Chapter I: Part 1

THE MODES

OF

ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC

_MONRO_
London

HENRY FROWDE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.C.

New York

MACMILLAN & CO., 66, FIFTH AVENUE

_The Modes
of
Ancient Greek Music_

BY

D. B. MONRO, M.A.

PROVOST OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD
HONORARY DOCTOR OF LETTERS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN

Oxford

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1894
Oxford

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
DEDICATED
TO THE
PROVOST AND FELLOWS
OF TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

[Greek: xeinosynês heneka]

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PREFACE

The present essay is the sequel of an article on Greek music which the author contributed to the new edition of _Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_ (London, 1890-91, art. MUSICA). In that article the long-standing controversy regarding the nature of the ancient musical Modes was briefly noticed, and some reasons were given for dissenting from the views maintained by Westphal, and now very generally accepted. A full discussion of the subject would have taken up more space than was then at the author's disposal, and he accordingly proposed to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press to treat the question in a separate form. He has now to thank them for undertaking the publication of a work which is necessarily addressed to a very limited circle.

The progress of the work has been more than once delayed by the accession of materials. Much of it was written before the author had the opportunity of studying two very interesting documents first made known in the course of last year in the _Bulletin de correspondance hellénique_ and the _Philologus_, viz. the so-called Seikelos inscription from Tralles, and a fragment of the _Orestes_ of Euripides. But a much greater surprise was in store. The book was nearly ready for publication last November, when the newspapers reported that the French scholars engaged in excavating on the site of Delphi had found several pieces of musical notation, in particular a hymn to Apollo dating from the third century B.C. As the known remains of Greek music were either miserably brief, or so late as hardly to belong to classical antiquity, it was thought best to wait for the publication of the new material. The French School of Athens must be congratulated upon the good fortune which has attended their enterprise, and also upon the excellent form in which its results have been placed, within a comparatively short time, at the service of students. The writer of these pages, it will be readily understood, had especial reason to be interested in the announcement of a discovery which might give an entirely new complexion to the whole argument. It will be for the reader to determine whether the main thesis of the book has gained or lost by the new evidence.

Mr. Hubert Parry prefaces his suggestive treatment of Greek music by some remarks on the difficulty of the subject. 'It still seems possible,' he observes, 'that a large portion of what has passed into the domain of "well-authenticated fact" is complete misapprehension, as Greek scholars have not time for a thorough study of music up to the standard required to judge securely of the matters in question, and musicians as a rule are not extremely intimate with Greek' (_The Art of Music_, p. 24). To the present writer, who has no claim to the title of musician, the scepticism expressed in these words appears to be well founded. If his interpretation of the ancient texts furnishes musicians like Mr. Parry with a somewhat more trustworthy basis for their criticism of Greek music as an art, his object will be fully attained.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

§ 1. _Introductory._ PAGE
Musical forms called [Greek: harmoniai] or [Greek: tropoi] 1

§ 2. _Statement of the question._
The terms Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, &c. 3

§ 3. _The Authorities._
Aristoxenus--Plato--Aristotle--Heraclides Ponticus--the
Aristotelian _Problems_ 4

§ 4. _The Early Poets._
Pratinas--Telestes--Aristophanes 5

§ 5. _Plato._
The [Greek: harmoniai] in the _Republic_--The _Laches_ 7

§ 6. _Heraclides Ponticus._
The three Hellenic [Greek: harmoniai]--the Phrygian and Lydian--the
Hypo-dorian, &c. 9

§ 7. _Aristotle--The Politics._
The [Greek: harmoniai] in the _Politics_ 12

§ 8. _The Aristotelian Problems._
Hypo-dorian and Hypo-phrygian 14

§ 9. _The Rhetoric._
The [Greek: harmonia] of oratory 15

§ 10. _Aristoxenus._
The [Greek: topoi] or keys 16

§ 11. _Names of keys._
The prefix Hypo- --the term [Greek: tonos] 19

§ 12. _Plutarch's Dialogue on Music._
The Platonic modes--Lydian--Mixo-lydian and Syntono-lydian--the
Mixo-lydian octave--the keys of Sacadas--[Greek: tonos]
and [Greek: harmonia] 20

§ 13. _Modes employed on different instruments._
Modes on wind-instruments--on the water-organ--on the
cithara--on the flute 27

§ 14. _Recapitulation._
Equivalence of [Greek: harmonia] and [Greek: tonos] 28

§ 15._ The Systems of Greek music._
The musical System ([Greek: systêma emmeles]) 30

§ 16. _The standard Octachord System._
The scale in Aristotle and Aristoxenus 31

§ 17. _Earlier Heptachord Scales._
Seven-stringed scales in the _Problems_--Nicomachus 33

§ 18. _The Perfect System._
The Greater and Lesser Perfect Systems--Aristoxenus--enlargement
of the scale--Timotheus--Pronomus--the
Proslambanomenos--the Hyperhypatê 35

§ 19. _Relation of System and Key._
The standard System and the 'modes'--the multiplicity of
[Greek: harmoniai] 40

§ 20. _Tonality of the Greek musical scale._
The Mesê as a key-note--the close on the Hypatê--[Greek: archê] in
the _Metaphysics_ 42

§ 21. _The Species of a Scale._
The seven Species ([Greek: schêmata, eidê]) of the Octave--connexion
with the Modes 47

§ 22. _The Scales as treated by Aristoxenus._
Advance made by Aristoxenus--diagrams of the Enharmonic
genus--reference in Plato's _Republic_--Aristides
Quintilianus--the _Philebus_ 48

§ 23. _The Seven Species._
Aristoxenus--the _Introductio Harmonica_ 56

§ 24. _Relation of the Species to the Keys._
Use of the names Dorian, &c.--treatment of musical scales
in Aristoxenus--Species in the different genera 58

§ 25. _The Ethos of Music._
Regions of the voice--branches of lyrical poetry--kinds of
ethos 62

§ 26. _The Ethos of the Genera and Species._
Ethos depending on pitch--on the genus 66

§ 27. _The Musical Notation._
The instrumental notes--original form and date 67

§ 28. _Traces of the Species in the Notation._
Westphal's theory 75

§ 29. _Ptolemy's Scheme of Modes._
Reduction of the Modes to seven--nomenclature according
to _value_ and according to _position_ 78

