The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race Volume II Part 7

6. Having now considered the personal relations between the s.e.xes, we next come to those depending on difference of age; which from the Doric principle of the elders instructing the younger, are intimately connected with education.(1384) But before we enter on that subject, it will be necessary to speak of a connexion (termed by the Greeks pa?de?ast?a), which, so long as it was regulated by the ancient Doric principles, to be recognised both in the Cretan laws and those of Lycurgus, had great influence on the instruction of youth. We will first state the exact circ.u.mstances of this relation, and then make some general remarks on it; but without examining it in a moral point of view, which does not fall within the scope of this work.

At Sparta the party loving was called e?sp???a?,(1385) and his affection was termed a _breathing in_, or _inspiring_ (e?sp?e??(1386)); which expresses the pure and mental connexion between the two persons, and corresponds with the name of the other, viz., ??ta?,(1387) _i.e._, _listener_ or _hearer_. Now it appears to have been the practice for every youth of good character to have his lover;(1388) and, on the other hand, every well-educated man was bound by custom to be the lover of some youth.(1389) Instances of this connexion are furnished by several of the royal family of Sparta; thus Agesilaus, while he still belonged to the herd of youths, was the _hearer_ of Lysander,(1390) and himself had in his turn also a _hearer_;(1391) his son Archidamus was the lover of the son of Sphodrias, the n.o.ble Cleonymus;(1392) Cleomenes the Third was, when a young man, the hearer of Xenares,(1393) and later in life the lover of the brave Panteus.(1394) The connexion usually originated from the proposal of the lover; yet it was necessary that the listener should accept him from real affection, as a regard to the riches of the proposer was considered very disgraceful:(1395) sometimes however it happened that the proposal originated from the other party.(1396) The connexion appears to have been very intimate and faithful, and was recognised by the state. If his kinsmen were absent, the youth might be represented in the public a.s.sembly by his lover:(1397) in battle too they stood near one another, where their fidelity and affection were often shown till death;(1398) while at home the youth was constantly under the eyes of his lover, who was to him as it were a model and pattern of life;(1399) which explains why, for many faults, particularly for want of ambition, the lover could be punished instead of the listener.(1400)

7. This ancient national custom prevailed with still greater force in Crete; which island was hence by many persons considered as the original seat of the connexion in question.(1401) Here too it was disgraceful for a well-educated youth to be without a lover;(1402) and hence the party loved was termed ??e????,(1403) the _praised_; the lover being simply called f???t??. It appears that the youth was always carried away by force,(1404) the intention of the ravisher being previously communicated to the relations, who however took no measures of precaution, and only made a feigned resistance; except when the ravisher appeared, either in family or talent, unworthy of the youth. The lover then led him away to his apartment (??d?e???), and afterwards, with any chance companions, either to the mountains or to his estate. Here they remained two months (the period prescribed by custom), which were pa.s.sed chiefly in hunting together. After this time had expired, the lover dismissed the youth, and at his departure gave him, according to custom, an ox, a military dress, and brazen cup, with other things; and frequently these gifts were increased by the friends of the ravisher.(1405) The youth then sacrificed the ox to Zeus, with which he gave a feast to his companions: at this he stated how he had been pleased with his lover; and he had complete liberty by law to punish any insult or disgraceful treatment. It depended now on the choice of the youth whether the connexion should be broken off or not.

If it was kept up, the companion in arms (pa?ast?t??), as the youth was then called, wore the military dress which had been given him; and fought in battle next his lover, inspired with double valour by the G.o.ds of war and love, according to the notion of the Cretans;(1406) and even in man's age he was distinguished by the first place and rank in the course, and certain insignia worn about the body.

Inst.i.tutions, so systematic and regular as these, did not indeed exist in any Doric state except Crete and Sparta; but the feelings on which they were founded seem to have been common to all the Dorians. The love of Philolaus, a Corinthian of the family of the Bacchiadae, and the lawgiver of Thebes, and of Diocles the Olympic conqueror, lasted until death; and even their graves were turned towards one another, in token of their affection:(1407) and another person of the same name was honoured in Megara, as a n.o.ble instance of self-devotion for the object of his love.(1408)

8. It is indeed clear that a custom of such general prevalence cannot have originated from any accidental impression or train of reasoning; but must have been founded on feelings natural to the whole Doric race. Now that the affection of the lover was not entirely mental, and that a pleasure in beholding the beauty and vigour, the manly activity and exercises(1409) of the youth was also present, is certain. But it is a very different question, whether this custom, universally prevalent both in Crete and Sparta, followed by the n.o.blest men, by the legislators encouraged with all care, and having so powerful an influence on education, was identical with the vice to which in its name and outward form it is so nearly allied.

The subject should be carefully considered, before, with Aristotle, we answer this question in the affirmative, who not only takes the fact as certain, but even accounts for it by supposing that the custom was inst.i.tuted by the legislator of Crete as a check to population.(1410) Is it, I ask, likely that so disgraceful a vice, not practised in secret, but publicly acknowledged and countenanced by the state, not confined to a few individuals, but common for centuries to the whole people, should really have existed, and this in the race of all the Greeks, the most distinguished for its healthy, temperate, and even ascetic habits? These difficulties must be solved before the testimony of Aristotle can be received.

I will now offer what appears to me the most probable view of this question. The Dorians seem in early times to have considered an intimate friends.h.i.+p and connexion between males as necessary for their proper education. But the objection which would have presented itself in a later age, viz. the liability to abuse of such a habit, had then no existence, as has been already remarked by a learned writer.(1411) And hence they saw no disadvantage to counterbalance the advantages which they promised themselves in the unrestrained intercourse which would be the natural consequence of the new inst.i.tution. It is also true that the manners of simple and primitive nations generally have and need less restraint than those whom a more general intercourse and the greater facility of concealment have forced to enact prohibitory laws. This view is in fact confirmed by the declaration of Cicero, that the Lacedaemonians brought the lover into the closest relation with the object of his love, and that every sign of affection was permitted _praeter stuprum_;(1412) for although in the times of the corruption of manners this proximity would have been attended with the most dangerous consequences, in early times it never would have been permitted, if any pollution had been apprehended from it.

