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Essays on the Origins of Western Music
by
David Whitwell
Essay Nr. 213: Music Education in Ancient Rome
Roman music was really Greek,
transformed to Roman soil and adapted to Roman condition.1
Among the Roman philosophers of the Republic Period (240 – 27 BC) the
debt of Roman culture to ancient Greece must have been a familiar topic of debate.
One philosopher, Lucretius (99 – 55 BC), frankly admitted this debt, which, by the
way, everyone today recognizes.
O glory of the Greeks, the first to raise
The shining light out of tremendous dark
Illumining the blessings of our life,
You are the one I follow; in your steps
I tread, not as a rival, but for love
Of your example. Does the swallow vie
With swans? Do wobbly-legged little goats
Compete in strength and speed with thoroughbreds?2
But, another Roman philosopher, Sallust (86 – 34 BC), had quite a contrary
view, declaring that the fame of ancient Greece’s cultural achievements was just due
to the fact that she had better historians.
1
2
Albert Trevor, History of Ancient Civilization (New York, 1939), II, 590.
Lucretius, The Way Things Are, III.
1
There can be no question that Fortune is supreme in all human
affairs. It is a capricious power, which makes men’s actions famous or leaves
them in obscurity without regard to their true worth. I do not doubt, for
instance, that the exploits of the Athenians were splendid and impressive; but
I think they are much overrated. It is because she produced historians of
genius that the achievement of Athens is so renowned all the world over; for
the merit of successful men is rated according to the brilliance of the authors
who extol it. The Romans never had this advantage, because at Rome the
cleverest men were also the busiest.3
Cicero tended to agree and emphasized the need for Roman philosophy to be
independent.
It would redound to the fame and glory of the Roman people to be
made independent of Greek writers in the study of philosophy, and this
result I shall certainly bring about if my present plans are accomplished.4
In arguing that philosophy was the most reputable of the disciplines of study, he
makes a passing suggestion that one cannot be a musician unless he is educated.
For philosophy does not resemble the other sciences -- for what good
will a man be in geometry if he has not studied it? Or in music? He will
either have to hold his tongue or be set down as a positive lunatic; whereas
the contents of philosophy are discovered by intellects of the keenest acumen
in eliciting the probable answer to every problem....5
As a matter of common sense one would suppose that education of some kind
would be necessary in any of the arts. Indeed, Pliny the Elder once expressed a
sense of surprise in learning that a sculptor named Silanion had “became famous
without having had any teacher.”6
A poem by Ovid mentions “young men and shy girls” participating in the
rituals.7 This leads us to suppose that the children of the nobles of Rome had some
music education. We note, for example, that one motion before the Senate relative
to the funeral for Augustus was that, “boys and girls of the nobility should sing his
dirge.”8 An indication of an even more challenging achievement is found in a
3
Sallust, The Conspiracy of Catiline, 8.
Cicero, De Divinatione, II, ii, 5.
5
Cicero, De Oratore, III, xx, 79.
6
Pliny the Elder, Natural History,, XXXIV, xix, 51.
7
Amores, III, 13
8
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (New York: Penguin, 1989)110.
4
2
procession in honor of Antiochus of Commagene organized by Caligula which called
for “children of noble birth chanting an anthem in praise of his virtues.”9
While there are only occasional hints at the existence of music schools, there
is somewhat more evidence of the private education of dilettante singers. An
important scholar of the music of ancient Rome mentions these singers in his survey
of the general musical scene.
In general, contemporary records indicate that the tendency to
practice music prevailed, at least in public life, in gigantic proportions.
Music teachers and music schools furnished dilettantes en masse; it belonged
to the bon ton of every bourgeois family to give their daughters instruction in
lyre playing. Rich people employed multitudes of slaves, who made music
day and night, to the despair of their neighbors. At banquets there was no
longer any conversation, since music drowned out every attempt at it. A
veritable invasion of virtuosi of all kinds flooded the theaters and concert
halls, bringing with them all their idiosyncrasies, vanities, and intrigues.10
This Roman craze for the dilettante singer, something one finds little trace of
in ancient Greece, extended to the members of the highest level of society. For
example, Sulla, though a harsh ruler, was a good singer. The consul Lucius Flaccus
(fl. c. 19 AD) was a diligent trumpet player, practicing daily it would appear.11 And
while we know nothing specific of Julius Caesar’s interest in music, perhaps his
sympathy for it is reflected in the fact that upon his death and ritual cremation, the
musicians of Rome threw their professional clothes onto the fire as an expression of
grief.12 And, in one place, Cicero mentions a conversation in which he heard of a
knight who had studied music as a boy and was still practicing his singing.13
As Sendrey mentioned, above, this dilettante activity included the female
members of society, although the philosopher, Sallust, grumbles that a lady should
not have too much skill.