§ 30. _Nomenclature by Position._
The term [Greek: thesis] in Aristoxenus--in the Aristotelian
_Problems_ 81

§ 31. _Scales of the Lyre and Cithara._
The scales on the lyre--on the cithara (viz. [Greek: tritai, tropoi,
parypatai, lydia, hypertropa, iastiaioliaia]) 83

§ 32. _Remains of Greek Music._
The hymns of Dionysius and Mesomedes--instrumental
passages in the _Anonymus_--Mr. Ramsay's inscription--melody
and accent--fragment of the _Orestes_ 87

§ 33. _Modes of Aristides Quintilianus._
The six Modes of Plato's _Republic_ 94

§ 34. _Credibility of Aristides Quintilianus._
Date of Aristides--genuineness of his scales 95

§ 35. _Evidence for Scales of different species._
The Hypo-dorian or common species--the Dorian--the
Mixo-lydian--the Phrygian and the Hypo-phrygian--Aristotle
on Dorian and Phrygian--the dithyramb 101

§ 36. _Conclusion._
Early importance of genus and key only--change in
Ptolemy's time in the direction of the mediaeval Tones 108

§ 37. _Epilogue--Speech and Song._
Musical nature of Greek accent--relation of musical and
ordinary utterance--agreement of melody and accent in
the Seikelos inscription--rhythm of music and of prose--the
stress accent (_ictus_)--music influenced by language--words
and melody--want of harmony--the
non-diatonic scales 113

APPENDIX.

Table I. Scales of the seven oldest Keys, with the species of the same name 127 Table II. The fifteen Keys 128 Music of the _Orestes_ of Euripides 130 Musical part of the Seikelos inscription 133 The hymns recently discovered at Delphi: Hymn to Apollo--the scale--the changes of genus and key--the 'mode' identical with the modern Minor--the other fragments--the agreement of melody and accent 134 Index of passages discussed or referred to 142

THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.

§ 1. _Introductory._

The modes of ancient Greek music are of interest to us, not only as the forms under which the Fine Art of Music was developed by a people of extraordinary artistic capability, but also on account of the peculiar ethical influence ascribed to them by the greatest ancient philosophers. It appears from a well-known passage in the _Republic_ of Plato, as well as from many other references, that in ancient Greece there were certain kinds or forms of music, which were known by national or tribal names--Dorian, Ionian, Phrygian, Lydian and the like: that each of these was believed to be capable, not only of expressing particular emotions, but of reacting on the sensibility in such a way as to exercise a powerful and specific influence in the formation of character: and consequently that the choice, among these varieties, of the musical forms to be admitted into the education of the state, was a matter of the most serious practical concern. If on a question of this kind we are inclined to distrust the imaginative temper of Plato we have only to turn to the discussion of the same subject in the _Politics_ of Aristotle, and we shall find the Platonic view criticised in some important details, but treated in the main as being beyond controversy.

The word [Greek: harmonia], 'harmony,' applied to these forms of music by Plato and Aristotle, means literally 'fitting' or 'adjustment,' hence the 'tuning' of a series of notes on any principle, the formation of a 'scale' or 'gamut.' Other ancient writers use the word [Greek: tropos], whence the Latin _modus_ and our mood or 'mode,' generally employed in this sense by English scholars. The word 'mode' is open to the objection that in modern music it has a meaning which assumes just what it is our present business to prove or disprove about the 'modes' of Greek music. The word 'harmony,' however, is still more misleading, and on the whole it seems best to abide by the established use of 'mode' as a translation of [Greek: harmonia], trusting that the context will show when the word has its distinctively modern sense, and when it simply denotes a musical scale of some particular kind.

The rhythm of music is also recognized by both Plato and Aristotle as an important element in its moral value. On this part of the subject, however, we have much less material for a judgement. Plato goes on to the rhythms after he has done with the modes, and lays down the principle that they must not be complex or varied, but must be the rhythms of a sober and brave life. But he confesses that he cannot tell which these are ([Greek: poia de poiou biou mimêmata ouk echô legein]), and leaves the matter for future inquiry[1].

[Footnote 1: Plato, _Rep._ p. 400 _b_ [Greek: alla tauta men, ên d' egô, kai meta Damônos bouleusometha, tines te aneleutherias kai hybreôs ê manias kai allês kakias prepousai baseis, kai tinas tois enantiois leipteon rhythmous.]]

§ 2. _Statement of the question._

What then are the musical forms to which Plato and Aristotle ascribe this remarkable efficacy? And what is the source of their influence on human emotion and character?

There are two obvious relations in which the scales employed in any system of music may stand to each other. They may be related as two keys of the same mode in modern music: that is to say, we may have to do with a scale consisting of a fixed succession of intervals, which may vary in pitch--may be 'transposed,' as we say, from one pitch or key to another. Or the scales may differ as the Major mode differs from the Minor, namely in the order in which the intervals follow each other. In modern music we have these two modes, and each of them may be in any one of twelve keys. It is evidently possible, also, that a name such as Dorian or Lydian might denote a particular mode taken in a particular key--that the scale so called should possess a definite pitch as well as a definite series of intervals.

According to the theory which appears now to prevail among students of Greek music, these famous names had a double application. There was a Dorian mode as well as a Dorian key, a Phrygian mode and a Phrygian key, and so on. This is the view set forth by Boeckh in the treatise which may be said to have laid the foundations of our knowledge of Greek music (_De Metris Pindari_, lib. III. cc. vii-xii). It is expounded, along with much subsidiary speculation, in the successive volumes which we owe to the fertile pen of Westphal; and it has been adopted in the learned and excellent _Histoire et Théorie de la Musique de l'Antiquité_ of M. Gevaert. According to these high authorities the Greeks had a system of key ([Greek: tonoi]), and also a system of modes ([Greek: harmoniai]), the former being based solely upon difference of pitch, the latter upon the 'form' or species ([Greek: eidos]) of the octave scale, that is to say, upon the order of the intervals which compose it.