And we know from another source that this _stuprum_ was punished by the Lacedaemonians most severely, viz. with banishment or death.(1413) It may be moreover added, that this pure connexion was encouraged by the Doric principle of taking the education from the hands of parents, and introducing boys in early youth to a wider society than their home could afford.(1414)

Chapter V.

-- 1. Education of the youth at Sparta. Its early stages. -- 2. Its continuation after the twelfth year. -- 3. Education of the youth in Crete. -- 4. Nature of the education: gymnastic and music. -- 5.

Influence of the Dorians upon the national games. -- 6. The Spartan youth trained to hards.h.i.+ps. -- 7. Military games at Crete and Sparta. -- 8. Athletic exercises of the women.

1. The education of the youth (?e??a?a)(1415) in the ancient Doric states of Sparta and Crete, was conducted, as might be supposed, on a very artificial system: indeed, the great number of cla.s.ses into which the boys and youths were distributed, would itself lead us to this conclusion. For since this separation could not have been made without some aim, each cla.s.s, we may conjecture, was treated in some way different from the rest, the whole forming a complete scale of mental or bodily acquirements.

Whether a new-born infant should be preserved or not, was decided in Lacedaemon by the state, _i.e._ a council composed of the elders of the house.(1416) This custom was not by any means more barbarous than that of the ancient world in general, which, in earlier times at least, gave the father full power over the lives of his children. Here we may perceive the great influence of the community over the education of its members, which should not, however, lead us to suppose that all connexion between parents and children was dissolved, or the dearest ties of nature torn asunder.

Even Spartan mothers preserved a power over their sons when arrived at manhood, of which we find no trace in the rest of Greece. Agesilaus riding before his children on a stick(1417) presents a true picture of the education,(1418) which was entrusted entirely to the parents(1419) till the age of seven; at which period the public and regular education (?????)(1420) commenced. This was in strictness enjoyed only by the sons of Spartans (p???t???? pa?de?),(1421) and the mothaces (slaves brought up in the family) selected to share their education: sometimes also Spartans of half-blood were admitted.(1422) This education was one chief requisite for a free citizen;(1423) whoever refused to submit to it,(1424) suffered a partial loss of his rights; the immediate heir to the throne was the only person excepted,(1425) whilst the younger sons of the kings were brought up in the herd (?????). Leonidas and Agesilaus, two of the n.o.blest princes of Sparta, submitted when boys to the correction of their masters.

2. From the twelfth year(1426) upwards, the education of boys was much more strict. About the age of sixteen or seventeen they were called s?de??a?.(1427) At the expiration of his eighteenth year, the youth emerged from childhood, the first years of this new rank being distinguished by separate terms.(1428) During the progress from the condition of an ephebus to manhood, the young Spartans were called _Sphaereis_,(1429) probably because their chief exercise was foot-ball, which game was carried on with great emulation, and indeed resembled a battle rather than a diversion.(1430) In their nineteenth year they were sent out on the crypteia,(1431) at twenty they served in the ranks, their duties resembling those of the pe??p???? at Athens. Still the youths, although they were now admitted to the public banquets,(1432) remained in the divisions, which were called ????a?, or in the Spartan dialect ??a?,(1433) and distributed into smaller troops (called ??a?).(1434) The last name was also applied to a troop of horse,(1435) and is one amongst several other proofs,(1436) that, in early times at least, the exercise of riding was one of the princ.i.p.al occupations of the youths of Sparta. In these divisions all distinction of age was lost, the leaders of them were taken from among the Irenes,(1437) and exercised great powers over the younger members; for the use of which they were in their turn responsible to every citizen of a more advanced age,(1438) and particularly to the paidonomus, a magistrate of very extensive authority.(1439) His a.s.sistants were the floggers, or mastigophori, who were selected from the young men,(1440) the buagi or managers of the buae;(1441) besides which, there were certain officers appointed to manage the boys, called ampaides.(1442) A similar arrangement was adopted in the societies of the girls and young women.(1443) Theocritus, in his Epithalamium of Helen, represents 240 young women of the same age, as joining in the daily exercises and games.(1444) And whilst Doric customs prevailed at Croton, the daughter of Pythagoras (according to Timaeus)(1445) was several times appointed leader of the young women and matrons.

3. In Crete the boys, as long as they remained in the house of their father, were said to dwell in darkness.(1446) At this period they were admitted into the syssitia of their respective fathers, where they sat together on the ground; after the syssitia they formed themselves into societies under separate paidonomi.(1447) It was not till their seventeenth year that they were enrolled in the agelae,(1448) so that the education was here entrusted to the family for a longer period than at Sparta. They remained in the agelae till married, and consequently even after they had attained the age of manhood; hence in the extant treaty between the Latians and Olontians, it is required that the agelae also should take the oath.(1449) From the circ.u.mstance, however, that these troops of young men were brought together by one of the most wealthy and ill.u.s.trious in their body, whose father held the office of commander (??e??t??), led them to the chase and the games, and exercised the right of punishment over them;(1450) we perceive that a far greater influence, as well over the government(1451) as the education, was permitted to particular families in Crete than at Sparta, whilst the system itself was less strict and impartial. The age of manhood was in Crete dated from the time of admittance into the male gymnasia (there called d????;)(1452) hence a person who had exercised ten years among the men was called de??d????;(1453) the youth who had not as yet wrestled or run in them ?p?d????.(1454) We have no account respecting other Doric towns, and merely know that the cla.s.ses of the ephebi at Cyrene were called from the number of each, the "three hundred."(1455)

