SGG M U S 
antiquity, of whofe life and talents fuch honourable 
mention is made in ancient authors, was a native of 
Thebes in Boeotia. He was invited to Athens by Pericles, 
and made mulic-mafter to his nephew Alcibiades. But 
Aldus Gellius relates, from a Hiltory of Mulic by Pam- 
phila, that his fcholar Alcibiades, letting up for a fine 
gentleman, and taking the utmoft care ofhisperfon, was 
loon difgufted with his inftrument, as Minerva herfelf had 
been before; for, happening to fee liimfelf in a mirror 
while he was playing, he was lb (hocked at the diftortion 
of his fvveet countenance, that he broke his flute in a 
tranfport of paffion, and threw it away, which brought 
this inftrument into great dilgrace among the young peo¬ 
ple of rank at Athens. However, this difguft did not 
extend to the found of the flute itfelf; fmee we find by 
Plutarch, that the great performers upon it continued 
long after to be much followed and admired. See Anti- 
CENIDF.S, vol. i. 
Dorion is mentioned by Plutarch as a flute-player who 
had made feveral changes in the mufic of his time, and 
who was head of a fedt of performers, opponents to an¬ 
other left of practical muficians, of which Antigenides 
was the chief; a proof that thefe two mailers were co¬ 
temporaries and rivals. It appears, from a palfage in 
Xenophon, (Mentor, iv.) that it was no uncommon thing 
for the Athenians to be divided into, what we Ihould call, 
fiddling factions. Socrates, difeourfing upon the advan¬ 
tages of concord in a Hate, fays, “ By concord, I mean 
that the city Ihould agree, not in choofing the fame poet, 
or praifing the fame flute-player, but in obeying the fame 
laws.” 
How great a demand there was at this time for flutes, at 
Athens, may be conceived from a circumftance mentioned 
by Plutarch, in his Life of Ifocrates. This orator, fays 
be, was the fon of Theodorus, a flute-maker, who ac¬ 
quired wealth fufl|icient by his employment not only to 
educate his children in a liberal manner, but all'o to bear 
one of the heavieft public burdens to which an Athenian 
citizen was liable ; that of furnilhing a choir, or chorus, 
for his tribe, or ward, at feftivals and religious ceremo¬ 
nies. Each tribe furnilhed their diftindl chorus; which 
confided of a band of vocal and inftrumental performers, 
and dancers, who were to be hired, maintained, and 
drefled, during the whole time of thefellival : an expenfe 
confiderable in itfelf, but much increafed by emulation 
among the richer citizens, and the aifgrace confequent 
to an inferior exhibition. 
The importance of the flute is manifelted by innumer¬ 
able paflages in ancient authors; among which there is 
one in Pliny that is diverting and curious. In fpeaking 
of comets, he fays, that there were fiome in the Jhape of 
flutes, which were imagined to forebode fome ill to mu¬ 
fic and muficians. And Montfaucon proves by feveral 
inferiptions from ancient marbles, that the facrificial ti- 
bicen, at Athens was always chofen, and his name re¬ 
corded, with the officers of Hate. This mufician was 
called Auletcs, and, fometimes Spondaula. His office 
was to play on the flute, clofe to the ear of the prieft dur¬ 
ing facrifice, fome pious air, fuitable to the fervice, in 
order to keep off diffraction and inattention during the 
exercife of his function. Indeed there is no reprefenta- 
tion of a facrifice, procelfion, banquet, or fellive afl'em- 
bly, either in ancient painting or fculpture, without a 
mufician.. And the attendance of flute-players at l'acri- 
fices was fo common in Greece, that it gave rife to a pro¬ 
verb, which was ufually applied to fuch as lived at the 
tables of others: “You live the life of a flute-player.” 
Becaufe, as Suidas fays, thefe performers being conftantly 
employed at facrifices, where the victims furnilhed them 
.with a dinner, were at little or no expenfe in houfe- 
keeping. 
The lift of illuftrious flute-players in antiquity is too 
numerous to allow a feparate article to each. However, 
a few, befides thofe already mentioned, llill hold their 
beads above the crowd, and feem to demand attention. 