§ 3. _The Authorities._

The sources of our knowledge are the various systematic treatises upon music which have come down to us from Greek antiquity, together with incidental references in other authors, chiefly poets and philosophers. Of the systematic or 'technical' writers the earliest and most important is Aristoxenus, a pupil of Aristotle. His treatise on _Harmonics_ ([Greek: harmonikê]) has reached us in a fragmentary condition, but may be supplemented to some extent from later works of the same school. Among the incidental notices of music the most considerable are the passages in the _Republic_ and the _Politics_ already referred to. To these we have to add a few other references in Plato and Aristotle; a long fragment from the Platonic philosopher Heraclides Ponticus, containing some interesting quotations from earlier poets; a number of detached observations collected in the nineteenth section of the Aristotelian _Problems_; and one or two notices preserved in lexicographical works, such as the _Onomasticon_ of Pollux.

In these groups of authorities the scholars above mentioned find the double use which they believe to have been made of the names Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and the rest. In Aristoxenus they recognise that these names are applied to a series of keys ([Greek: tonoi]), which differed in pitch only. In Plato and Aristotle they find the same names applied to scales called [Greek: harmoniai], and these scales, they maintain, differed primarily in the order of their intervals. I shall endeavour to show that there was no such double use: that in the earlier periods of Greek music the scales in use, whether called [Greek: tonoi] or [Greek: harmoniai], differed primarily in _pitch_: that the statements of ancient authors about them, down to and including Aristoxenus, agree as closely as there is reason to expect: and that the passages on which the opposite view is based--all of them drawn from comparatively late writers--either do not relate to these ancient scales at all, or point to the emergence in post-classical times of some new forms or tendencies of musical art. I propose in any case to adhere as closely as possible to a chronological treatment of the evidence which is at our command, and I hope to make it probable that the difficulties of the question may be best dealt with on this method.

§ 4. _The Early Poets._

The earliest of the passages now in question comes from the poet Pratinas, a contemporary of Aeschylus. It is quoted by Heraclides Ponticus, in the course of a long fragment preserved by Athenaeus (xiv. cc. 19-21, p. 624 _c_-626 _a_). The words are:

[Greek: mête syntonon diôke mête tan aneimenan
Iasti mousan, alla tan messan neôn
arouran aiolize tô melei.]

'Follow neither a highly-strung music nor the low-pitched Ionian, but turning over the middle plough-land be an Aeolian in your melody.' Westphal takes the word [Greek: 'Iasti] with [Greek: syntonon] as well as with [Greek: aneimenan], and infers that there were two kinds of Ionian, a 'highly-strung' and a 'relaxed' or low-pitched. But this is not required by the words, and seems less natural than the interpretation which I have given. All that the passage proves is that in the time of Pratinas a composer had the choice of at least three scales: one (or more) of which the pitch was high ([Greek: syntonos]); another of low pitch ([Greek: aneimenê]), which was called _Ionian_; and a third, intermediate between the others, and known as _Aeolian_. Later in the same passage we are told that Pratinas spoke of the 'Aeolian harmony' ([Greek: prepei toi pasin aoidolabraktais Aiolis harmonia]). And the term is also found, with the epithet 'deep-sounding,' in a passage quoted from the hymn to Demeter of a contemporary poet, Lasus of Hermione (Athen. xiv. 624 _e_):

[Greek: Damatra melpô Koran te Klymenoio alochon Meliboian,
hymnôn anagôn Aiolid' hama barybromon harmonian.]

With regard to the Phrygian and Lydian scales Heraclides (_l. c._) quotes an interesting passage from Telestes of Selinus, in which their introduction is ascribed to the colony that was said to have followed Pelops from Asia Minor to the Peloponnesus:

[Greek: prôtoi para kratêras Hellênôn en aulois
synopadoi Pelopos matros oreias phrygion aeison nomon;
toi d' oxyphônois pêktidôn psalmois krekon
Dydion hymnon.]

'The comrades of Pelops were the first who beside the Grecian cups sang with the flute ([Greek: aulos]) the Phrygian measure of the Great Mother; and these again by shrill-voiced notes of the _pectis_ sounded a Lydian hymn.' The epithet [Greek: oxyphônos] is worth notice in connexion with other evidence of the high pitch of the music known as Lydian. The Lydian mode is mentioned by Pindar, _Nem._ 4. 45:

[Greek: exyphaine glykeia kai tod' autika phorminx
Lydia syn harmonia melos pephilêmenon.]

The Dorian is the subject of an elaborate jest made at the expense of Cleon in the _Knights_ of Aristophanes, ll. 985-996:

[Greek: alla kai tod' egô ge thaumazô tês hyomousias
autou phasi gar auton hoi paides hoi xynephoitôn
tên Dôristi monên enarmottesthai thama tên lyran,
allên d' ouk ethelein labein; kata ton kitharistên
orgisthent' apagein keleuein, hôs harmonian ho pais
outos ou dynatai mathein ên mê Dôrodokêsti.]

§ 5. _Plato._

Following the order of time, we come next to the passage in the _Republic_ (p. 398), where Socrates is endeavouring to determine the kinds of music to be admitted for the use of his future 'guardians,' in accordance with the general principles which are to govern their education. First among these principles is the condemnation of all undue expression of grief. 'What modes of music ([Greek: harmoniai]),' he asks, are plaintive ([Greek: thrênôdeis])?' 'The _Mixo-lydian_,' Glaucon replies, 'and the _Syntono-lydian_, and such-like.' These accordingly Socrates excludes. 'But again, drunkenness and slothfulness are no less forbidden to the guardians; which of the modes are soft and convivial ([Greek: malakai te kai sympotikai])?' '_Ionian_,' says Glaucon, 'and _Lydian_, those which are called slack ([Greek: chalarai]).' 'Which then remain?' 'Seemingly _Dorian_ and _Phrygian_.' 'I do not know the modes,' says Socrates, 'but leave me one that will imitate the tones and accents of a brave man enduring danger or distress, fighting with constancy against fortune: and also one fitted for the work of peace, for prayer heard by the gods, for the successful persuasion or exhortation of men, and generally for the sober enjoyment of ease and prosperity.' Two such modes, one for Courage and one for Temperance, are declared by Glaucon to be found in the Dorian and the Phrygian. In the _Laches_ (p. 188) there is a passing reference in which a similar view is expressed. Plato is speaking of the character of a brave man as being metaphorically a 'harmony,' by which his life is made consonant to reason--'a Dorian harmony,' he adds--playing upon the musical sense of the word--'not an Ionian, certainly not a Phrygian or a Lydian, but that one which only is truly Hellenic' ([Greek: atechnôs Dôristi, all' ouk Iasti, oiomai de oude Phrygisti oude Lydisti, all' hê per monê Hellênikê estin harmonia]). The exclusion of Phrygian may be due to the fact that the virtue discussed in the _Laches_ is courage; but it is in agreement with Aristotle's opinion. The absence of Aeolian from both the Platonic passages seems to show that it had gone out of use in his time (but cp. p. 11).