4. Thus far respecting the arrangements for training the youths. The education itself was partly bodily, partly mental; although the division must not be drawn too strictly, since each exercise of the body includes at the same time that of the mind, at least of its hardihood, patience, and vigour. The Greeks, however, used the general terms of _gymnastic_ for the former, and _music_ for the latter of these branches. It is well known that the Dorians paid more attention than any other Greeks to gymnastic exercises;(1456) and it has been above remarked, that these exercises in their proper sense first originated among the Cretans and Spartans; the latter in particular have often been censured for practising them in an immoderate degree.(1457) This want of moderation, however, though it occurred in later times, is never perceivable in the maxims and ideas of the Dorians, who in this, as in several other cases, knew how to set bounds to youthful ardour, and check its pernicious effects. Aristotle himself(1458) remarks concerning the Spartan education, that it did not tend to form athletes, who considered gymnastic exercises as the chief business of life; and that the exercises tending to the beauty and elasticity of the frame were accurately separated from those of an opposite character, is shown by the absolute prohibition of the rougher exercises of boxing and the pancration;(1459) the latter being a mixture of wrestling and boxing, in which the fall of either party did not decide the victory, but the most violent contest often took place when the combatants were struggling on the ground. The reason of this is said to be, that in these alone an express confession of the defeated party by the raising of the hand, served to put an end to the contest; and that Lycurgus would not permit such an avowal to his Spartans. But the real reason is probably that stated above. On the other hand, gladiators (?p??a???) who publicly exhibited their skill in the use of arms, were not tolerated in Laconia,(1460) probably because the use of arms was thought too serious for mere sport and display. Nevertheless the colony of Cyrene adopted this custom from Mantinea in Arcadia,(1461) under their legislator Demonax.(1462)

5. The Doric race, to whom the elevation of gymnastic contests into great national festivals was princ.i.p.ally owing, were probably likewise the first who introduced crowns in lieu of other prizes of victory. The gymnastic combatants in Homer are excited by real rewards; but from the advanced state of civilization on which the Dorians stood in other respects, it is probable that they also purified the exhibition of bodily activity from all other motives than the love of honour. The first crown was bestowed at Olympia, and was gained in the seventh Olympiad by Daicles a Dorian of Messenia.(1463) How much gymnastic exercises were practised in the different Doric states, may be collected from the extant catalogues of the conquerors at the Olympian, and Pythian games: some conclusions may even be drawn from an examination of Corsini's Catalogue. This shows that the Spartans never practised either boxing or the pancration,(1464) and their principles were so generally recognized at the Olympian games, over which they possessed great influence, that boys were not till a very late period permitted to contend in the pancration.(1465) On the other hand, many conquerors in the race came from Sparta, particularly between the 20th and 50th Olympiads: besides numerous pentathli and wrestlers: amongst the former Philombrotus (Olymp. 26-28.), amongst the latter Hipposthenes (Olymp. 37-43.) and his son Hetmocles are distinguished by the number of crowns gained at Olympia; the first victors in both contests were also Lacedaemonians. Before the 9th Olympiad, the Elean catalogues mention Messenians in particular as victors in the race: from the 49th Olympiad, the natives of Croton are conspicuous as victors in the stadium; of these, Tisicrates and Astylus occupy the whole period between the 71st and 75th Olympiads. At the same time the swift-footed Phallys was thrice victorious at the Pythian games: this champion was likewise the wonder of his age in the pentathlon (a contest requiring extraordinary activity), but particularly in the exercise of leaping,(1466) being also a warrior and athlete. The gymnastic training of the young Crotoniats at that time attained the height of the development of the body in equal beauty and strength; Croton was celebrated for its beautiful boys and youths.(1467)

During this period there existed at Croton a school of wrestlers, the chief of whom was Milo, who from the 62nd Olympiad was victorious in almost every one of the four princ.i.p.al games, more frequently than any other Greek. It was however whilst the philosophy of Pythagoras directed the public inst.i.tutions of Croton, and influenced its manners, that this city outshone the rest of Greece by its warriors and athletes.(1468) Milo himself, the fabulous champion of posterity, was at the same time a sage and hero. But the conquest of Sybaris, the destruction of the Pythagorean league, and the adoption of the Achaean const.i.tution, soon put an end to this system, and Croton, without suffering any external change, lost at the end of the 75th Olympiad the whole of her internal vigour. As the athletes of this town followed in their choice of exercises the fundamental principles of Spartan discipline, the case was reversed amongst the Rhodians, particularly whilst the family of Diagoras flourished, which produced more than six boxers, the first of their day, and men of gigantic bodily strength.(1469) The aeginetans were famed for their dexterity in the contests, and from the 45th Olympiad till the dissolution of their state, bore off numerous victories in the race, wrestling, and pancration, and were particularly distinguished as boys.(1470) The distant colonies in Sicily and Libya took little interest in gymnastic contests: the latter expected more glory from their renowned horses and chariots,(1471) the former from their breed of mules.(1472) The Cretans, although particularly distinguished in running, fought (according to Pindar, whose statement is confirmed by these catalogues) "_like gamec.o.c.ks in the arena of their own court_."(1473) It is not possible to detail the peculiarities of the Doric states in their management of the various exercises, till the customs observed at their contests, particularly in wrestling, have been more accurately examined.(1474)

6. But all the exercises in the gymnasium of Sparta were esteemed of perhaps less importance to the education of the body, than another cla.s.s, the object of which was to harden the frame by labour and fatigue. The body was obliged to undergo heat and cold (the extremes of which were felt in an immoderate degree throughout the narrow valley of Sparta),(1475) likewise hunger, thirst and privations of every description. To this they were trained by frequent hunting on the mountains, in which manner the youths of Crete were also exercised,(1476) as also in the agelae, under the agelates.(1477) Next came the laborious service in the most distant parts of the Laconian territory, amidst which the young men of Sparta grew up from youth to manhood, obliged to administer to their own wants without the a.s.sistance of a servant.(1478) The boys were also inured to hards.h.i.+ps, by being forced to obtain their daily nourishment by stealing; for this custom was also limited to a particular period in the education of the sons of the Equals.(1479) We should certainly afford at the best but a very partial representation of these peculiar customs, if we were to single out some striking peculiarity from a connected system, and attempt to examine in detail a subject which should be criticised generally, or not at all. According to the scattered fragments of our information, the state of the case was as follows:(1480) the boys at a certain period were generally banished from the town, and all communion with men, and were obliged to lead a wandering life in the fields and forests. When thus excluded, they were forced to obtain, by force or cunning the means of subsistence from the houses and court-yards, all access to which was at this time forbidden them; frequently obliged to keep watch for whole nights, and always exposed to the danger of being beaten, if detected. To judge this custom with fairness, it should only be regarded in the connexion which we have explained above. The possession of property was made to furnish a means of sharpening the intellect, and strengthening the courage of the citizens, by forcing the one party to hold and the other to obtain it by a sort of war. The loss of property which was thus occasioned, appeared of little importance to a state where personal rights were so little regarded; and the mischievous consequences were in some measure avoided by an exact definition of the goods permitted to be stolen,(1481) which were in fact those, that any Spartan who required them for the chase, might take from the stock of another. Such was the idea upon which this usage was kept up; it might possibly however have originated in the ancient mountain-life of the Dorians, when they inhabited mounts ta and Olympus, cooped up within narrow boundaries, and engaged in perpetual contests with the more fortunate inhabitants of the plains: as a relic and memorial of those habits, it remained, contrasted with the independent and secure mode of life of the Spartans at a later period. Respecting the triumph of Spartan hardihood, viz. the scourging at the altar of Artemis Orthia, it has been above remarked in what manner, by a change made in the genuine Grecian spirit, the gloomy rites of a sanguinary religion had been turned to a different and useful purpose.(1482)

