Music in Arcadia
Now, seeing that the Arcadians as a whole have a
note
reputation for virtue throughout Greece, not
only in respect of their hospitality and humanity,
but especially for their scrupulous piety, it
seems worth while to investigate briefly the
barbarous character of the Cynaethans: and
inquire how it came about that, though indisputably Arcadians in race, they at that time so
far surpassed the rest of Greece in cruelty and
contempt of law.
They seem then to me to be the first, and indeed the
only, Arcadians who have abandoned institutions nobly conceived by their ancestors and admirably adapted to the
character of all the inhabitants of Arcadia. For music, and I
mean by that true music, which it is advantageous to every one
to practice, is obligatory with the Arcadians. For we must
not think, as Ephorus in a hasty sentence of his preface, wholly
unworthy of him, says, that music was introduced among mankind for the purpose of deception and jugglery; nor must the
ancient Cretans and Spartans be supposed to have introduced
the pipe and rhythmic movement in war, instead of the
trumpet, without some reason; nor the early Arcadians to have
given music such a high place in their constitution, that not
only boys, but young men up to the age of thirty, are compelled
to practise it, though in other respects most simple and
primitive in their manner of life. Every one is familiarly
acquainted with the fact that the Arcadians are the only
people among whom boys are by the laws trained from infancy
to sing hymns and paeans, in which they celebrate in the
traditional fashion the heroes and gods of their particular
towns. They next learn the airs of Philoxenus and Timotheus,
and dance with great spirit to the pipers at the yearly Dionysia
in the theatres, the boys at the boys' festival, and the young men
at what is called the men's festival. Similarly it is their universal custom, at all festal gatherings and banquets, not to have
strangers to make the music, but to produce it themselves, calling
-- 297 -- on each other in turn for a song. They do not look upon it
as a disgrace to disclaim the possession of any other accomplishment: but no one can disclaim the knowledge of how to
sing, because all are forced to learn; nor can they confess the
knowledge, and yet excuse themselves from practising it, because
that too among them is looked upon as disgraceful. Their
young men again practise a military step to the music of the
pipe and in regular order of battle, producing elaborate
dances, which they display to their fellow-citizens every year in
the theatres, at the public charge and expense.