The point of view from which Plato professes to determine the right modes to be used in his ideal education appears clearly in the passage of the _Republic_. The modes first rejected are those which are high in pitch. The Syntono-lydian or 'high-strung Lydian' is shown by its name to be of this class. The Mixo-lydian is similar, as we shall see from Aristotle and other writers. The second group which he condemns is that of the 'slack' or low-pitched. Thus it is on the profoundly Hellenic principle of choosing the mean between opposite extremes that he approves of the Dorian and Phrygian pitch. The application of this principle was not a new one, for it had been already laid down by Pratinas: [Greek: mête syntonon diôke mête tan aneimenan].

The three chapters which Aristotle devotes to a discussion of the use of music in the state (_Politics_ viii. cc. 5-7), and in which he reviews and criticises the Platonic treatment of the same subject, will be found entirely to bear out the view now taken. It is also supported by the commentary of Plutarch, in his dialogue on Music (cc. 15-17), of which we shall have something to say hereafter. Meanwhile, following the chronological order of our authorities, we come next to the fragment of Heraclides Ponticus already mentioned (Athen. xiv. p. 624 _c_-626 _a_).

§ 6. _Heraclides Ponticus._

The chief doctrine maintained by Heraclides Ponticus is that there are three modes ([Greek: harmoniai]), belonging to the three Greek races--Dorian, Aeolian, Ionian. The Phrygian and Lydian, in his view, had no right to the name of mode or 'harmony' ([Greek: oud' harmonian phêsi dein kaleisthai tên Phrygion, kathaper oude tên Lydion]). The three which he recognized had each a marked ethos. The Dorian reflected the military traditions and temper of Sparta. The Aeolian, which Heraclides identified with the Hypo-dorian of his own time, answered to the national character of the Thessalians, which was bold and gay, somewhat overweening and self-indulgent, but hospitable and chivalrous. Some said that it was called Hypo-dorian because it was below the Dorian on the [Greek: aulos] or flute; but Heraclides thinks that the name merely expressed likeness to the Dorian character ([Greek: Dôrion men autên ou nomizein, prosempherê de pôs ekeinê]). The Ionian, again, was harsh and severe, expressive of the unkindly disposition fostered amid the pride and material welfare of Miletus. Heraclides is inclined to say that it was not properly a distinct musical scale or 'harmony,' but a strange aberration in the form of the musical scale ([Greek: tropon de tina thaumaston schêmatos harmonias]). He goes on to protest against those who do not appreciate differences of kind ([Greek: tas kat' eidos diaphoras]), and are guided only by the high or low pitch of the notes ([Greek: tê tôn phthongôn exytêti kai barytêti]); so that they make a Hyper-mixolydian, and another again above that. 'I do not see,' he adds, 'that the Hyper-phrygian has a distinct ethos; and yet some say that they have discovered a new mode ([Greek: harmonia]), the Hypo-phrygian. But a mode ought to have a distinct moral or emotional character ([Greek: eidos echein ethous hê pathous]), as the Locrian, which was in use in the time of Simonides and Pindar, but went out of fashion again.' The Phrygian and Lydian, as we have seen, were said to have been brought to the Peloponnesus by the followers of Pelops.

The tone as well as the substance of this extract makes it evident that the opinions of Heraclides on questions of theoretical music must be accepted with considerable reserve. The notion that the Phrygian and Lydian scales were 'barbarous' and opposed to Hellenic ethos was apparently common enough, though largely due (as we may gather from several indications) to national prejudice. But no one, except Heraclides, goes so far as to deny them the name of [Greek: harmonia]. The threefold division into Dorian, Aeolian and Ionian must also be arbitrary. It is to be observed that Heraclides obtains his Aeolian by identifying the Aeolian of Pratinas and other early poets with the mode called Hypo-dorian in his own time. The circumstance that Plato mentions neither Aeolian nor Hypo-dorian suggests rather that Aeolian had gone out of use before Hypo-dorian came in. The conjecture of Boeckh that Ionian was the same as the later Hypo-phrygian (_De Metr. Pind._ iii. 8) is open to a similar objection. The Ionian mode was at least as old as Pratinas, whereas the Hypo-phrygian was a novelty in the time of Heraclides. The protest which Heraclides makes against classifying modes merely according to their pitch is chiefly valuable as proving that the modes were as a matter of fact usually classified from that point of view. It is far from proving that there was any other principle which Heraclides wished to adopt--such, for example, as difference in the intervals employed, or in their succession. His 'differences of kind' ([Greek: tas kat' eidos diaphoras]) are not necessarily to be explained from the technical use of [Greek: eidos] for the 'species' of the octave. What he complains of seems to be the multiplication of modes--Hyper-mixolydian, Hyper-phrygian, Hypo-phrygian--beyond the legitimate requirements of the art. The Mixo-lydian (_e.g._) is high-pitched and plaintive: what more can the Hyper-mixolydian be? The Hypo-phrygian is a new mode: Heraclides denies it a distinctive ethos. His view seems to be that the number of modes should not be greater than the number of varieties in temper or emotion of which music is capable. But there is nothing to show that he did not regard pitch as the chief element, or one of the chief elements, of musical expression.

The absence of the name Hypo-lydian, taken with the description of Hypo-dorian as 'below the Dorian,' would indicate that the Hypo-dorian of Heraclides was not the later mode of that name, but was a semitone below the Dorian, in the place afterwards occupied by the Hypo-lydian. This is confirmed, as we shall see, by Aristoxenus (p. 18).

