from his 
father, who was a flute-player by profeflion ; after which, 
according to Suidas, he was placed under Myrtis, a lady 
of diftinguilhed abilities in lyric poetry. It was during 
this period, that he became acquainted with the poetefs 
Corinna, who w'as likewife a ffudent under Myrtis. Plu¬ 
tarch tells us, that Pindar profited from the lelfons which 
Corinna, more advanced in her ftudies, gave him at this 
fchool. Pindar, however, foon quitted the leading-firings 
of thefe ladies, his poetical nurfes, and became the dif- 
ciple of Simonides, now arrived at extreme old age; after 
which he foon furpaffed all his mailers, and acquired 
great reputation throughout Greece; but, like a true 
prophet, was lefs honoured in his own country than elfe- 
where; for at Thebes lie was frequently pronounced to 
be vanquilhed, in the mufical and poetical contells, by 
candidates of inferior merit. The cuftom of having thefe 
public trials of lkill, in all the great cities of Greece, was 
now' fo prevalent, that but little fame was to be acquired 
by a mulician or poet, any other way than by entering the 
lifts ; and we find that both Myrtis and Corinna publicly 
difputed the prize with him at Thebes. A public con¬ 
tention with Myrtis, his alma mater, and wdth his JiJler- 
ftudent Corinna, leems unnatural; but there are few ties 
which can keep ambition within due bounds. He ob¬ 
tained a victory'over Myrtis; but was vanquilhed five dif¬ 
ferent times by Corinna. The judges, upon occalions 
like thefe, have been frequently accufed of partiality or 
ignorance, not only by the vanquilhed, but by pofterity: 
and, if the merit of Pindar was pronounced inferior to 
that of Corinna five feveral times, it was, lays Paufanias, 
becaufe the judges were more lenlible to the charms of 
beauty than to thofe of mufic and poetry. Was it not 
ftrange, laid the Scythian Anacharlis, that the Grecian 
artills were never judged by artifts, their peers ? 
Thebes feems to have been the purgatory of our young 
bard; when he quitted that city, as his judgment was 
matured, he avoided moll of the errors for which he had 
been chaftifed, and luddenly became the wonder and de¬ 
light of all Greece. Every hero, prince, and potentate, 
deiirous of hailing fame, courted the mufe of Pindar. He 
feems frequently to have been prefent at the four great 
feftivals of the Olympian, Pythian, Nemaean, and Ifthtnian, 
games, as may be inferred from leveral circumllances and 
exprefiions in the odes which he compofed for the victors 
in them all. Thofe at Olympia, who were ambitious of 
having their achievements celebrated by Pindar, applied 
to him for an ode, which was lint fung in the Prytaneum, 
or town-hall of Olympia, where there was a banquetting- 
room fet apart lor the entertainment of the conquerors. 
Here the ode was pehearfed by a chorus, accompanied by 
inftruments. It was afterwards performed in the fame 
manner 