7. The gymnastic war-games, which were peculiar to the Cretans and Spartans, still remained to be noticed as a characteristic feature of the Doric education. At the celebration of these, the ephebi, after a sacrifice to Ares in a temple at Therapne, went through a regular battle unarmed, in an island formed by ditches, near the garden called Platanistas, and exerted every means in their power to obtain the victory.(1483) In Crete the boys belonging to one syssition frequently engaged in battle against those of another, the youths of one agele against those of another, and these contests bore a still nearer resemblance to a real engagement. They marched to the sound of flutes and lyres, and besides fists, weapons of wood and iron were employed.(1484) Yet although at Sparta gymnastic exercises were certainly brought to a nearer resemblance with war than in the rest of Greece, it would be erroneous on that account to conclude, that the aim of all bodily education among the Dorians was to obtain superiority in war. Enough has been alleged to prove satisfactorily to any unprejudiced reader, that the chief object of Spartan discipline was to invigorate the bodies of the youth, without rendering their minds at the same time either brutal or ferocious. And that this endeavour to attain, as it were, an ideal beauty and strength of limb, was not altogether unsuccessful, may be seen from the fact, that the Spartans, as well as the Crotoniats, were about the 60th Olympiad (540 B.C.) the most healthy of the Greeks,(1485) and that the most beautiful men as well as women were found amongst them.(1486)

8. The female s.e.x underwent in this respect the same education as the male, though (as has been above remarked) only the virgins. They had their own gymnasia,(1487) and exercised themselves, either naked or lightly clad, in running, wrestling, or throwing the quoit and spear.(1488) It is highly improbable that youths or men were allowed to look on, since in the gymnasia of Lacedaemon no idle bystanders were permitted; every person was obliged either to join the rest, or withdraw.(1489) Like the Elean girls in the temples of Here, so at Sparta the eleven Baccha.n.a.lian virgins exhibited their skill in the race at a contest in honour of their G.o.d.

The whole system of gymnastic exercise was placed at Sparta under the superintendence of magistrates of the highest dignity, the bidiaei; and the ephors every ten days inspected the condition of the boys, to ascertain whether they were of a good habit of body, if so general a meaning can be attached to the testimony of Agatharchides.(1490)

The whole of this book from the first chapter has been employed in considering the manners and physical existence of the Dorians (the d?a?ta ??????). We now come to the second great division of education, viz.

_music_; in which term the whole mental education of the Doric race was included, if we except writing, which was never generally taught at Sparta.(1491) Nor indeed was it essential in a nation, where, as in Crete, laws, hymns, and the praises of ill.u.s.trious men, that is the jurisprudence and history of such a people, were taught in the schools of music.(1492)

Chapter VI.

-- 1. Origin of the Doric musical mode. -- 2. Character of the Doric mode. -- 3. Progress of music in Sparta. -- 4. Public musical performances. -- 5. Progress of music in other Doric states. -- 6.

Connexion of dancing and music. Military music of Sparta. -- 7.

Military dances. -- 8. Connexion of gymnastic exercises and dancing. -- 9. Imitative dances. -- 10. Dances of the Helots. Origin of bucolic poetry among the subject cla.s.ses. -- 11. Comedy connected with the county festivals of Bacchus.

1. We are now about to speak of the history of music in the different Doric states; and before we notice particular facts and circ.u.mstances, we must direct our attention to the more general one, namely, that one of the musical _modes_ or ?????a? (by which term the ancient Greeks denoted the arrangement of intervals, the length of which was fixed by the different kinds of harmony, ????, according to the strings of the tetrachord, together with the higher or lower scale of the whole system), was anciently called the Doric,(1493) and that this measure, together with the Phrygian and Lydian, was long the only one in use among the musicians of Greece, and consequently the only one which in these early times derived its name from a Greek nation; a sufficient warrant for us to consider it as the genuine Greek mode, in contradistinction to any other introduced at a later period.(1494) A question next arises, wherefore this ancient and genuine Greek strain was called the _Doric_.(1495) The only explanation that can be given is, that it was brought to perfection in Doric countries, viz. in the ancient nurseries of music, Crete, Sparta, Sicyon, and Delphi. There cannot therefore have been any school or succession of musicians among the other Greek nations, of greater celebrity than the Doric, before the time we allude to. Had this been the fact, they must either have adopted the same mode, or had an original one of their own; in the first case, it would have been named rather after them, in preference to the Dorians; in the second, there would have been _two_ Greek musical modes, not merely the Doric. It follows then, that the establishment of the Doric music must have been of greater antiquity than the renowned musicians of Lesbos, who themselves were prior to Archilochus,(1496) and should not be considered as commencing with Terpander(1497) (who flourished from Olymp. 26. till 33. 676-646 B.C.), since at his time they had already arrived at a high degree of eminence. In fact, the Lesbian musicians were at that time the most distinguished in Greece: they far surpa.s.sed the native musicians of Peloponnesus, nay, even of Lacedaemon itself; so that if the above style had not at that time been common in the Peninsula, it would not have been called _the Doric_. Notwithstanding which, the opposition of the Doric to the Phrygian and Lydian modes on the one side, and the definite and systematic relation between the three on the other, can neither have been the result of mere popular and unscientific attempts, nor have originated in the mother-country of Greece, where there was no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the styles of music peculiar to those Asiatic nations,(1498) or of comparing them with their own, so as to mould them into one. The _Doric_ mode, however, could only have been so named originally, from the contrast which it exhibited with these other kinds of music, and this must have been first observed in foreign countries, and not among the Dorians or Peloponnesians themselves, who were only acquainted with one style. The natural supposition then is, that the Lesbian musicians, being in constant communication both with Peloponnesus and Asia Minor, first established the distinction and names of the three _modes_, by adapting to the particular species of tetrachord in use throughout Peloponnesus, the accompaniments of singing and dancing practised in Asia Minor, and moulding the whole into a regular system.