Among their number was Sempronia, a woman who had committed
many crimes that showed her to have the reckless daring of a man. Fortune
had favored her abundantly, not only with birth and beauty, but with a good
husband and children. Well educated in Greek and Latin literature, she had
9
Ibid., 161.
Alfred Sendrey, Music in the Social and Religious Life of Antiquity (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press, 1974), 379.
11
Sendrey, Op. cit., 391.
12
Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Book I, lxxxiv.
13
Cicero, De oratore, III, xxiii, 87.
10
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greater skill in lyre playing and dancing than there is any need for a
respectable woman to acquire....14
On the other hand, there is evidence that the value of music education in
ancient Rome was not that of ancient Greece. We see this, for example, in a passage
where Cicero is writing of Epicurus.
You are pleased to think him uneducated. The reason is that he
refused to consider any education worth the name that did not help to school
us in happiness. Was he to spend his time in perusing poets, who give us
nothing solid and useful, but merely childish amusement? Was he to occupy
himself like Plato with music and geometry, arithmetic and astronomy,
which starting from false premises cannot be true, and which moreover if
they were true would contribute nothing to make our lives pleasanter and
therefore better? Was he to study arts like these, and neglect the master art,
so difficult and correspondingly so fruitful, the art of living?15
No doubt Cicero was influenced in his thinking by the fact that in ancient
Rome, as was the case at this chronological time in Greece, much of the music
making was done by slaves. It was for this reason that the historian Nepos (100 - 22
BC) wrote that the practice of music and singing was not appropriate to a man of
distinction.16 And Cicero once criticized a member of the aristocracy,
Chrysogonos, whom he felt supported too much slave music.
But what am I to say about his vast household of slaves and the
variety of their technical skill? I say nothing about such common trades,
such as those of cooks, bakers, litter-bearers: to charm his mind and ears, he
has so many artists, that the whole neighborhood rings daily with the sound
of vocal music, stringed instruments, and auloi, and with the noise of
banquets by night. When a man leads such a life...can you imagine his daily
expenses, his lavish displays, his banquets? Quite respectable, I sup-pose, in
such a house, if that can be called a house rather than a manufactory of
wickedness and a lodging house of every sort of crime.17
On the other hand, the vast number of these slaves made possible some very
large performing forces. A procession in the time of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus (283 - 246 BC), for example, included no less than 600 singers and 300 kithara players. 18
14
The Conspiracy of Catiline, 25,5.
Cicero, De Finibus, I, xxi, 72.
16
Sendrey, Op. cit., 407.
17
Cicero, Pro Sexto Roscio Amerino, XLVI, 134.
18
Ibid., 411.
15
4
A similar report by Horace reports numerous aulos and lyres accompanying songs
in the temple of Venus.19 Many of these musicians were Greeks who fled to Rome
after the conquest of Macedonia in 167 BC and the destruction of Corinth in 144
BC.20
Apart from the slave music and dilettante singers there are a few hints of
music education in schools after the Greek tradition, but unfortunately no
information regarding pedagogy that we know of. Music education seems to have
been available, but not required, in the schools of Rome from a very early period.
We know that in the late 3rd century BC, for example, the music teachers were
more highly paid than those of reading or gymnastics. This education consisted of
instruction in music theory and performance on the kithara, with examinations at
the end of the school term.21
Music education on a private basis was also highly organized, as we know
from a papyrus dating from 206 BC. This document is a contract between a music
teacher and a young slave named Narcissus and details specific amount of repertoire
to be learned, as well as specifying study on two kinds of aulos, panpipes, and
kithara.22
In the 2nd century BC there were also private academies specializing in
singing and dance instruction, which were attended by the aristocracy. A reference
to the study of music in The Eunuch, by Terence, suggests that such study was a
social expectation.
Parmeno
Inspect him, please.
Examine his Literature. Music. Athletics.
Guaranteed performance in all the pursuits deemed fit and proper
For a well-brought-up young gentleman.
19
Carmina, IV, 1, 22.
Their instruments went with them, but changed names. Marcus Varro, in On the Latin Language, VI, 75
and VIII, 61, gives tuba for trumpet and tubicines for the players (liticines and bucinator for the other types
of trumpet); cornicines for “horn blowers”; tibiae for auloi and tibicines for the players; and cithara for
lute.