I c. 
And among thefe, as a particular refpedt feerrts due to- 
inventors, who, by genius or ftudy, have extended the 
limits of theoretical or practical mufic, Clonus mull not 
be pafled by unnoticed. Plutarch, the only author by 
whom he is mentioned, tells us, that Clonas lived foon 
after the time of Terpander, and was the firft who com- 
poled nomes for the flute, of which he fpecifies three that 
were much celebrated in antiquity, under the names of 
Apothctos, Sclumioti, and Trimeres. This laft air, which 
was lung by a chorus, mull have been much celebrated ; 
as Plutarch fays, that, though the Sicyon Regifter gave it 
to Clonas, yet others, among whom was Plutarch him- 
felf, had aferibed it to Sacadas. The antique cuftom of 
giving names to tunes, has long been adopted in France; 
all the harplichord-lelfons of Rameau, and feveral other 
compofers in that country, having particular denomina¬ 
tions affixed to them ; fuch as La Timide, la Pantomime, 
VIndiJcrelte, la Complaifante, See. And the fame abfurd 
cuftom now prevails in England ; thus we have le Retour 
da Windfor, le Retour de Ilampftead, Sec. 
Polymneftus, of Colophon' in Ionia, was a compofer 
for the flute, as well as an improver of the lyre ; and it 
appears to have been no uncommon accomplilhment for 
thefe ancient muficians to perform equally well upon both 
thefe inftruments. Polymneftus is faid to have invented 
the Hypo-Lydian Mode. This mode, being half a tone 
below the Dorian, which was the loweft of the five ori¬ 
ginal modes, was, perhaps, the firft extenfion of the lcales 
downwards, as the Mixo-Lydian was upwards. Plutarch, 
who affigns to him this invention, accufes him of having 
taken greater liberties with the fcale than any one had 
done before, though it is not now eafy to difeoverin what 
thofe liberties conlifted. 
After fpeaking of fo many flute-players of the male 
fex, it is but jultice to fay that they did not monopolize 
the whole glory ariling from the cultivation of that in¬ 
ftrument ; as the performing upon it was ranked, in high 
antiquity, among female accomplilhments. Its invention 
was aferibed by the poets to a goddefs; it was the fymbol 
of one of the mufes; and it was never omitted in the re- 
prefentation of the firens. 
The moll celebrated female flute-player in antiquity 
was Lamia; fee vol. xii. p. 107. and p. 295 of this article. 
—Athenasus has recorded the names of a great number of 
celebrated t.ibicince, whofe talents and beauty had capti¬ 
vated the hearts of many of the moll illuftrious perfonages 
of antiquity ; and yet the ufe of the flute among females 
feems to have been much more general in Perfia than in 
Greece, by the account which Parmenio gives to Alex¬ 
ander of the female muficians in the fervice of Darius. 
See the preceding page. 
Horace fpeaks of bands of female flute-players, which 
he calls Anibubiarum Collegia, and of whom there were 
Hill colleges in his time. But the followers of this pro- 
felfion became fo numerous and licentious, that we find 
their occupation prohibited in the Theodolian Code ; 
however, with little fuccel's : for Procopius tells us that 
in the time of Juftinian, the lifterof the emprefs Theodora, 
who was a tibicina, appeared on the llage without any 
other drefs than a flight fcarf thrown loofely over her. 
And thefe performers had at length become fo common 
in all private entertainments, as well as at public feafts, 
obtruding their company, and placing themfelves at the 
table, frequently unalked, that, at the latter end of this 
reign, their profelfion was regarded as infamous, and ut¬ 
terly abolilhed. 
We have entered much more into biographical detail in 
the prefent fedtion than our intention was when we began 
it. Our apology is this—It had been objected to us by 
fome of our mufical readers, that we had omitted, in the 
alphabetical order, the names of many eminent muficians; 
and, as we admit the charge to be juft, we have now en¬ 
deavoured to fupply thofe omilfions. Among other emi¬ 
nent names which Ihould have appeared in former parts 
of the alphabet, is that of Epigonius, a mathematician 