2. Allowing then the truth of these premises, it follows that the Dorians of Peloponnesus, the genuine Greeks, cultivated music to a greater degree than any other of the Grecian tribes, before the time when this far-famed school of Asia flourished. We are warranted in a.s.suming that it was not merely the external influence of the Doric race which gave their name to this mode, from the close affinity it bears to the character of the nation. The ancients, who were infinitely quicker in discovering the moral character of music than can be the case in modern times, attributed to it something solemn, firm, and manly, calculated to inspire fort.i.tude in supporting misfortunes and hards.h.i.+ps, and to strengthen the mind against the attacks of pa.s.sion. They discovered in it a calm sublimity, and a simple grandeur which bordered upon severity, equally opposed to inconstancy and enthusiasm;(1499) and this is precisely the character we find so strongly impressed on the religion, arts, and manners of the Dorians. The severity and rudeness of this music (which appeared gloomy and harsh to the later ages, and would be still more so to our ears, accustomed to a softer style) was strikingly contrasted with the mild and pleasing character which had then long pervaded the Epic poetry. It teaches us undoubtedly to distinguish between the Asiatic Greeks, and those sprung from the mountains in the north of Greece, who, proud of their natural loftiness of character and vigour of mind, had acquired but little refinement from any contact with strangers.

3. In the study of music, as well as every thing else, the Dorians were uniformly the friends of antiquity; and in this also Sparta was considered the model of Doric customs.(1500) Not that Sparta opposed herself altogether to every attempt at improvement; her object was, that every novelty should be first acknowledged to be an improvement, before it pa.s.sed into common use, and formed a part of the national education. Hence it unavoidably followed, that the music publicly practised in Sparta proceeded by rapid and single advances to a state of perfection; which opinion is perfectly consistent with the account given by an ancient author of the different regulations respecting the exercise of this art.(1501) When Terpander, the son of Derdenes, an inhabitant of Antissa in Lesbos, four times carried off the prize in the Pythian games, and also in the Carnean festival at Sparta (where the musicians of his school were long distinguished),(1502) and had tranquillized the tumults and disorders of the city by the solemn and healing tones of his songs,(1503) the acknowledged admiration of this master became so general in Sparta, that he procured the sanction of the law to his new inventions, particularly the seven-stringed cithara. It appears that by these means(1504) the music of earlier times became entirely antiquated, so that with the exception of the ancient Pythian minstrels, Chrysothemis and Philammon, not one name of the Doric musicians, before the time of Terpander, has come down to us.

For those who, like Thaletas, have been sometimes considered more ancient, belong, according to undoubted testimony, to a later period.(1505) Plutarch dates the second epoch of Spartan music from Thaletas the Elyrian (whose skill was undoubtedly derived from the ancient sacred minstrels of the neighbouring town of Tarrha),(1506) and from Xenodamus of Cythera, and Xenocritus the Locrian,(1507) (whose chief compositions were paeans and hyporchemes), from Polymnestus of Colophon, and Sacadas the Argive, the latter of whom distinguished himself in elegies and other compositions adapted to the flute, the former in the orthian and dithyrambic styles, and also as an epic and elegiac poet. Sacadas flourished and conquered at the Pythian games in Olymp. 48. 3. 586 B.C.; the other musicians, according to Plutarch, must also have lived about the same period.

Thaletas was however earlier than Polymnestus(1508) and Xenocritus,(1509) although later than Terpander and Archilochus, and therefore lived before the 40th Olympiad, or 620 B.C. To these musicians Plutarch entirely ascribes the introduction of songs at the gymnopaedia of Lacedaemon,(1510) the endymatia at Argos, and some public spectacles in Arcadia. The regulations established at this period appear to have continued in force as long as the Spartan customs were kept up, and were the chief means by which the changes attempted to be introduced during the several epochs of Melanippides, Cinesias, Phrynis, and Timotheus the Milesian were prevented from being carried into effect. Thus Ecprepes the ephor, on observing that the cithara of Phrynis had two strings more than the allowed number, immediately cut them out; and the(1511) same thing is said to have happened to Timotheus at the Carnean festival.(1512) The account is, however, contradicted by an improbable story, that the accused minstrel justified himself by referring to a statue of Apollo at Sparta, which had a lyre containing the same number of strings.(1513) At least Pausanias(1514) saw in the hall of music at Sparta(1515) (s????), the eleven-stringed cithara which was taken from Timotheus, and there hung up.