21
Sendry, Op. cit., 404.
22
Ibid., 404.
20
5
During the next period of ancient Rome, the Augustian Age (27 BC – 14 AD),
one begins to find references to the epic poet, the ancient Greek tradition of the
singer who sang of great men and events for the purpose of the education of the
listeners. In Horace (66 – 8 BC), for example,
Let us by ancient custom recall great men
In song sustained by Lydian auoli: let us
Of Troy and Anchises sing, and
Bountiful Venus’s high descendants.23
Virgil (70 – 19 BC) also mentions the age of this tradition, dating it from the earliest
period of Roman history.
Then the Salian priests sang songs
Round the burning altars, their brows twined with poplar branches.
On this side the chorus of youths, on that side the old men
Sang praises of Hercules and of his deeds....24
In one place Horace mentions that such performances were sometimes heard
outdoors by large crowds.25 We might also presume that songs relating great
battles were accompanied by the aulos, which had become a stronger and coarse
instrument in Rome, for Horace mentions that such topics are ill-suited “for the
tender lyre.”26 Virgil, faced with the desire to craft such a song, calls on one of the
Muses for support.
O you, Calliope, breathe grace upon
The singer, and you, Muses, tell what slaughter,
What deaths were wrought by Turnus’ sword, which man
Each fighter sent to Orcus, and unroll
With me the lengthy tale of this great war:
For you recall and you can tell the story.27
Following this ancient tradition of epic poetry, the poet Propertius (50 – 16
BC) attempts this kind of poem in a modern context, in praise of Caesar Augustus.
In the following poem he suggests this is a new experience for him and that perhaps
this kind of poetry should be done by older men, the younger poets specializing in
23
Horace, Odes, IV, 15, 1 and 29.
Virgil, Aeneid, VIII, 305.
25
Horace, Odes, II, 13, 30.
26
Ibid., II, 12, 4.
27
Virgil, Op. cit., IX, 541.
24
6
love poetry. This, he says, is more serious, requiring a “graven frown,” and he
leaves the implication that this kind of epic poetry was accompanied by a type of
lute new to him as well. He concludes with an apology that if his work is not lofty
enough, it is because his art is still inspired by the goddess of love.
The time comes for a new dance on the mountain,
a new rite on Helicon;
The time comes to chant horsemen under the hill,
and I will now sing of battle,
and squads of heroes, & Caesar’s Roman camp;
And if my strength fails, still, a laudable essay
To try the great song brings its own commendation.
In a man’s early years, his tune is a love tune;
let age sing of swordplay;
War will be my canticle
when Cynthia’s beauty is well inscribed in my books.
I would now wear a graven frown & learn a new lute,
my spirit rising from the low song
taking strength out of heaven,
for the work needs a booming voice.
Now the Euphrates rolls unguarded by Parthians,
& Persia grieves to have cut down the Crassi;
India kneels before Caesar,
& virgin Arabia trembles in her tent;
For Caesar’s hand will soon menace the rims of the wide earth,
& I will follow along tall among camp poets;
may fate reserve me that honor.
But when we cannot reach a great statue’s pinnacle
we lay our wreaths at the foot;
and so now, without means to lift up a crown of song
I put my myrrh in the fire with the simple ceremony of poverty,
for my verses are not yet baptized in the fountain of Hesiod,
but their tune still flows
from the bright stream holy to Aphrodite.28
And in another poem, Propertius seems to imply that love poetry, such as
that which he excels in, is not as highly esteemed as the work of the epic poets. But,
he counters, writing love poetry is a special art, it does not come by itself. When one
finds oneself in need of this ability he has, then one will have respect for him. So, he
says to the epic poet, don’t look down on love poetry!
And you will wish to bind down more supple verses
28
Ibid., II, 10.
7
without much luck, love being insufficient
to lift up its own canticles;
and you will then take great notice,
& I will seem no mean versemaker then;
indeed you may have me at the head
of that whole not ungifted pack,
and I do not think the young will stand mute
at my graveside, but they will call me
the poet of their flame who lies there.
Beware of hauteur, epic poet; despise no love songs;
Love coming late is dearly bought.29
This repertoire of love poetry is known as lyric poetry and it became so
popular at this time that Horace complains the everyone is writing such poetry, even
those who know nothing about it.