§ 7. _Aristotle--the Politics._

Of the writers who deal with music from the point of view of the cultivated layman, Aristotle is undoubtedly the most instructive. The chapters in his _Politics_ which treat of music in its relation to the state and to morality go much more deeply than Plato does into the grounds of the influence which musical forms exert upon temper and feeling. Moreover, Aristotle's scope is wider, not being confined to the education of the young; and his treatment is evidently a more faithful reflexion of the ordinary Greek notions and sentiment. He begins (_Pol._ viii. 5, p. 1340 _a_ 38) by agreeing with Plato as to the great importance of the subject for practical politics. Musical forms, he holds, are not mere _symbols_ ([Greek: sêmeia]), acting through association, but are an actual _copy_ or reflex of the forms of moral temper ([Greek: en de tois melesin autois esti mimêmata tôn êthôn]); and this is the ground of the different moral influence exercised by different modes ([Greek: harmoniai]). By some of them, especially by the Mixo-lydian, we are moved to a plaintive and depressed temper ([Greek: diatithesthai odyrtikôterôs kai synestêkotôs mallon]); by others, such as those which are called the 'relaxed' ([Greek: aneimenai]), we are disposed to 'softness' of mind ([Greek: malakôterôs tên dianoian]). The Dorian, again, is the only one under whose influence men are in a middle and settled mood ([Greek: mesôs kai kathestêkotôs malista]): while the Phrygian makes them excited ([Greek: enthousiastikous]). In a later chapter (Pol. viii. 7, p. 1342 _a_ 32), he returns to the subject of the Phrygian. Socrates, he thinks, ought not to have left it with the Dorian, especially since he condemned the flute ([Greek: aulos]), which has the same character among instruments as the Phrygian among modes, both being orgiastic and emotional. The Dorian, as all agree, is the most steadfast ([Greek: stasimôtatê]), and has most of the ethos of courage; and, as compared with other modes, it has the character which Aristotle himself regards as the universal criterion of excellence, viz. that of being the mean between opposite excesses. Aristotle, therefore, certainly understood Plato to have approved the Dorian and the Phrygian as representing the mean in respect of pitch, while other modes were either too high or too low. He goes on to defend the use of the 'relaxed' modes on the ground that they furnish a music that is still within the powers of those whose voice has failed from age, and who therefore are not able to sing the high-pitched modes ([Greek: oion tois apeirêkosi dia chronon ou rhadion adein tas syntonous harmonias, alla tas aneimenas hê physis hypoballei tois têlikoutois]). In this passage the meaning of the words [Greek: syntonos] and [Greek: aneimenos] is especially clear.

In the same discussion (c. 6), Aristotle refers to the distinction between music that is ethical, music suited to action, and music that inspires religious excitement ([Greek: ta men êthika, ta de praktika, ta ho enthousiastika]). The last of these kinds serves as a 'purification' ([Greek: katharsis]). The excitement is calmed by giving it vent; and the morbid condition of the ethos is met by music of high pitch and exceptional 'colour' ([Greek: tôn harmoniôn parekbaseis kai tôn melôn ta syntona kai parakechrôsmena]).

In a different connexion (_Pol._ iv. 3, p. 1290 _a_ 20), dealing with the opinion that all forms of government are ultimately reducible to two, viz. oligarchy and democracy, Aristotle compares the view of some who held that there are properly only two musical modes, Dorian and Phrygian,--the other scales being mere varieties of these two. Rather, he says, there is in each case a right form, or two right forms at most, from which the rest are declensions ([Greek: parekbaseis]),--on one side to 'high-pitched' and imperious oligarchies, on the other to 'relaxed' and 'soft' forms of popular government ([Greek: oligarchikas men tas syntonôteras kai despotikônteras, tas d' aneimenas kai malakas dêmotikas]). This is obviously the Platonic doctrine of two right keys, holding the mean between high and low.

§ 8. _The Aristotelian Problems._

Some further notices of the [Greek: harmoniai] or modes are contained in the so-called _Problems_,--a collection which is probably not the work of Aristotle himself, but can hardly be later than the Aristotelian age. What is said in it of the modes is clearly of the period before the reform of Aristoxenus. In one place (_Probl._ xix. 48) the question is asked why the Hypo-dorian and Hypo-phrygian are not used in the _chorus_ of tragedy. One answer is that the Hypo-phrygian has the ethos of action ([Greek: êthos echei praktikon]), and that the Hypo-dorian is the expression of a lofty and unshaken character; both of these things being proper to the heroic personages on the stage, but not to the chorus, which represents the average spectator, and takes no part in the action. Hence the music suited to the chorus is that of emotion venting itself in passive complaint:--a description which fits the other modes, but least of all the exciting and orgiastic Hypo-phrygian. On the contrary (the writer adds) the passive attitude is especially expressed by the Mixo-lydian. The view here taken of the Hypo-dorian evidently agrees with that of Heraclides Ponticus (_supra_, p. 10).

The relation which Plato assumes between high pitch and the excitement of passion, and again between lowness of pitch and 'softness' or self-indulgence ([Greek: malakia kai argia]), is recognized in the _Problems_, xix. 49 [Greek: epei de ho men barys phthongos malakos kai êremaios estin, ho de oxys kinêtikos, k.t.l.]: 'since a deep note is soft and calm, and a high note is exciting, &c.'

§ 9. _The Rhetoric._

The word [Greek: tonos] occurs several times in Aristotle with the sense of 'pitch,' but is not applied by him to the keys of music. The nearest approach to such a use may be found in a passage of the _Rhetoric_ (iii. 1, p. 1403 _b_ 27).

Speaking of the rise of acting ([Greek: hypokrisis]), which was originally the business of the poet himself, but had grown into a distinct art, capable of theoretical as well as practical treatment, he observes that a similar art might be formed for oratory. 'Such an art would lay down rules directing how to use the voice so as to suit each variety of feeling,--when it should be loud, when low, when intermediate;--and how to use the keys, when the pitch of the voice should be high or low or middle ([Greek: kai pôs tois tonois, oion oxeia kai bareia kai mesê], sc. [Greek: phônê]); and the rhythms, which to use for each case. For there are three things which men study, viz. quantity (_i. e._ loudness of sound), tune, and rhythm ([tria gar esti peri hôn skopousi, tauta d' esti megethos, harmonia, rhythmos]).' The passage is interesting as showing the value which Aristotle set upon pitch as an element of effect. And the use of [Greek: harmonia] in reference to the pitch of the voice, and as virtually equivalent to [Greek: tonos], is especially worthy of note.

