That judicious writer, Polybius, informs us that music was necessary
to soften the manners of the Arcadians, who lived in a cold, gloomy
country; that the inhabitants of Cynete, who slighted music, were the
cruellest of all the Greeks, and that no other town was so immersed in
luxury and debauchery. Plato
[11]
is not afraid to affirm that there is no possibility of making a change
in music without altering the frame of government. Aristotle, who seems
to have written his Politics only in order to contradict Plato, agrees
with him, notwithstanding, in regard to the power and influence of music
over the manners of the people.
[12]
This was also the opinion of Theophrastus, of Plutarch
[13]
and of all the ancients — an opinion grounded on mature reflection; being one of
the principles of their polity.
[14]
Thus it was they enacted laws, and thus they required that cities should
be governed.
This I fancy must be explained in the following manner. It is
observable that in the cities of Greece, especially those whose
.principal object was war, all lucrative arts and professions were
considered unworthy of a freeman. "Most arts," says Xenophon,
[15]
"corrupt and enervate the bodies of those that exercise them; they
oblige them to sit in the shade, or near the fire. They can find no
leisure, either for their friends or for the republic." It was only by
the corruption of some democracies that artisans became freemen. This we
learn from Aristotle,
[16]
who maintains that a well-regulated republic will never give them the right
and freedom of the city.
[17]
Agriculture was likewise a servile profession, and generally
practised by the inhabitants of conquered countries, such as the Helotes
among the Lacedmonians, the Periecians among the Cretans, the Penestes
among the Thessalians, and other conquered
[18]
people in other republics.
In fine, every kind of low commerce
[19]
was infamous among the Greeks; as it obliged a citizen to serve and wait on
a slave, on a lodger, or a stranger. This was a notion that clashed with
the spirit of Greek liberty; hence Plato
[20]
in his Laws orders a citizen to be punished if he attempts to concern himself
with trade.
Thus in the Greek republics the magistrates were extremely
embarrassed. They would not have the citizens apply themselves to
trade, to agriculture, or to the arts, and yet they would not have them
idle.
[21]
They found, therefore, employment for them in gymnic and
military exercises; and none else were allowed by their institution.
[22]
Hence the Greeks must be considered as a society of wrestlers and
boxers. Now, these exercises having a natural tendency to render people
hardy and fierce, there was a necessity for tempering them with others
that might soften their manners.
[23]
For this purpose, music, which influences the mind by means of the corporeal
organs, was extremely proper. It is a kind of medium between manly exercises,
which harden the body, and speculative sciences, which are apt to render us unsociable
and sour. It cannot be said that music inspired virtue, for this would
be inconceivable: but it prevented the effects of a savage institution,
and enabled the soul to have such a share in the education as it could
never have had without the assistance of harmony.
Let us suppose among ourselves a society of men so passionately fond
of hunting as to make it their sole employment; they would doubtless
contract thereby a kind of rusticity and fierceness. But if they happen
to imbibe a taste for music, we should quickly perceive a sensible
difference in their customs and manners. In short, the exercises used by
the Greeks could raise but one kind of passions, viz., fierceness,
indignation, and cruelty. But music excites all these; and is likewise
able to inspire the soul with a sense of pity, lenity, tenderness, and
love. Our moral writers, who declaim so vehemently against the stage,
sufficiently demonstrate the power of music over the mind.
If the society above mentioned were to have no other music than that
of drums, and the sound of the trumpet, would it not be more difficult
to accomplish this end than by the more melting tones of softer harmony?
The ancients were therefore in the right when, under particular
circumstances, they preferred one mode to another in regard to manners.
But some will ask, why should music be pitched upon as preferable to
any other entertainment? It is because of all sensible pleasures there
is none that less corrupts the soul. We blush to read in Plutarch
[24]
that the Thebans, in order to soften the manners of their youth,
authorised by law a passion which ought to be proscribed by all nations.