It is well known that a Spartan decree is supposed to exist,(1516) on this real or fabulous transaction respecting the eleven-stringed cithara of Timotheus. It recites, that "whereas Timotheus of Miletus, despising the harmony of the seven-stringed cithara, poisoned the ears of the young men by increasing the number of strings, and introducing a new and effeminate species of melody; and that having been invited to perform at the festival of the Eleusian Ceres, he exhibited an indecent representation of the holy rites, and most improperly instructed the young men in the mystery of the labour-pains of Semele; it is decreed that the kings and ephors should reprimand Timotheus, and compel him to reduce the number of strings on his cithara to seven; in order that every person in future, being conscious of the dignity of the state, might beware of introducing improper customs into Sparta, and the fame of the contests be preserved unsullied."(1517) But the authenticity of the inscription is so doubtful, to say no more, that we dare not deduce any historical inferences from it. For in the first place, the style of the doc.u.ment appears to have been formed upon the model of a common Athenian honorary decree, only that censure is inserted instead of praise with a sort of mock gravity. There is nothing in it characteristic of Spartan manners, but much that is foreign and almost strange; for example, it is not even stated who proposed and approved the decree. Secondly, a decree upon such a subject is not consistent with the general spirit of the government of Sparta, which was distinguished by its summary method of proceeding. Every ephor, as inspector of the games, had the same powers individually as are here attributed to the whole college, and the kings; who had (it is true) a place of honour at the public games, but no share in the direction of them. The Eleusinia, in the form of a theatrical festival, were at least celebrated in Sparta at a late date.(1518) That Timotheus should have ventured to produce his "Birth of Bacchus" at those games is very surprising; but still more so is the account of his having taught it to the Spartan youths, which can only mean that he contrived to have it represented by the young men of the town. Now the ?d?? of Timotheus was a dithyrambic ode of the mimic species, which was a late invention performed by regular actors, not by a public chorus. How then is it possible that the latter should have been the case at Sparta? The learned distinction between different styles of music in the decree, clearly savours less of Laconian brevity than of the self-complacency of some grammarian.(1519) Most of the expressions used may be traced to the comic poets of Athens, and contain no Spartan peculiarities, and yet an accurate explanation of them might lead us into many difficulties. Lastly, the dialect appears to me to be the composition of some one who had accidentally become acquainted with peculiar Spartan inflections. The letter ? is most suspiciously used throughout; the author had evidently an erroneous notion that T is not Laconian, and should be changed into ?, instead of S.(1520) The editors have endeavoured to make considerable alterations in the orthography;(1521) but by this means all possibility of criticism is made hopeless. It is therefore probable that some grammarian has taken the trouble to draw up a Laconian decree from one of the stories respecting Timotheus, the interest of which should consist in the austerity of the sentiments, and the roughness of the dialect. That the inventor really intended it for a public monument, is evident from the ancient style of writing, which was abolished at Athens at the archons.h.i.+p of Euclid, and in Sparta perhaps later.(1522)

In Crete the national music was once formed on the same principles as in Lacedaemon,(1523) but became relaxed in course of time. In a Cnosian(1524) decree made at the beginning of the second century before Christ, an amba.s.sador is commended for having often played on the cithara the melodies of Timotheus, Polyidus,(1525) and the ancient Cretan poets. In Argos, too, the first person who used a cithara with more than seven strings was punished;(1526) and in Sicyon, also, there were laws appointed to regulate musical contests.(1527)

4. The chief reason why the state constantly interfered in the regulation of music was, that it was considered much more as expressing the general tone of the feeling and morals of the people, than as an art which might be left to its own capabilities of improvement. Historical examples confirm the truth of this close connexion, and in particular, it is alleged respecting the Dorians of Sicily, that by introducing a soft effeminate music, they destroyed the purity of their morals;(1528) while the strict domestic discipline at Sparta would hardly have been preserved without the a.s.sistance of the ancient style of music which was there cultivated. In order to explain this, it is necessary to observe, that in those times music formed a much more universal branch of education, and was practised to a far greater extent by the people at large, than it has ever been since.(1529) We may trace the progress of music, as it from time to time fell more into the hands of individual artists, whilst the populace, which in the infancy of the art took a part in the exhibition, gradually became mere spectators. The command of an ancient Delphic oracle,(1530) that public thanksgivings should be offered to Bromius by the whole people for a fruitful year, by singing choruses in the streets, was also followed at Sparta, at least in the Gymnopaedia. At this festival large choruses of men and boys appeared,(1531) in which many of the inhabitants of the city doubtless took part. From this circ.u.mstance either the whole or part of the market was called _chorus_;(1532) and it is probable that the s.p.a.cious (e????????) cities of Homer were merely furnished with open squares large enough to contain such numerous choruses. It was at these great city choruses that those of blemished reputation always occupied the hindermost rows:(1533) sometimes, nevertheless, men of consideration, when placed there by the arranger of the chorus, boasted that they did honour to the places, the places did not dishonour them.(1534)

Those placed at the back of the chorus were called (like the soldiers arrayed behind the line of battle) ???e??;(1535) the ch.o.r.egus, however, did not merely defray the expenses of the chorus, but he also led it in person; and indeed a ch.o.r.egos once performed the duties of flute-player at Lacedaemon.(1536) If then every citizen took some part in these choruses, it follows that they must have been trained to them, and have practised them from childhood; as we know on the other hand that the whole musical instruction of Crete and Sparta was intended as a preparation for them.(1537) Accordingly, the musical school was called _chorus_ among the Dorians;(1538) in musical training there was a constant reference to the public choral dances. Hence we perceive that, at least in early times, a certain cultivation of music within the limits prescribed by the national manners was common to all Spartans; and the saying of the poet Socrates,(1539) "that the bravest of the Greeks also made the finest choruses," was peculiarly applicable to them; also Pratinas the scenic poet speaks of "the Lacedaemonian cicada,(1540) as ready for the chorus."(1541) In later times, indeed, the numbers of the citizens in Sparta so greatly diminished, and war occupied so much of the public attention, that the favourable side of Spartan discipline was cast into the shade, and Aristotle ascribes with truth to the Spartans of his time a just discrimination and taste for music, but no scientific knowledge of it.(1542)

The cultivation of music, however, was the more general among the Dorians and kindred race of Arcadians, from the circ.u.mstance that women took a part in it, and sang and danced in public both with men and by themselves.(1543) On the nature of the _parthenia_, or the choruses performed by girls, the character and education of Doric virgins enable us to decide with confidence, when we are told, that the parthenia were accompanied by Dorian music, and there was something in them exceedingly grave and solemn.(1544) It appears likewise, that aged persons, who at Athens would have been ridiculed for dancing at religious ceremonies, at Sparta often took a part in the great choruses, as is proved by the accounts of the three great choirs of boys, men, and _old men_, which seem to have danced at several great festivals.(1545)

5. Having now in the foregoing remarks considered the peculiarities of the Doric race, as well in general as with respect to Sparta in particular, we shall next give some account of the progress of music among the several states of that race.