The fickle public has changed its taste and is fired throughout with a
scribbling craze; sons and grave sires sup crowned with leaves and dictate
their lines. I myself, who declare that I write no verses, prove to be more of a
liar than the Parthians: before sunrise I wake, and call for pen, paper, and
writing-case. A man who knows nothing of a ship fears to handle one; no one
dares to give southernwood to the sick unless he has learnt its use; doctors
undertake a doctor’s work; carpenters handle carpenters’ tools; but, skilled
or unskilled, we scribble poetry, all alike.30
Moreover, like epic poetry, this poetry was sung, as we know, for example, from
Propertius’ comment that he “took to the lyre & sang.”31 Horace is even more
specific.
You have no cause to think that the words which I,
By far-resounding Aufidus born, compose
For singing to the lyre, in meters
All but unknown before mine, will perish....
We will give one example of this kind of lyric poetry, although it is not
related to education. In this work by Propertius, which he refers to as a “tune,” not
a poem, we are reminded again that these poems were sung. He says at the end that
this is no epic poetry (“you need not celebrate the Teutonic wars”) and instead
mentions Apollo, who in addition to being a god of music was also the god of the
29
Ibid., I, 7.
Horace, Epistles, II, 1, 117.
31
Propertius, Poems, I, 3.
30
8
bow. Apollo urges the poet to abandon his love poetry as something of little value.
The Muse, Calliope, however comes to his support, telling him to continue on the
path he is on.
Apollo watched from the trees before a cave
leaning on his golden lyre & said:
“Lunatic, who asked you to muddy the fountain?
Your glory lies elsewhere,
so roll your small wheels on softer terrain.
Your book will be the lonely reading
of a nervous girl awaiting her lover
& will be put down at his arrival.
Propertius, why do your tunes
revolve in wrong orbits?
Your skiff is fast and light,
let your oars flash close to shore;
avoid the trackless sea.”
So spoke Phoebus Apollo, & with ivory plectrum
he pointed out a footpath
moss-grown on the forest floor
and a sea-green cave
studded with chrysoprase,
tambourines hanging from the walls,
from soft stone concavities.
And the mysteries of the Muses
floated among the rocks,
& a clay idol of father Silenus stood there,
& Cytherean pigeons crowded their red beaks
into the Hippocrene cistern
& the nine delicate-fingered deities
were about their work,
winding ivy on the staff,
measuring song to the lyre,
lacing roses into wreaths,
whereupon Calliope, the fiery beauty,
touched me, & spoke:
“Be content to follow the path
of the bright swan always;
shun the road of the rattling cavalry,
shiver no airs with brass-throated war note;
Keep the stain of war from the leaves of Helicon.
The standards of Marius stand without your help,
& you need not celebrate
Teutonic wars reddening the dismal Rhine,
clotting its waters with corpses.
You will sing instead of the lover in laurel
9
waiting before his true love’s lintel,
you will sing the passwords
of drunken night flights,
and through your artful incantations
guarded girls may be sung loose
from their suspicious proprietors.”32
During the final period of ancient Rome, the Empire 14 – 476 AD, in what
one normally thinks of as the period of decline, one is surprised by the significant
numbers of the aristocracy who still had a serious interest in music. Among the
members of the Senate, for example, we know of Caius Calpurnius Piso, one of the
conspirators against Nero in 65 AD, who was an accomplished lyre player.33 The
musical accomplishments of many of the emperors is also surprising.34 Caligula
(12-41 AD) received an education which included both vocal and instrumental music
and used to perform in private concerts before the aristocracy. Caligula once asked
a famous singer, Apelles, whether he considered he or Jupiter the greater. When
the singer unfortunately hesitated in his answer, Caligula had him scourged, but
complimented his voice as being attractive even in his cries of pain! We are also told
that “if anyone made even the slightest sound while his favorite was dancing, he had
the person dragged from his seat and scourged him with his own hand.”35
Nero (37 - 68 AD), the most debauched and cruel of the emperors (he
murdered his mother when age 22!), whom we have discussed in a previous essay,
considered himself a serious singer and studied the lyre, with which he accompanied
his singing, with the foremost teacher of his time, Terpnos. We will mention here
only some of the specific educational theories under which he practiced, as is
described by Suetonius.
…he little by little began to practice himself, neglecting none of the exercises
which artists of that kind are in the habit of following, to preserve or
strengthen their voices. For he used to lie upon his back and hold a leaden
plate on his chest,36 purge himself by the syringe and by vomiting, and deny
32
Propertius, Op. cit., III, 3.
Sendrey, Op. cit., 391.
34
Ibid., 392ff.
35
Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Book IV, lv.