§ 10. _Aristoxenus._

Our next source of information is the technical writer Aristoxenus, a contemporary and pupil of Aristotle. Of his many works on the subject of music three books only have survived, bearing the title [Greek: harmonika otoicheia][1]. In the treatment adopted by Aristoxenus the chapter on keys follows the chapter on 'systems' ([Greek: systêmata]). By a [Greek: systêma] he means a scale consisting of a certain succession of intervals: in other words, a series of notes whose relative pitch is determined. Such a system may vary in absolute pitch, and the [Greek: tonoi] or keys are simply the different degrees of pitch at which a particular system is taken ([Greek: tous tonous eph' ôn tithemena ta systêmata melôdeitai]). When the system and the key are both given it is evident that the whole series of notes is determined.

Aristoxenus is the chief authority on the keys of Greek music. In this department he is considered to have done for Greece what Bach's _Wohltemperirtes Clavier_ did for modern Europe. It is true that the scheme of keys which later writers ascribe to him is not given in the _Harmonics_ which we have: but we find there what is in some respects more valuable, namely, a vivid account of the state of things in respect of tonality which he observed in the music of his time.

[Footnote 1: It is foreign to our purpose to discuss the critical problems presented by the text of Aristoxenus. Of the three extant books the first is obviously a distinct treatise, and should probably be entitled [Greek: peri archôn]. The other two books will then bear the old title [Greek: harmonika stoicheia]. They deal with the same subjects, for the most part, as the first book, and in the same order,--a species of repetition of which there are well-known instances in the Aristotelian writings. The conclusion is abrupt, and some important topics are omitted. It seems an exaggeration, however, to describe the _Harmonics_ of Aristoxenus as a mere collection of excerpts, which is the view taken by Marquard (_Die harmonischen Fragmente des Aristoxenus_, pp. 359-393). See Westphal's _Harmonik und Melopöie der Griechen_ (p. 41, ed. 1863), and the reply to Marquard in his _Aristoxenus von Tarent_ (pp. 165-170).]

'No one,' says Aristoxenus (p. 37 Meib.), 'has told us a word about the keys, either how they are to be arrived at ([Greek: tina tropon lêpteon]), or from what point of view their number is to be determined. Musicians assign the place of the keys very much as the different cities regulate the days of the month. The Corinthians, for example, will be found counting a day as the tenth of the month, while with the Athenians it is the fifth, and in some other place the eighth. Some authorities on music ([Greek: harmonikoi]) say that the Hypo-dorian is the lowest key, the Mixo-lydian a semitone higher, the Dorian again a semitone higher, the Phrygian a tone above the Dorian, and similarly the Lydian a tone above the Phrygian. Others add the Hypo-phrygian flute [_i. e._ the scale of the flute so called] at the lower end of the list. Others, again, looking to the holes of the flute ([Greek: pros tên tôn aulôn trupêsin blepontes]), separate the three lowest keys, viz. the Hypo-phrygian, Hypo-dorian, and Dorian, by the interval of three-quarters of a tone ([Greek: trisi diesesin]), but the Phrygian from the Dorian by a tone, the Lydian from the Phrygian again by three-quarters of a tone, and the Mixo-lydian from the Lydian by a like interval. But as to what determines the interval between one key and another they have told us nothing.'

It will be seen that (with one marked exception) there was agreement about the order of the keys in respect of pitch, and that some at least had reduced the intervals to the succession of tones and semitones which characterises the diatonic scale. The exception is the Mixo-lydian, which some ranked immediately below the Dorian, others above the Lydian. Westphal attributes this strange discrepancy to the accidental displacing of some words in the MSS. of Aristoxenus[1]. However this may be, it is plain that in the time of Aristoxenus considerable progress had been made towards the scheme of keys which was afterwards connected with his name. This may be represented by the following table, in which for the sake of comparison the later Hypo-lydian and Hypo-dorian are added in brackets:

Mixo-lydian
semitone - {
Lydian
tone - {
Phrygian
tone - {
Dorian
semitone - {
Hypo-dorian [Hypo-lydian]
tone - {
Hypo-phrygian
tone - {
[Hypo-dorian]

[Footnote 1: _Harm._ p. 37, 19 Meib. [Greek: houtô gar hoi men tôn harmonikôn legousi barytaton men ton Hypodôrion tôn tonôn, hêmitoniô de oxyteron toutou ton Mixolydion, toutou de hêmitoniô ton Dôrion, tou de Dôriou tonô ton Phrygion: hôsautôs de kai tou Phrygiou ton Lydion heterô tonô.] Westphal (_Harmonik und Melopöie_ p. 165) would transfer the words [Greek: hêmitoniô ... Mixolydion] to the end of the sentence, and insert [Greek: oxyteron] before [Greek: ton Dôrion]. The necessity for this insertion shows that Westphal's transposition is not in itself an easy one. The only reason for it is the difficulty of supposing that there could have been so great a difference in the pitch of the Mixo-lydian scale. As to this, however, see p. 23 (note).

The words [Greek: Hypophrygion aulon] have also been condemned by Westphal (_Aristoxenus_, p. 453). He points out the curious contradiction between [Greek: pros tên tôn aulôn trypêsin blepontes] and the complaint [Greek: ti d' esti pros ho blepontes ... ouden eirêkasin]. But if [Greek: pros tên ... blepontes] was a marginal gloss, as Westphal suggests, it was doubtless a gloss on [Greek: aulon], and if so, [Greek: aulon] is presumably sound. Since the [Greek: aulos] was especially a Phrygian instrument, and regularly associated with the Phrygian mode (as we know from Aristotle, see p. 13), nothing is more probable than that there was a variety of flute called Hypo-phrygian, because tuned so as to yield the Hypo-phrygian key, either by itself or as a modulation from the Phrygian.]