That the religious music and poetry of the Dorians originated in Crete, has been shown above:(1546) and perhaps the loud and irregular music of the early Phrygian inhabitants first awakened a taste for that art among the Dorians. The nome, the paean, and the hyporcheme,(1547) had been known in Crete from an early period, though the more polished form of the two last was introduced by Thaletas. The dances in a ring were often connected with the nome and hyporcheme, according to an ancient custom in Crete and the neighbouring regions; and they were danced by both men and women.(1548) At Sparta there were the same dancers, known by the name of ???, or _ornaments_.(1549) The youth danced first some movements suited to his age, and of a military nature; the maiden followed in measured steps, and with feminine gestures. The Spartan music was in general derived from the Cretan, nor did it attempt to disown its origin; indeed many favourite dances, with their tunes, and certain paeans, ordered by law to be sung at appointed times, together with many other kinds of music, were called Cretan.(1550) But it cannot be denied that, although their origin may have been similar, their progress and development were very different. The Cretan music appears to have been almost entirely warlike and religious, while the Spartan, from the time of Alcman, was adapted to more various purposes. Peculiar kinds of Lacedaemonian dances were in existence at the time of Cleisthenes of Sicyon;(1551) they consisted both of motions of the hands and feet, as Aristoxenus states of several ancient national dances.(1552) The early zeal for music in these regions is shown by the contests in the temple of Zeus at Ithome in Messenia, in which Eumelus engaged before the first war with Lacedaemon:(1553) the contests of the Muses connected with the Carnean festival began in the 26th Olympiad (676 B.C.). In the time of Polycrates, Argos possessed the most celebrated musicians in Greece,(1554) particularly flute-players; about the 48th Olympiad (588 B.C.) Sacadas wrote poetry, composed music, and played lyric songs and elegies to the flute:(1555) a particular kind of flute was called the Argive.(1556) Sicyon also appears to have had a share in these improvements: for after Sacadas had thrice gained the prize, Pythocritus of Sicyon was victorious in six following contests;(1557) and the dithyrambic chorus to the flute was performed there with great skill and effect.(1558) That at Sicyon, Corinth, and Phlius, the wors.h.i.+p of Bacchus gave a peculiar turn to music and poetry, has been remarked above,(1559) and will be explained at greater length hereafter. In Sicily the wors.h.i.+p of Demeter prevailed, which was always attended with a degree of licentiousness; the Syracusan choruses of iambists(1560) were, without doubt, connected with this wors.h.i.+p.(1561) The circ.u.mstance that the effeminate dances of the Ionians were celebrated there in honour of Artemis,(1562) was probably occasioned by music having degenerated in that island.(1563)

6. We do not intend to consider the subject of dancing independently of music; as this combination appears to be most convenient for our purpose of ascertaining its importance as connected with manners and public education. Dancing, when it did not merely accompany the time of the music, inclined either to gymnastic display or to mimicry; that is, it either represented bodily activity, or it was meant to express certain ideas and feelings. The gymnastic dancing was no where so much practised as at Sparta, where the ancient connexion between the musical school and the palaestra, and of both with the military exercises,(1564) was more strictly maintained than in any other state. Indeed the march of the Spartans and Cretans had, on account of its musical accompaniment, some resemblance to a dance. For, whereas the other Greeks either marched to battle without any music, in the manner of the ancient Achaeans, or, like the Argives, made use of Tyrrhenian trumpets,(1565) the Cretans advanced to battle to the sound of the lyre,(1566) the Spartans to that of the flute.(1567) This last seems, however, to have been an innovation; for Alcman the Laconian mentions the cithara;(1568) and the Cretans also introduced the flute in their army.(1569) However, be this as it may, the flute had become the common instrument at Sparta; probably because the cithara was not fitted for uniting large bodies of men, its sound being too low to produce any effect, even during a complete stillness. The sound of flutes was doubtless more piercing, and particularly when a great number of pipers (who in Sparta formed several native families)(1570) played the tune for attack. Thucydides remarks that this was not for any religious purpose, but that the troops might march in time, and not as large armies are apt to do, fall into disorder.(1571) The general term for a tune of this kind was _embaterion_.(1572) One kind of nome was called _castoreum_, which, like the others, was played on the flute, when the army marched in line to meet the enemy.(1573) This had the same rhythm(1574) as the other embateria,(1575) viz. an anapaestic; both in its measure and melody there was something very enlivening and animated,(1576) so that Alexander of Macedon always felt himself inspired with fresh bravery when Timotheus the Theban played the castoreum to him. There can be no doubt that it was originally set in the Doric mode, and bore the character of Spartan simplicity, notwithstanding the many variations which were afterwards added.(1577) Pindar is reminded by its name of Castor the horseman and charioteer;(1578) but I do not perceive what relation the most ancient use of this nome, as a march for the Spartans, could have to this point: but it clearly took its name from the Tyndaridae, who were considered as the leaders of the Spartan army.(1579) That of the poems of Tyrtaeus the anapaestic verses only were sung as marches, and that they were embateria, is now generally admitted.(1580) The elegies were sung in campaigns, at meals, and after the paean, not in chorus, but singly, and for a prize. The polemarch decided,(1581) and the victor was rewarded with a chosen piece of meat.(1582) The Cretans had also embateria, named after Ibycus, a musician.(1583)

7. That war among these ancient nations had something of an imitative nature, and that it was by imperceptible transitions connected with the pure imitations of art, I have already attempted to show;(1584) and the same may be inferred from what has been just said. A transition of this kind was formed by the Pyrrhic dance, the dancers of which bore the same name as the practised, armed and expert combatant (p?????).(1585) The Pyrrhic dance was undoubtedly a production of the Doric nation in Crete and Sparta,(1586) although in the former state it was fabulously connected with the Curetes and the rites of the ancient Idaean Zeus,(1587) and at Sparta with the Dioscuri. It was danced to the flute,(1588) and its time was very quick and light, as is shown by the name of the Pyrrhic foot.

Hence in Crete Thaletas was able to add hyporchematic or mimic variations to it,(1589) which had likewise quick measures. From this account it may be also inferred that the war-dance of Crete was of an imitative kind; and indeed Plato says of the Pyrrhic dance in general that it imitated all the att.i.tudes of defence, by avoiding a thrust or a cast, retreating, springing up, and crouching, as also the opposite movements of attack with arrows and lances, and also of every kind of thrust.(1590) So strong was the attachment to this dance at Sparta, that, long after it had in the other Greek states degenerated into a Baccha.n.a.lian revel, it was still danced by the Spartans as a warlike exercise, and boys of fifteen were instructed in it.(1591)

8. But we must return to the subject whence we digressed, the connexion between gymnastic exercises and dancing. These two arts were connected by the pentathlon, a pattern of adroitness, activity, strength and measured motions, which was accompanied by the music of the flute.(1592) In later times any tunes were used for this exhibition; but earlier certain fixed measures were played, one of which had been composed by Hierax, a disciple of Olympus:(1593) nor at that time did distinguished artists disdain to appear as actors in these sports, as, for example, Pythocritus of Sicyon.

