It has already been fhewn in the Differtation, that the Lydian mode was the higheft of the five original modes, having its lowest found, Proflambanomenos, upon F, the fourth line in the bafe. The Mixolydian was ftill higher, by half a tone; the Hypermixolydian a minor third higher, and the Hyperlydian a fourth higher. Plato, defirous of fimplifying mufic, and of keeping the fcale within moderate bounds, complains, in the third book of his Republic, of the licentioufnefs of these acute modes. Now if the only difference in the modes was the place they occupied in the great fyftem, with refpect to gravity or acuteness, the invention, as it was called, of this Mixolydian mode, may have been fuggefted to Sappho, by her having a voice of higher pitch than her predeceffors; fhe was, perhaps, the Agujari of her time, and could tranfcend the limits of all former fcales with equal facility. But though nature may have enabled this exquifite poetefs to fing her verfes in a higher key than any one had done before, yet as it is allowed but to few to furpafs the common boundaries of human faculties and talents, it is probable that her fucceffors, by attempting, with inferior organs, to afcend thofe heights, had given offence to Plato, and determined him to prohibit the use of this mode in his Republic, as indecorous, and too effeminate even for women. If, however it be true, that the characteristic of the modes depended partly, if not principally, upon the Rhythm or Cadence, it seems not an improbable conjecture, that befides the difference of pitch, the novelty of Sappho's Mixolydian mode might, in a great meafure, confit in her firft applying to melody the measure called Sapphic, from her invention of it *. This mode, as Plutarch informs us, was adopted by the tragic poets, as proper for pathos, and lamentation; a character for which it is not eafy to account, without fuppofing other differences befides thofe of mere Rhythm, or Pitch; though both Plato and Plutarch evidently afcribe this character, in part, at leaft, to the circumftance of acuteness I' Dr. Burney afterwards introduces his readers to an acquaintance with Mimnermus, who flourished about fix hundred years before the Chriftian æra. He is celebrated for playing upon * Integer vita fcelerifque pūrus. HOR. • Three verfes of this kind, closed with an Adonic verfe, confifting of a Dactyl and Spondee, form the Sapphic stanza. @gnyans. Plut. and Plato Rep. lib. iii. • 1 - εξεια και επιτηδειος προς θρηνον. Plut. de Muς. That is, acute, and fit for funeral dirges. That the idea of grief fhould be connected with that of high and fhrieking tones, will not appear ftrange, when we recollect the ancient cuftom of hiring women to lament at funerals. Feigned grief is ever louder than real; but grief, both feigned and paid for, may easily be supposed to have forced its powers of execution and compass, beyond all the commou boundaries of fcales and modes.' the the flute a Nome called Cradias, which was an air for that inftrument, ufually performed at Athens, during the march or proceffion of the victims to the facrifice. He is also said to have been the inventor of pentameter verse. Our author remarks, that though poetry, and fuch mufic as the Greeks thought would most contribute to its embellishment, must, from all the improvements which these arts had received from the time of Homer, have been arrived at a great degree of perfection; yet we find no lyric poets, whole works or names have furvived, between Mimnermus and Stefichorus. The name of the latter, who is reputed to have been born at Himera in Sicily, was ft Tifias; but he acquired the title of Stefichorus from the changes he made in the manner of performing the Dithyrambic chorus, which was fung and danced round the altar, or ftatue of Bacchus, during the worship of that god. Among the celebrated poets of thofe times, we here meet with a particular account of Simonides, which we fhall infert as the last quotation from this hiftory in our present Review. < There were in antiquity many poets of that name; but by the Marbles it appears, that the eldest and moft illuftrious of them was born in the 55th Olympiad, 538 years B. C. and that he died in his ninetieth year; which nearly agrees with the chronology of Eufebius. He was a native of Ceos, one of the Cyclades, in the neighbourhood of Attica, and the preceptor of Pindar. Both Plato and Cicero give him the character not only of a good poet and mufician, but fpeak of him as a person of great virtue and wifdom. Such longevity gave him an opportunity of knowing a great number of the first characters in antiquity, with whom he was in fome meafure connected *. He is mentioned by Herodotus; and Xenophon, in his Dialogue upon Tyranny, makes him one of the interlocutors with Hiero king of Syracufe. Cicero + alleges, what has often been quoted in proof of the modefty and wisdom of Simonides, that when Hiero afked him for a definition of God, the poet required a whole day to meditate on fo important a queftion; at the end of which, upon the prince putting the fame question to him a fecond time, he asked two days refpite; and, in this manner, always doubled the delay, each time he was required to answer it; till, at length, to avoid offending his patron by more difappointments, he This may want fome explanation. It appears in Fabricius, from ancient authority, (Bib. Græc. vol. i. p. 591) that Simonides was cotemporary, and in friend thip with Pittacus of Mitylene; Hipparchus, tyrant of Athens; Paufanias, king of Sparta; Hiero, tyrant of Syracufe; with Themistocles; and with Alevades, king of Theffaly. t'De Nat. Deor. frankly frankly confeffed that he found the queftion fo difficult, that the more he meditated upon it, the less was his hope of being able to folve it. In his old age, perhaps from feeing the respect which money procured to fuch as had loft the charms of youth, and the power of attaching mankind by other means, he became fomewhat mercenary, and avaricious. He was frequently employed by the victors at the Games to write Panegyrics and Odes in their praise, before his pupil Pindar had exercised his talents in their behalf; but Simonides would never gratify their vanity in this particular, till he had firft tied them down to a stipulated fum for his trouble; and, upon being upbraided for his meannefs, he faid, that he had two coffers, in one of which he had, for many years, put his pecuniary rewards; the other was for honours, verbal thanks, and promifes; that the firft was