In this scheme the important feature--that which marks it as an advance on the others referred to by Aristoxenus--is the conformity which it exhibits with the diatonic scale. The result of this conformity is that the keys stand in a certain relation to each other. Taking any two, we find that certain notes are common to them. So long as the intervals of pitch were quite arbitrary, or were practically irrational quantities, such as three-quarters of a tone, no such relation could exist. It now became possible to pass from one key to another, _i. e._ to employ _modulation_ ([Greek: metabolê]) as a source of musical effect. This new system had evidently made some progress when Aristoxenus wrote, though it was not perfected, and had not passed into general use.

§ 11. _Names of Keys_ ([Greek: hypo-]).

A point that deserves special notice at this place is the use of the prefix _Hypo-_ ([Greek: hypo-]) in the names of keys. In the final Aristoxenean system _Hypo-_ implies that a key is lower by the interval of a Fourth than the key to whose name it is prefixed. This convention served to bring out the special relation between the two keys, viz. to show that they are related (to use modern language) as the keys of a tonic and dominant. In the scheme of keys now in question there is only one instance of this use of _Hypo-_, namely in the Hypo-phrygian, the most recently introduced. It must have been on the analogy of this name that the term Hypo-dorian was shifted from the key immediately below the Dorian to the new key a Fourth below it, and that the new term Hypo-lydian was given to the old Hypo-dorian in accordance with its similar relation to the Lydian. In the time of Aristoxenus, then, this technical sense of _Hypo-_ had not yet been established, but was coming into use. It led naturally to the employment of _Hyper-_ in the inverse sense, viz. to denote a key a Fourth higher (the key of the sub-dominant). By further steps, of which there is no record, the Greek musicians arrived at the idea of a key for every semitone in the octave; and thus was formed the system of thirteen keys, ascribed to Aristoxenus by later writers. (See the scheme at the end of this book, Table II.) Whether in fact it was entirely his work may be doubted. In any case he had formed a clear conception--the want of which he noted in his predecessors--of the principles on which a theoretically complete scheme of keys should be constructed.

In the discussions to which we have been referring, Aristoxenus invariably employs the word [Greek: tonos] in the sense of 'key.' The word [Greek: harmonia] in his writings is equivalent to 'Enharmonic genus' ([Greek: genos enarmonion]), the _genus_ of music which made use of the Enharmonic _diësis_ or quarter-tone. Thus he never speaks, as Plato and Aristotle do, of the Dorian (or Phrygian or Lydian) [Greek: harmonia], but only of the [Greek: tonoi] so named. There is indeed one passage in which certain octave scales are said by Aristoxenus to have been called [Greek: harmoniai]: but this, as will be shown, is a use which is to be otherwise explained (see p. 54).

§ 12. _Plutarch's Dialogue on Music._

After the time of Aristoxenus the technical writers on music make little or no use of the term [Greek: harmonia]. Their word for 'key' is [Greek: tonos]; and the octachord scales which are distinguished by the succession of their intervals are called 'species of the octave' ([Greek: eidê tou dia] [Greek: pasôn]). The modes of the classical period, however, were still objects of antiquarian and philosophic interest, and authors who treated them from this point of view naturally kept up the old designation. A good specimen of the writings of this class has survived in the _dialogus de musicâ_ of Plutarch. Like most productions of the time, it is mainly a compilation from earlier works now lost. Much of it comes from Aristoxenus, and there is therefore a special fitness in dealing with it in this place, by way of supplement to the arguments drawn directly from the Aristoxenean _Harmonics_. The following are the chief passages bearing on the subject of our enquiry:

(1) In cc. 15-17 we find a commentary of some interest on the Platonic treatment of the modes. Plutarch is dwelling on the superiority of the older and simpler music, and appeals to the opinion of Plato.

'The Lydian mode ([Greek: harmonia]) Plato objects to because it is high ([Greek: oxeia]) and suited to lamentation. Indeed it is said to have been originally devised for that purpose: for Aristoxenus tells us, in his first book on Music, that Olympus first employed the Lydian mode on the flute in a dirge ([Greek: epikêdeion aulêsai Lydisti]) over the Python. But some say that Melanippides began this kind of music. And Pindar in his paeans says that the Lydian mode ([Greek: harmonia]) was first brought in by Anthippus in an ode on the marriage of Niobe. But others say that Torrhebus first used that mode, as Dionysius the Iambus relates.'

'The Mixo-lydian, too, is pathetic and suitable to tragedy. And Aristoxenus says that Sappho was the inventor of the Mixo-lydian, and that from her the tragic poets learned it. They combined it with the Dorian, since that mode gives grandeur and dignity, and the other pathos, and these are the two elements of tragedy. But in his Historical Treatise on Music ([Greek: historika tês harmonias hypomnêmata]) he says that Pythoclides the flute-player was the discoverer of it. And Lysis says that Lamprocles the Athenian, perceiving that in it the disjunctive tone ([Greek: diazeuxis]) is not where it was generally supposed to be, but is at the upper end of the scale, made the form of it to be that of the octave from Paramesê to Hypatê Hypatôn ([Greek: toiouton autês apergasasthai to schêma hoion to apo paramesês epi hypatên hypatôn]). Moreover, it is said that the relaxed Lydian ([Greek: epaneimenên Lydisti]), which is the opposite of the Mixo-lydian, being similar to the Ionian ([Greek: paraplêsian ousan tê Iadi]), was invented by Damon the Athenian.'

'These modes then, the one plaintive, the other relaxed ([Greek: eklelymenê]), Plato properly rejected, and chose the Dorian, as befitting warlike and temperate men.'

In this passage the 'high-pitched Lydian' ([Greek: Syntonolydisti]) of Plato is called simply Lydian. There is every reason to suppose that it is the mode called Lydian by Aristotle and Heraclides Ponticus[1]. If this is so, it follows almost of necessity that the Lydian of Plato, called slack ([Greek: chalara]) by him--Plutarch's [Greek: epaneimenê Lydisti]--is to be identified with the later Hypo-lydian.

