Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/176

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154
LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE.
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154 HISTORY OF THE invented after the time of Terpander. Between the Doric and Phry- gian styles — with respect to the height and lowness of the tones, — the Ionic was interpolated ; and between the Phrygian and Lydian, the iEolic. The former is said to have had a languid and soft, but pathetic tone ; it was particularly adapted to laments. The latter was fitted for the expression of lively, and even impassioned feelings ; it is best known from its use in the remains of the Lesbian poets and of Pindar. To these five styles were then added an equal number with higher and lower tones, which were annexed, at their respective extremes, to the original system. The former were called Hyperdorian, Hyperiastian, Hyperphrygian, &c. ; the others Hypolydian, Hypoaeolian, Hypophrygian, &c. Of these styles none belong to this period except those which approximate closely to the first five, viz., the Hyperlydian, and the Hyperdorian, which was also called Mixolydian, as bordering upon the Lydian. The invention of the former is ascribed to Polym- nestus *, that of the latter to the poetess Sappho ; this latter was pecu- liarly used for laments of a pathetic and tender cast. But the entire system of the fifteen styles was only brought gradually to perfection by the musicians who lived after the times of Pindar. § 5. Another proof that Terpander reduced to a regular system the styles used in his time is, that he was the first who marked the dif- ferent tones in music. It is stated, that Terpander first added musical notes to poems t- Of his mode of notation, indeed, we know nothing ; that subsequently used by the Greeks was introduced in the time of Py- thagoras. Hence, in later times, there existed written tunes by Terpander, of the kind called nomes J, whereas the nomes of the ancient bards, Olen, Philammon, &c, were only preserved by tradition, and must there- fore have undergone many changes. These nomes of Terpander were arranged for singing and playing upon the cithara. It cannot, indeed, be doubted that Terpander made use of the flute, an instrument generally known among the Greeks in his time ; Archilochus, the con- temporary of Terpander, even speaks of Lesbian paeans being sung to the flute§ ; although the cithara was the most usual accompaniment for songs of this kind. But it appears, on the whole, from the accounts of the ancients, that the cithara was the principal instrument in the Lesbian music. The Lesbian school of singers to the cithara maintained its pre-eminence in the contests, especially at the Carnean festival at Sparta, up to Pericleitus, the last Lesbian who was victorious on the cithara,

  • See§ 11.

t MsXoj <rguro; vrigiiDnxz <ro7s iroijfiuffi, says Clemens Alex. Strom, i. p, 364, B. Tov Trgvrccvogov xiHagcolitx&iv woinr'/iv ovra vo/a/uv xaia. vcftov 'ixaSTOi to7; 'Irtitri to7s iaurov kcci ro7; 'opigou t^iXn vripihi/TU. ahav h to'i's clyairiv. Plutarch de Mus. 3, after Heraclides. X Above, ch. iii. § 7. § Autos t^«px uv *& alxiv Atefiiw iratnova., Archilochus in Athen. v. p. 180, E. fr. 58. Gaisford. It may also be conjectured from the mutilated passage of the Parian marble, Ep. 35, that Terpander practised flute-playing.