pretty well filled, but the laft remained always empty. And he made no fcruple to confefs, in his old age, that of all the enjoyments of life, the love of money was the only one of which time had not deprived him. He was frequently reproached for this vice; however, he always defended himself with good humour. Upon being asked by Hiero's queen, whether it was moft defirable to be Learned or Rich, he answered, that it was far better to be rich; for the learned were always dependent on the rich, and waiting at their doors; whereas he never faw rich men at the doors of the learned. When he was accused of being fo fordid, as to fell part of the provifions with which his table was furnished by Hiero, he faid he had done it, in order to difplay to the world the magnificence of that prince, and his own frugality." To others he faid, that his reason for accumulating wealth was, that "he would rather leave money to his enemies, after death, than be troublesome to his friends, while living." • He obtained the prize in poetry at the Public Games, when he was fourfcore years of age. According to Suidas, he added four letters to the Greek alphabet; and Pliny affigns to him the eighth firing of the lyre; but these claims are difputed by the learned. Among the numerous poetical productions of which, according to Fabricius, antiquity has made him the author, are many fongs of victory and triumph, for athletic conquerors at the Public Games. He is likewife faid to have gained there, himself, the prize in elegiac poetry, when Alchylus was his competitor. His poetry was fo tender and plaintive, that he acquired the cognomen of Melicertes, fweet as honey; and the tearful eye of his Mufe was proverbial. "Simonides, fays an elegant modern writer, and excellent judge of every species of literary merit, was celebrated by the • * Mæfitus lacrimis Simonideis. CATULLUS. ancients ancients for the fweetness, correctnefs, and purity of his flyle, and his irresistible skill in moving the paffions.-Dionyfius places him among thofe polished writers, who excel in a fmooth volubility, and flow on, like plenteous and perennial rivers, in a courfe of even and uninterrupted harmony †." It is to Dionyfius that we are indebted for the preservation of the following fragment of this poet. Danaë being, by her merciless father, inclosed in a cheft, and thrown into the fea with her child, when night comes on, and a storm arifes, which threatens to overfet the cheft; fhe, weeping, and embracing the young Perfeus, cries out: Sweet child! what anguifh does thy mother know, There is a fecond great poet of the name of Simonides recorded on the Marbles, fuppofed to have been his grandson, and who gained in 478 B. C. the prize in the games at Athens.' The next poets that occur, and who were likewise contemporaries and rivals, are Bacchylides, the nephew of Simonides and Pindar: but we fhall referve the remaining part of this interefting work for the entertainment of next month. IN V. A Vindication of the Apamean Medal: and of the Infcription ΝΩΕ. Together with an Illuftration of another Coin, ftruck at the fame Place, in Honour of the Emperor Severus. By the Author of the Analyfis of Ancient Mythology. 4to. is. Payne. N the Analysis of Ancient Mythology, the learned author endeavoured to evince, by a variety of observations and arguments, that the great events in the first ages of the world were the foundation of the numerous traditions which have been transmitted by the ancient poets. He remarked in particular, that in all the rites and myfteries of different nations, the history of the ark, and dove, and every circumftance of the. deluge, are manifeftly alluded to; and he fhewed that these hiftories were particularly to be found among the people of Argos, Lariffa, and Theba; among the natives of mount Sipylus, and Celœnæ in Afia Minor, and the Magnetes upon the Mæander. One of the proofs he produced on this fubject, was taken from a celebrated coin of the Apameans, first mentioned by Falconerius in a letter to Seguinus. Upon this coin was exhibited both the ark, and the dove, with a reprefentation, as is fuppofed, of the two principal perfons, who were preferved at the time of the deluge. The name of the patriarch was even fubjoined in plain and legible characters. An anonymous writer, however, having endeavoured to represent the authority of this medal as vifionary and of no weight, Mr. Bryant has been induced to lay before the public the prefent Vindication of what he formerly advanced on the subject; and we must acknowledge that he difplays on this occafion his ufual ingenuity and learning. Previous to the Vindication,' Mr. Bryant candidly prefents us with a copy of the anonymous Letter on this fubject, printed from the Gentleman's Magazine for May 1775. According to this Letter, the alledged mistake with which Mr. Bryant is. charged, is as follows. The letters N. . E, which he imagined to compofe the name of the patriarch, are said to be a plural termination. They are fuppofed to belong to the imperfect term AAEZANAP, which, when completed, is thought to be AAEZANAPEON, the name of the people, by whom the medal was ftruck. Before Mr. Bryant refutes this affertion, he refers the reader to a true engraving of the coin, as formerly exhibited, and which he again defcribes. He then proceeds to the vindication, by producing the following remarks. "If the term NSE were an appendage to the name AAEZANAP. in the circular part of the infcription, it would have been brought nearer, and flood almoft within point of contact. But it is. placed upon the farther square of the machine, and too near the center of the coin to have any fuch connexion. In the next place, the arrangement of the letters would have been different, if they had the reference fuppofed. For, if we were to accede to the notion above, we muft fuppofe that the two parts of the fame name were written Bergondov, or in contrary directions. Now I do not remember an inftance of this upon any Grecian coin and should an example be found, it would hardly be fo late as the time of the Roman empire, and the reign of Philip. But what puts the matter out of all doubt, is the pofition of the letters N and E, which prove to a demonftration, that the elements are not to be read backwards: for had they been the ter mination of the word spoken of, they would have stood the contrary way, N. Falconerius was too curious and experienced to be impofed upon and he had for fome time fufpicions about VOL. XLI. April, 1776. : U this |