On the Origin and Progress of the Art of Music by John Taverner by Joseph M. Ortiz

Author:Joseph M. Ortiz
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Of the same stampe allsoe was that mencioned by Plato in his Gorgias, ὑγιαίνειν μὲν ἄριστον, τὸ δέ δεύτερον καλὸν γενέστθαι, τρίτον δέ τὸ πλουτεῖν ἀδόλως299

[81v] A strong & able body is mans greatest blisse,

The next a comely & beseeming feature is

The third sufficient wealth & that not gott amisse.

Others say that they were called scolia, of the order in singing them, for when one had begunne them, it did not belong to him that satt next to followe, but to him whomesoeuer hee would appoint soe that commonly they went by crossings & windings, as it happened one to beginne to an other, for this was the custome of the old Græcians, that when they sate at their solemne feasts with their crownes of bayes or mirthe vpon their heads euery one was bound to sing his turne, sometimes allsoe with the instrument according as it fell to his lot. Wherevpon Themistocles, because beeing inuited to this kind of exercise, hee refused, hee was (as Tully saith) counted rude & vnciuill, yea vnlearned.300 For Musicke (as Athenæus witnesseth) was first brought in to feasts & solemne meetings, not ἡδονῆς ἐπικολαίς καί δημοτικῆς χάριν,301 not like a superficiall pleasaure to delight the eare & tickle the sense onely, but that euery one might haue neere vnto him ἰατρον τῆς ῦβρεως καί ἀκοσμίας,302 esteeming Musicke as good as a Phisitian to correct all disorder, & keepe them in good temper. Wherevpon commonly allsoe, they sang at those times hymnes to their Gods, & memorialls of their worthyest men that by the reuerence of them, theye might bee obserued το καλὸν καί το σωφρόνικον,303 they might preserue a decorum and ciuill sobriety. I might goe on farther in this kind, but yet to heape vp all such fragments & relliques as are left, would perhaps prooue but laborious to him that should vndertake it, & yet neither needefull nor pleasant to him that should heare it, beeing that wee haue onely left vs certaine ruines, which of them yeild but small profitt & noe great delight to the [82] beholders. Onely thus much may serue to shewe you in some measure the nature & quality of their songs. For as Athenæus tells to the commendacion of a certaine colony of the Græcians that when beeing transplanted into another country they had in processe of time forgotten the true language & old customes of their natiue country Greece, yet they allwayes retained this laudable custome, that meeting once a yeare vpon some solemne day, they would there talke of old matters & rubb vp some of their progenitors ancient names, least the memory of them should vtterly perish.304 In like manner haue wee made a repetition of these names of the old songs of the Græcians though the thinges themselues bee out of our knowledge, that as much as possibly might be, the memory of soe noble & flourishing an Art as this was among them should not amongst vs bee alltogether lost,

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