Plutarch is dwelling on the superiority of the older and simpler music, and appeals to the opinion of Plato.

'The Lydian mode (harmonia) Plato objects to because it is high (oxeia) and suited to lamentation. Indeed it is said to have been originally devised for that purpose: for Aristoxenus tells us, in his first book on Music, that Olympus first employed the Lydian mode on the flute in a dirge (epikêdeion aulêsai Lydisti) over the Python. But some say that Melanippides began this kind of music. And Pindar in his paeans says that the Lydian mode (harmonia) was first brought in by Anthippus in an ode on the marriage of Niobe. But others say that Torrhebus first used that mode, as Dionysius the Iambus relates.'

'The Mixo-lydian, too, is pathetic and suitable to tragedy. And Aristoxenus says that Sappho was the inventor of the Mixo-lydian, and that from her the tragic poets learned it. They combined it with the Dorian, since that mode gives grandeur and dignity, and the other pathos, and these are the two elements of tragedy. But in his Historical Treatise on Music (historika tês harmonias hypomnêmata) he says that Pythoclides the flute-player was the discoverer of it. And Lysis says that Lamprocles the Athenian, perceiving that in it the disjunctive tone (diazeuxis) is not where it was generally supposed to be, but is at the upper end of the scale, made the form of it to be that of the octave from Paramesê to Hypatê Hypatôn (toiouton autês apergasasthai to schêma hoion to apo paramesês epi hypatên hypatôn). Moreover, it is said that the relaxed Lydian (epaneimenên Lydisti), which is the opposite of the Mixo-lydian, being similar to the Ionian (paraplêsian ousan tê Iadi), was invented by Damon the Athenian.'

'These modes then, the one plaintive, the other relaxed (eklelymenê), Plato properly rejected, and chose the Dorian, as befitting warlike and temperate men.'

In this passage the 'high-pitched Lydian' (Syntonolydisti) of Plato is called simply Lydian. There is every reason to suppose that it is the mode called Lydian by Aristotle and Heraclides Ponticus [4]. If this is so, it follows almost of necessity that the Lydian of Plato, called slack (chalara) by him—Plutarch's epaneimenê Lydisti—is to be identified with the later

Hypo-lydian. The point, however, is not free from difficulty: for (as we have seen, p. 18), the name Hypo-lydian is not in the list of keys given by Aristoxenus—the key which was ultimately called Hypo-lydian being known to him as the Hypo-dorian. If, however, the confusion in the nomenclature of the keys was as great as Aristoxenus himself describes, such a contradiction as this cannot be taken to prove much. [5]

The statement that the 'relaxed Lydian' was the opposite of the Mixo-lydian, and similar to the Ionian, has given rise to much speculation. In what sense, we naturally ask, can a key or a mode be said to be 'opposite' or 'similar' to another? I venture to think that it is evidently a mere paraphrase of Plato's language. The relaxed Lydian is opposed to the Mixo-lydian because it is at the other end of the scale in pitch; and it is similar to the Ionian because the two are classed together (as chalarai) by Plato.

The Mixo-lydian, according to Aristoxenus, was employed by the tragic poets in close union with the Dorian mode (labontas syzeuxai tê Dôristi). The fact that the Mixo-lydian was just a Fourth higher than the Dorian must have made the transition from the one to the other a natural and melodious one. As Aristoxenus suggested, it would be especially used to mark the passage from grandeur and dignity to pathos which is the chief characteristic of tragedy (hê men to

megaloprepes kai axiômatikon apodidôsin, hê de to pathêtikon, memiktai de dia toutôn tragôdia). It is worth noticing that this relation obtained in the scheme of the musicians who did not arrange the keys according to the diatonic scale, but in some way suggested by the form of the flute (hoi pros tên tôn aulôn trypêsin blepontes). It may therefore be supposed to have been established before the relative pitch of other keys had been settled.

So far the passage of Plutarch goes to confirm the view of the Platonic modes according to which they were distinguished chiefly, if not wholly, by difference of pitch. We come now, however, to a statement which apparently tends in the opposite direction, viz. that a certain Lamprocles of Athens noticed that in the Mixo-lydian mode the Disjunctive Tone (diazeuxis) was at the upper end of the scale (epi to oxy), and reformed the scale accordingly. This must refer to an octave scale of the form b c d e f g a b, consisting of the two tetrachords b-e and e-a, and the tone a-b. Such an octave may or may not be in the Mixo-lydian key: it is certainly of the Mixo-lydian species (p. 57).

In estimating the value of this piece of evidence it is necessary to remark, in the first place, that the authority is no longer that of Aristoxenus, but of a certain Lysis, of whom nothing else seems to be known. That he was later than Aristoxenus is made probable by his way of describing the Mixo-lydian octave, viz. by reference to the notes in the Perfect System by which it is exemplified (Hypatê Hypatôn to Paramesê). In Aristoxenus, as we shall see (p. 31), the primitive octave (from Hypatê to Nêtê) is the only scale the notes of which are mentioned by name. But even if the notice is comparatively early, it is worth observing that the Mixo-lydian scale thus ascribed to Lamprocles consists of two tetrachords of the normal type, viz. with the semitone or pyknon at the lower end of the scale (Diatonic e f g a, Enharmonic e e* f a). The difference is that they are conjunct, whereas in the primitive standard octave (e—e) the tetrachords are disjunct (e-a b-e). This, however, is a variety which is provided for by the tetrachord Synêmmenôn in the Perfect System, and which may have been allowed in the less complete scales of earlier times. In any case the existence of a scale of this particular form does not prove that the octaves of other species were recognised in the same way.

(2) In another passage (c. 6) Plutarch says of the ancient music of the cithara that it was characterised by perfect simplicity. It was not allowed, he tells us, to change the mode (metapherein tas harmonias) or the rhythm: for in the primitive lyrical compositions called 'Nomes' (nomoi) they preserved in each its proper pitch (tên oikeian tasin). Here the word tasis indicates that by harmoniai Plutarch (or the older author from whom he was quoting) meant particular keys. This is fully confirmed by the use of tonos in a passage a little further on (c. 8), where Plutarch gives an account of an innovation in this matter made by Sacadas