subject from the same source* as that of the solar system, which remained unknown in Europe from his time to the days of Copernicus, and with which Pythagoras, of all the Greeks, was alone acquainted. +

On the sacred music of Egypt I shall make a few remarks in another part of this work: I now return to their customs at private entertainments. When hired to attend at a party, the musicians either stood in the centre or at one side of the festive chamber, and some sat cross-legged on the ground ‡, like the Turks and other Eastern people of the present day. They were usually accompanied on these occasions by dancers, either men or women, sometimes both; whose art consisted in assuming all the graceful or ludicrous gestures, which could obtain the applause, or tend to the amusement, of the assembled guests.

Music S and dancing are also mentioned as having

* Jamblichus informs us that Pythagoras derived his information upon different sciences from Egypt, and taught them to his disciples (Jambl. de Vita Pythag. lib. i. c. 29.); that he learnt philosophy from the Egyptian priests (Jambl. i. c. 28.); and that he employed music for curing diseases both of body and mind. (Jambl. i. cc. 25. 29. and 31.) “ Υπελαμβανε δε και την Μουσικην μεγαλα συμβαλλεσθαι προς υγιειαν . . . πολυωφελεστατην κατεστήσατο Πυθαγορας την δια Μουσικής των ανθρωπινων ηθων τε και βίων επανορθωσιν. He maintained that music greatly conduced to health.... and that to temper and direct the morals and lives of men by means of music was most beneficial." i. 25. + Cicero, quoting Theophrastus, says that Icetas of Syracuse was of opinion that the heavens, the sun, moon, stars, and all bodies above us stood still, and that the earth alone moved, having the same effect when turned on its axis as if all the others were in motion. Acad. Qu. 54, 39.

‡ Vide wood-cut, No. 170. fig. 1. No. 185. and 192. and pl. 12.

The Nabathæans of Arabia Petræa always introduced music at their entertainments (Strabo, xvii.); and the custom appears to have been very general among the ancients.

been considered essential at entertainments, among the Greeks, from the earliest times; and are pronounced by Homer* to be diversions requisite at a feast; “an opinion,” says Plutarch †, “confirmed by Aristoxenus, who observes, that music is recommended in order to counteract the effect of inebriety; for as wine discomposes the body and mind, so music has the power of soothing them, and of restoring their previous calmness and tranquillity." Such, indeed, may have been the light in which the philosophic mind of Plutarch regarded the introduction of those diversions, and such he attributed to the observation of the poet; but it may be questioned whether they always tended to the sobriety either of the Greeks or of the lively Egyptians.

Of the style and nature of Egyptian music we can glean but little from Herodotus, or any other writer who has mentioned the subject. The remark of the father of history, that some of their songs bore a plaintive character, is probably just; yet we cannot imagine it applicable to the generality of those introduced at the festive meetings of a cheerful people. That called Maneros, he

“ Μολπη τ' ορχηστος τε, τα γαρ τ' αναθηματα δαιτος,” quoted by Plutarch, de Musicâ.

+ Plut. loc. cit.

sup

The ancients had very high notions of the effects of music; some founded on fact, others on fable and imagination. Of these last were the building of the walls of Thebes by the sound of Amphion's lyre, to which Pausanias gravely refuses to lend his authority (lib. ix.); and some of the stories related by Ælian of its effects upon wild animals.

poses to be the same as the Linus of the Greeks, "which was known in Phoenicia, Cyprus, and other places" and he expresses his surprise that the same song should be met with on the banks of the Nile. "I have been struck," says the historian, "with many things during my inquiries in Egypt, but with none more than this song, and I cannot conceive from whence it was borrowed; indeed, they seem to have had it from time immemorial, and to have known it by the name Maneros † : for they assured me it was so called from the son of their first monarch, who, being carried off by a premature death, was honoured by the Egyptians with a funeral dirge. And this was the first and only song they used at that early period of their history."

Though this account is highly improbable, yet we learn from it that one of the many songs of the Egyptians was similar to the Linus of Greece, which was of a plaintive character, peculiarly adapted to mournful occasions; but whether it was of Egyptian or of Phoenician origin, it is of little moment to inquire. Plutarch, on the other hand, asserts, that it was suited to festivities‡ and the pleasures of the table §, and that, "amidst the diversions of a sociable party, the Egyptians made the room resound with the song of Maneros." In

*Herodot. ii. 79.

+ Pausanias (Græc. lib. ix.) says, "The Egyptians call the song of Linus in their language Manerôs;" and mentions two persons named Linus. Vide also Hor. Od. lib. i. 12. 7. xxiv. 13., and Od. lib. iii. 11. 2.

I have sometimes doubted, whether there may not have been also a musical instrument of this name.

§ Plut. de Is. s. 17.

order, therefore, to reconcile these conflicting statements, we are naturally led to the conclusion, that the Egyptians had two songs, bearing a name resembling Maneros, which have been confounded together by Greek writers; and that one of these bore a lugubrious, the other a lively, character.

Many conjectures have been offered respecting the nature and origin of the song of Maneros, and some doubt its having derived this name from a son of the first Egyptian monarch", contending that it was so called from the person to whom music owed its invention t; both which opinions are noticed by Plutarch; who in another work+ states, on the authority of Heraclides, that Linus § was a native of Euboea. And from his adding, that Linus was famed for making lugubrious poems, it is evident that the song mentioned under this name by Herodotus, and considered to be the Maneros of Egypt, had a similar origin with the fabulous Linus himself.

If, however, conjecture is permitted, we may presume the song of Maneros did not derive its

* Herodotus, loc. cit. Plutarch says Maneros was the child who watched Isis as she mourned over the body of Osiris. Vide Athenæus, lib. xiv. Plut. de Is. s. 17.

Plut. de Is. xvii. J. Pollux calls him the inventor of agriculture, and says the song Maneros was sung by husbandmen. Onom. iv. 7. Plut. de Musicâ.

But he does not confound the songs of Linus and Maneros, as Herodotus has done. Pausanias says Linus, the inventor of songs, was a son of Apollo (de Græc. lib. ii.); but refers to another part of his. work (lib. ix.), where he mentions one Linus, the son of Amphimarus (the son of Neptune) and Urania, killed by Apollo; the other a son of Ìsmenius, killed by Hercules. Some suppose there were three of this name; but authors are not agiced upon the subject. Pausanias asserts "positively, that neither of the two just mentioned composed any

name from any individual; and if this and the Greek Linus resembled each other, it was probably merely in their general character. The former idea is partly confirmed by another observation of Plutarch t," that others say Maneros is not a name, but a complimentary manner of greeting made use of by the Egyptians to one another, at their solemn feasts and banquets, implying a wish that what they were then engaged in might prove fortunate and successful;' for such is the true import of the word." It is, indeed, reasonable to suppose, that their songs were made to suit the occasions, either of rejoicing and festivity, of solemnity, or of lamentation; and all their agricultural and other occupations had, undoubtedly, as at the present day, their appropriate songs.

At the religious ceremonies and processions, where music was introduced, there is reason to believe the attendance of ordinary performers was not permitted, but that musicians attached to the priestly order, and organised for this special purpose, were alone employed; who were considered to belong exclusively to the service of the temple, as each military band of their army to its respective corps.

When an individual died, it was usual for the women to issue forth from the house, and throwing dust and mud upon their heads ‡, to utter cries of lamentation as they wandered through the streets

* I think that this expression occurs in a hieroglyphic legend : "Menre, the maker of hymns:" perhaps applied to Re, the Sun. + Plut. de Is. 17.

‡ Herodot. ii. 85. Diod. ii. 91. as in 2 Sam. i. 2.