At Argos, at the Sthenia, the combatants wrestled to the sound of the flute;(1594) and a melody of this same Hierax was played(1595) when the women carried flowers (at a festival) to the temple of Here. At Sparta the chief object of the Gymnopaedia was to represent gymnastic exercises and dancing in intimate union, and indeed the latter only as the accomplishment and end of the former. One of the princ.i.p.al games at this festival resembled the _anapale_, or wrestling-dance; the boys danced in regular time with graceful motions of the hands, in which the methods of the wrestling-school and the pancration were shown; at the same time, however, this dance had some mixture of the Baccha.n.a.lian kind.(1596) Thus also the youths (ephebi) of Sparta, when they were skilled in their exercises, danced in rows behind each other, to the music of the flute, first military, then choral dances, and at the same time repeated two verses, of which one was an invitation to Aphrodite and Eros to join them, the other an exhortation to one another.(1597) There was also a dance with a ball at Sparta and Sicyon.(1598) The _Bibasis_, a dance of men and women, was of the gymnastic kind;(1599) all the dancers struck their feet behind, a feat, of which a Spartan woman in Aristophanes prides herself.(1600) Prizes were given to the most skilful; and we are told by a verse which has been preserved that a Laconian girl had danced the Bibasis a thousand times more than any other had done.(1601) Besides the Bibasis the _Dipodia_ is mentioned;(1602) but so little is known about it, that the origin of its name even is not clear.(1603) In a comedy of Aristophanes a chorus of Lacedaemonians danced a Dipodia to the flute, and sing, chiefly in trochaic metre, of the battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium, and the friends.h.i.+p of Sparta and Athens; after which follows another song, which was probably danced in the same manner. In this the chorus implores the Laconian Muse to come from mount Taygetus, and to celebrate the tutelar deities of Sparta; and urges itself to the dance in words which give a very good idea of its character: "Come hither with a light motion to sing of Sparta. Where there are choruses in honour of the G.o.ds, and the noise of dancing, when, like young horses, the maidens on the banks of the Eurotas rapidly move their feet; while their hair floats, like revelling Baccha.n.a.ls; and the daughter of Leda directs them, the sacred leader of the chorus. Now bind up the hair, and leap like fawns; now strike the measured tune which gladdens the chorus."(1604) Many points in this description remind us of the dances of the Laconian maidens at the wors.h.i.+p of Artemis of Caryae, which were animated and vehement.(1605)

9. We now come to the dances whose object was to express and represent some peculiar meaning. This was either some feeling (to which cla.s.s almost all the religious as well as the theatrical dances belong) or some outward object; to which we may refer the mimic dances. To the latter, the Pyrrhic and the Gymnopaedian dances belong, and to the religious, the Hyporcheme, which we treated of in connexion with the wors.h.i.+p of Apollo.(1606) Of this description was perhaps the Bryallicha,(1607) a dance in honour of Artemis and Apollo, danced by women, or, as some a.s.sert, by men in hideous women's masks, who at the same time sang hymns to the two deities.(1608) The name signifies a violent leap; and from what we can gather elsewhere respecting the character of this dance, it appears to have been irregular and licentious. How it agrees with the wors.h.i.+p of Apollo, one does not exactly perceive, unless it is supposed that some fable in the history of that G.o.d was represented in a mimic style, which admitted of such irregularity. The wors.h.i.+p of Artemis, however, had other forms which produced these licentious dances, as in Laconia itself the Calabis.(1609)

A few particulars respecting several Laconian dances have been preserved by a grammarian,(1610) whose account we will insert at full, adding only some remarks of our own. "_The Deimalea was danced by Sileni and Satyrs waltzing in a circle_," its name being perhaps derived from the cowardice (de?a) of these "useless and worthless fellows," as Hesiod calls them.(1611) "_The Ithymbi was danced to Bacchus, the dance of the Caryatides to Artemis; the Bryallicha was so called after its inventor Bryallichus; it was danced by women to Apollo and Artemis._" The following dances also, as appears from the conclusion, were Laconian. The Hypogypones imitated old men with sticks. The Gypones danced on wooden stilts, and wearing transparent Tarentine dresses. The Menes was danced by Charini,(1612) and took its name from the flute-player who invented it.

There was a Baccha.n.a.lian dance called "_Tyrbasia_," probably resembling the Argive Tyrbe, and deriving its name from its intricate mazes. "_A dance in which they mimicked those who were caught stealing the remains of meals was called Mimelic. But the Gymnopdia, danced with jests and merriment, was more splendid._" The merry spirit, and the love for comic exhibition, which produced all these mimic dances, is shown in these imperfect notices, the deficiencies of which we can only supply in one instance, viz. in the account of the Deicelictae (or Mimeli). There was at Sparta an ancient play, but it was probably acted only by the common people, and quite extempore, nor ever by regular players.(1613) From the account of Nepos it may be also conjectured that it was performed by unmarried women. The name Deicelictae (or Mimeli) merely means "imitators;"(1614) but it came to signify only _comic_ imitators.(1615) In this play there was not (according to Sosibius)(1616) any great art; for Sparta in all things loved simplicity. It represented in plain and common language either a foreign physician or stealers of fruit (probably boys), who were caught with their stolen goods;(1617) that is, it was an imitation of common life, probably alternating with comic dances.

10. In Laconia it was chiefly the lower orders who had any decided love for comedy and buffoonery; for with the Dorians we only now and then discover a ray of levity or mirth piercing the gravity of their nature. I have already mentioned,(1618) that from the Helots, who dwelt in the houses of the Spartans, and were called Mothones, or Mothaces, a kind of riotous dance took its name, in which drunken persons were probably represented; whence perhaps was derived the story that the Spartans intoxicated their slaves as a warning to their children. Other dances may perhaps have been common among the peasants, and particularly among the shepherds of remote regions.