Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/112

 a4 HISTORY OF GREECE. the flute or harp then became more elaborate, showy, and over* powering, while the words were so put together as to show off the player's execution. I notice briefly this subsequent revolu- tion for the purpose of setting forth, by contrast, the truly intel- lectual character of the original lyric and choric poetry of Greece ; and of showing how much the vague sentiment arising from mere musical sound was lost in the more definite emotion, and in the more lasting and reproductive combinations, generated by poetical meaning. The name and poetry of Solon, and the short maxim?, or say- ings, of Phokylides, conduct us to the mention of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. Solon was himself one of the seven, and most if not all of them were poets, or composers in verse. 1 To n uot of them is ascribed also an abundance of pithy repartees, together with one short saying, or maxim, peculiar to each, serv- ing as a sort of distinctive motto ; 2 indeed, the test of an accom- plished man about this time was his talent for singing or reciting poetry, and for making smart and ready answers. Re- specting this constellation of wise men, who in the next cen- Art. Poetic. 205 ; and "W. M. Schmidt, Diatribfi in Dithyrambum, cli. viii, pp. 250-265. Td Go(3a.pbv KO.L rrfpir-bv the character of the newer music (Plutarch, Agis, c. 10) as contrasted with TO asfivbv /ecu uTrepiepyov of the old music (Plutarch, De Musica, ut sup.) : ostentation and affected display, against seriousness and simplicity. It is by no means certain that these reproaches against the more recent music of the Greeks were well founded ; we may well be rendered mistrustful of their accuracy when we hear similar re- marks and contrasts advanced with regard to the music of our last three centuries. The character of Greek poetry certainly tended to degenerate after Euripide's. 1 Bias of Priene composed a poem of two thousand verses, on the condi- tion of Ionia (Diogen. Laort. i, 85), from which, perhaps, Herodotus may have derived, either directly or indirectly, the judicious advice which he ascribes to that philosopher on the occasion of the first Persian conquest of Ionia (Herod, i, 170). Not merely Xenophanes the philosopher (Diogen. Laert. viii, 36, ix, 20), but long after him Parmenides and Empedokles, composed in verse. Kleisthenes of Sikyon tested the comparative education (TraaJftaif) of th various suitors who came to woo his daughter, oi 6i- nvrjarriprs Ipiv el^ot 0f t it fiovainy KO.I r<p ^cyo/icvy ig Td ut : oov.
 * See the account given by Herodotus (vi, 128-129) of the way in -which