[Footnote 1: An objection to this identification has been based on the words of Pollux, _Onom._ iv. 78 [Greek: kai harmonia men aulêtikê Dôristi, Phrygisti, Lydios kai Iônikê, kai syntonos Lydisti ên Anthippos exeure]. The source of this statement, or at least of the latter part of it, is evidently the same as that of the notice in Plutarch. The agreement with Plato's list makes it probable that this source was some comment on the passage in the _Republic_. If so, it can hardly be doubted that Pollux gives the original terms, the Platonic [Greek: Lydisti] and [Greek: Syntonolydisti], and consequently that the later Lydian is not to be found in his [Greek: Lydios] (which is a 'relaxed' mode), but in his [Greek: syntonos Lydisti]. There is no difficulty in supposing that the mode was called [Greek: syntonos] merely in contrast to the other.]

The point, however, is not free from difficulty: for (as we have seen, p. 18), the name Hypo-lydian is not in the list of keys given by Aristoxenus--the key which was ultimately called Hypo-lydian being known to him as the Hypo-dorian. If, however, the confusion in the nomenclature of the keys was as great as Aristoxenus himself describes, such a contradiction as this cannot be taken to prove much[1].

The statement that the 'relaxed Lydian' was the opposite of the Mixo-lydian, and similar to the Ionian, has given rise to much speculation. In what sense, we naturally ask, can a key or a mode be said to be 'opposite' or 'similar' to another? I venture to think that it is evidently a mere paraphrase of Plato's language. The relaxed Lydian is opposed to the Mixo-lydian because it is at the other end of the scale in pitch; and it is similar to the Ionian because the two are classed together (as [Greek: chalarai]) by Plato.

The Mixo-lydian, according to Aristoxenus, was employed by the tragic poets in close union with the Dorian mode ([Greek: labontas syzeuxai tê Dôristi]). The fact that the Mixo-lydian was just a Fourth higher than the Dorian must have made the transition from the one to the other a natural and melodious one. As Aristoxenus suggested, it would be especially used to mark the passage from grandeur and dignity to pathos which is the chief characteristic of tragedy ([Greek: hê men to megaloprepes kai axiômatikon apodidôsin, hê de to pathêtikon, memiktai de dia toutôn tragôdia]). It is worth noticing that this relation obtained in the scheme of the musicians who did not arrange the keys according to the diatonic scale, but in some way suggested by the form of the flute ([Greek: hoi pros tên tôn aulôn trypêsin blepontes]). It may therefore be supposed to have been established before the relative pitch of other keys had been settled.

[Footnote 1: It seems not impossible that this difficulty with regard to the 'slack Lydian' and Hypo-lydian may be connected with the contradiction in the statement of Aristoxenus about the schemes of keys in his time (p. 18). According to that account, if the text is sound, some musicians placed the Mixo-lydian a semitone below the Dorian--the Hypo-dorian being again a semitone lower. In this scheme, then, the Mixo-lydian held the place of the later Hypo-lydian. The conjecture may perhaps be hazarded, that this lower Mixo-lydian somehow represents Plato's 'slack Lydian,' and eventually passed into the Hypo-lydian.]

So far the passage of Plutarch goes to confirm the view of the Platonic modes according to which they were distinguished chiefly, if not wholly, by difference of pitch. We come now, however, to a statement which apparently tends in the opposite direction, viz. that a certain Lamprocles of Athens noticed that in the Mixo-lydian mode the Disjunctive Tone ([Greek: diazeuxis]) was at the upper end of the scale ([Greek: epi to oxy]), and reformed the scale accordingly. This must refer to an octave scale of the form _b c d e f g a b_, consisting of the two tetrachords _b-e_ and _e-a_, and the tone _a-b_. Such an octave may or may not be in the Mixo-lydian key: it is certainly of the Mixo-lydian species (p. 57).

In estimating the value of this piece of evidence it is necessary to remark, in the first place, that the authority is no longer that of Aristoxenus, but of a certain Lysis, of whom nothing else seems to be known. That he was later than Aristoxenus is made probable by his way of describing the Mixo-lydian octave, viz. by reference to the notes in the Perfect System by which it is exemplified (Hypatê Hypatôn to Paramesê). In Aristoxenus, as we shall see (p. 31), the primitive octave (from Hypatê to Nêtê) is the only scale the notes of which are mentioned by name. But even if the notice is comparatively early, it is worth observing that the Mixo-lydian scale thus ascribed to Lamprocles consists of two tetrachords of the normal type, viz. with the semitone or [Greek: pyknon] at the lower end of the scale (Diatonic _e f g a_, Enharmonic _e e* f a_). The difference is that they are conjunct, whereas in the primitive standard octave (_e - e_) the tetrachords are disjunct (_e-a b-e_). This, however, is a variety which is provided for by the tetrachord Synêmmenôn in the Perfect System, and which may have been allowed in the less complete scales of earlier times. In any case the existence of a scale of this particular form does not prove that the octaves of other species were recognised in the same way.

(2) In another passage (c. 6) Plutarch says of the ancient music of the cithara that it was characterised by perfect simplicity. It was not allowed, he tells us, to change the mode ([Greek: metapherein tas harmonias]) or the rhythm: for in the primitive lyrical compositions called 'Nomes' ([Greek: nomoi]) they preserved in each its proper pitch ([Greek: tên oikeian tasin]). Here the word [Greek: tasis] indicates that by [Greek: harmoniai] Plutarch (or the older author from whom he was quoting) meant particular _keys_. This is fully confirmed by the use of [Greek: tonos] in a passage a little further on (c. 8), where Plutarch gives an account of an innovation in this matter made by Sacadas of Argos (fl. 590 B.C.). 'There being three keys ([Greek: tonoi]) in the time of Polymnastus and Sacadas, viz. the Dorian, Phrygian and Lydian, it is said that Sacadas composed a strophe in each of these keys, and taught the chorus to sing them, the first in the Dorian, the second in the Phrygian, and the third in the Lydian key: and this composition was called the "three-part Nome" ([Greek: nomos trimerês]) on account of the change of key.' In Westphal's _Harmonik und Melopöie_ (ed. 1863, p. 76, cp. p. 62) he explains this notice of the ancient modes ([Greek: harmoniai], _Tonarten_), observing that the word [Greek: tonos] is there used improperly for what the technical writers call [Greek: eidos tou dia pasôn].