Part IX.

CHAP. VIII.
Medicine }}y Mufick.
(ayj^Tthagorae conceived, that Mufick conduced i much to health, if ufed appofitely ^ for he was accuftomed to make ufe of this purifica¬ tion, not perfunflorily. .This he called, Medi¬ cine by dSlufick^ which kind of Melody he exerci- fed about the Spring-time. He feared him who play’d on the Lute in the midft, and thofe who could fing fat round about him ^ andfo he play¬ ing, they made a conibrt of Ibme excellent plea- ' fant Verfes, wherewith they feemed exhilerated,
and decently compoled.
They likewile at another time made ufe of Mufick as of a Medicine, and there were certain pleafant Verfes framed, conducing much againft the alFeftions and difeafes of the mind, and a- gainft the dejefHons and corrodings of the fame. Moreover, he compofed others againft anger and malice , and all fuch -diferders of the mind. There was alfo another kind of Mufickand Song invented, againft unlawful defires. He likewife ufed Dancing. He ufed no mufical inftrument but the Lute. Wind-Inftruments. he conceived to have an ignoble found, and to be only fit for the common people, but nothing generous. > die likewife made ufe of the words of Homer f or the r edification of the mind. It is reported^ that Pythagoras, by a Spondiack Verfe (i) Reading {b) out of the works [ perhaps of Uefiqd^ whofe Poem bears that tide, §p>rt] by a V layer on the This example ^lute^ ajjwaged the madnefs of a young man of feernstol-elaceTauromenium, who being drunks and having em- to Hefiodi the ploy d all the night Iqfcivioufly with his miftrefs, other of Em- waygoing about to fire the. door of his Rivab s houfe ^ ftdodes to Ho- exafperafed and enflamedby theFhrygian
mood. But Pythagoras, who wot at that time bu- fiedinobfervtng the Stars., immediately appeafed andreclaimed himfy p erf wading thePiper to change his Air into the Spondiack mood. Whereupon the young man being fuddainly compofed, went quietly home, who but a little before would by no means hear the leaf exhortation from Pythagoras, but ■ ihreatnedand reviledhim. In like manner PmpQ- docles, when a young man drew his fword upon Anchitus, his aoji, (for that he had in publick judgment condemned his father to death ) and was about to have killed him, flraightway changing his Tune,fungoutofl{omQT^
Nepenthe calming anger, eafing grief:
and by that means freed Anchitus hisHofi from death, and the young man from the crime' of mur- ther-, who from thenceforward became one of his difciples, eminent amongfi them.
Moreover the whole School of Pythagoras made (c) See cap. that which is called (c) and
andimttfi), by certain Verfes fuitable thereto, and , proper againft the contrary affeUions, profitably di¬ verting the conftitutions if difpofitions of the mind. For when they went to bed, and refigned themf elves to reft, they purified their minds from the troubles and bujie noifes of the day, by fome Songs and proper Verfes, whereby they rendred their fie eps pleaf ant and quiet, andlittle troubled with dr earns, and thofe dreams v^ich they had were good. In the morning.
when they arofefrom the common relief of fleep, they expelled drowfmefs and fleepinefs of the head with other Songs.
Sometimes alfo without pronounci ngVerfes, they expelled fome affeUions and difeafes,and reduced the fick to health, emlsi/Tif, by charming them. And from hence it is probable, t hat the word Epode came to be ufed. After this manner, Pyi\idigoi2iS infti- tuted a moft profitable correUion of manners and life by Mufick. Hitherto Jamblichus. All which is ratify ’d by other teftimonies : That they had Verfes againft the affeSions of the mind, grief anger, lufl^ is related alfo by {d) Senecc^, who faith, thatf'^-^ D; ira; Pythagoras compofed the troubles of his foul by the Lute. And (e) Cicero, That the Pythagoreans (eynfc.oydSIk ufed todeliverVerfes, and fome Precepts, and tore- 4. proem, duce the mind from intenfcnefs of thoughts to tranquillity, by Songs andlnfruments. To which eftefl, {f) relates fiClinius the Pythago-C/) Lib. 14. XQdLn,xhz.lif at any time he perceived himfelf eh-^''^^' dining to anger, he, before it took full poffeffton of him, play'd upon the Lute \ and to thofe who asked him. Why he did fo, anfwered, decaufe I am calmed.
danced, (g) Porphyrius cox&tms,, fay-^Pag-^i. ing, lie danced fome dances, which he conceived to confer agility and health to the body
That he dif allowed Flutes and Wind- hiftruments , z^'pt‘3LX
He advifed his difciples to refrain from permitting their ears to be defiled with the found of the Flute •, but on the contrary,to purifie the irrational impulfi- ons of the foul hyfolemn Songs to the Lute.
That he made ufe ^Homer andF{QF\od. forre5i- fication of the mind, is thus related by Porphy- CO Pag- 21. rius ■, he had morning Exercifes at his ozm houfe, compofing his foul to the Lute, andfinging fome old Pceans of (k) Thales. He likeimjc fung f ^ J Not the
Verfes of Homer and Hefiod, whereby the mind feemed to be rendred more fedate. • i » t.ui^SceThe
The ftory of the young man is confirrried by ( 1) Life of -Cults, Ammonius, hy (m) Cicero, related thus-, When- cup.
CCS fome young men being drunk, and (”0 I”
by the mufick of Flutes, would have broken open the |,y
door of a modeft Matrons houfe, he bad the woman- Boethius, piper play a Spondiacktune which as foon as fhe did, their raging petulancy was allayed by the flcwnefs of the Alood, and folemnnefs of the Tune.
( n) St. Bafil relates another ftory to the fame puf- Homil. 14.
pofe, That Pythagoras meeting with fome that
came from a feaft drunk, bid the Piper fhe Muficicn
at that feaft ) to change his Tune, and to play a
DorickAir-, wherewith they were fo brought to
themf elves, that they threw away their Garlands,
and went home afhamed.
Thar, evening and morning, they ufed Mufick to compofe their minds, is affirmed by many others. ip) Quintilian. It was the cuftom of the Pythago- ( oj Lib. 9. reans as foon as they waked, to excitate their fouls 4«
with the Lute, that they might be the readier for allion-, and before they went to flcepfofcjten their minds by it. (p) Plutarch. p:>e Mufick of the Lute ihePythagoreans ufed before they went tofleep, ojlrid. thereby charming and compofing the paffionate and irrational part of the foid. {q) Cpforinus. F/- Cf) Cap. 12. thagorasyhat his mind might be continually feajon- edwith Divinity, ufed (as they fay) to fing before he went to fieep, and as foon m he waked.
As for the feveral moods, which, in mufical compofitions, were obferved by the Ancients-,
for
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P T T H-A G O R A S.