Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/371

EDUCATION AT ATHENS. 349 necessity of not accepting implicitly the censure of any one, where the party inculpated has left no defence ; at the very least, of construing the censure strictly, and allowing for the point of view from which it proceeds. From inattention to this necessity, almost all the things and persons of Grecian history are presented to us on their bad side ; the libels of Aristophanes, the sneers of Plato and Xenophon, even the interested generali- ties of a plaintiff or defendant before the dikastery, are received with little cross-examination as authentic materials for history. If ever there was need to invoke this rare sentiment of candor, it is when we come to discuss the history of the persons called sophists, who now for the first time appear as of note ; the practi- cal teachers of Athens and of Greece, misconceived as well as misesteemed. The primitive education at Athens consisted of two branches ; gymnastics, for the body ; music, for the mind. The word music is not to be judged according to the limited signification which it now bears. It comprehended, from the beginning, everything appertaining to the province of the Nine Muses ; not merely learning the use of the lyre, or how to bear part in a chorus; but also the hearing, learning, and repeating, of poetical composi- tions, as well as the practice of exact and elegant pronunciation ; which latter accomplishment, in a language like the Greek, with long words, measured syllables, and great diversity of accentua- tion between one word and another, must have been far more difficult to acquire than it is in any modern European language. As the range of ideas enlarged, so the words music and musical teachers acquired an expanded meaning, so as to comprehend matter of instruction at once ampler and more diversified. Dur- ing the middle of the fifth century B.C., at Athens, there came thus to be found, among the musical teachers, men of the most distin- guished abilities and eminence ; masters of all the learning and accomplishments of the age, teaching what was known of astron- omy, geography, and physics, and capable of holding dialectical discussions with their pupils, upon all the various problems then afloat among intellectual men. Of this character were Lamprus, Agathokles, PythokleidGs, Damon, etc. The two latter were in- structors of Perikles ; and Damon was even rendered so unpopular at Athens, partly by his large and free speculations, partly