36
This information comes from Pliny the Elder, Natural History, XXXIV, xliv, 167, who says,
Nero, whom heaven was pleased to make emperor, used to have a plate of lead on his chest
when singing songs fortissimo, thus showing a method for preserving the voice.
33
10
himself fruits and all foods injurious to the voice…. So far from neglecting
or relaxing his practice of the art, he never addressed the soldiers except by
letter or in a speech delivered by another, to save his voice; and he never did
anything for amusement or in earnest without an elocutionist by his side, to
warn him to spare his vocal organs and hold a handkerchief to his
mouth…..37
It is from this final period that we have the only extant significant discussion
on music education in ancient Rome. The author, Quintilian (30 – 96 AD), was born
in Spain and was sent to Rome to study by his well-educated father. There he
studied law and rhetoric and eventually opened his own school of rhetoric and
among his students were Pliny the Younger and perhaps Tacitus. While his
discussion of music education is only a part of a larger work, his knowledge of the
Greek’s emphasis on music education suggests that this tradition was not unknown
to the Romans. It is a review of that tradition which begins his discussion.38
For myself I should be ready to accept the verdict of antiquity. Who
is ignorant of the fact that music was in ancient times the object not merely
of intense study but of veneration: in fact Orpheus and Linus, to mention no
others, were regarded as uniting the roles of musician, poet and philosopher.
Both were of divine origin, while the former, because by the marvel of his
music he soothed the savage breast, is recorded to have drawn after him not
merely beasts of the wild, but rocks and trees. So too Timagenes asserts that
music is the oldest of the arts related to literature, a statement which is
confirmed by the testimony of the greatest poets in whose songs we read that
the praise of heroes and gods were sung to the music of the lyre at the feasts
of kings....
There can in any case be no doubt that some of those men whose
wisdom is a household word have been earnest students of music: Pythagoras
for instance....
But why speak only of the philosophers, whose master, Socrates, did
not blush to receive instruction in playing the lyre even when far advanced in
years? It is recorded that the greatest generals played on the lyre and the
aulos, and that the armies of Sparta were fired to martial ardor by the
strains of music. And what else is the function of the horns and trumpets
attached to our legions? The louder the concert of their notes, the greater is
the glorious supremacy of our arms over all the nations of the earth. It was
not therefore without reason that Plato regarded the knowledge of music as
necessary to his ideal statesman or politician, as he calls him; while the
leaders even of that school, which in other respects is the strictest and most
37
Suetonius, Op. cit., Book VI, xxff.
Quintilian, The Education of an Orator (Institutio Oratoria), trans., H. E. Butler (London: Heinemann,
1938), I, x, 9ff.
38
11
severe of all schools of philosophy, held that the wise man might well devote
some of his attention to such studies. Lycurgus himself, the founder of the
stern laws of Sparta, approved of the training supplied by music....
Quintilian now turns to this relationship between music and literature. He
also reminds his reader that the most ancient of Romans also emphasized music.
Archytas and Euenus held that [letters] are subordinate to [music],
while we know that the same instructors were employed for the teaching of
both from Sophron, a writer of farces, it is true, but so highly esteemed by
Plato, that he is believed to have had Sophron’s works under his pillow on his
deathbed: the same fact is proved by the case of Eupolis, who makes
Prodamus teach both music and literature, and whose Maricas, who was
none other than Hyperbolus in disguise asserts that he knows nothing of
music but letters. Aristophanes again in more than one of his plays shows
that boys were trained in music from remote antiquity, while in the
Hypobolimaeus of Menander an old man, when a father claims his son from
him, gives an account of all expenses incurred on behalf of the boy’s
education and states that he has paid out large sums to musicians and
geometricians. From the importance thus given to music also originated the
custom of taking a lyre round the company after dinner, and when on such
an occasion Themistocles confessed that he could not play, his education was
(to quote Cicero) “regarded as imperfect.” Even at the banquets of our own
forefathers it was the custom to introduce the aulos and lyre, and even the
hymn of the Salii has its tune. These practices were instituted by King Numa
and clearly prove that not even those whom we regard as rude warriors,
neglected the study of music, at least in so far as the resources of that age
allowed.
He concludes his introduction by suggesting that the importance of music
education is so universally understood that he is fearful that in saying too much he
risks the impression that the idea needs defense. These comments are particularly
interesting in their suggestion that music education was much more the norm in
Roman education than extant literature suggests.
If there were anything novel in my insistence on the study of music, I
should have to treat the matter at greater length. But in the view of the fact
that the study of music has, from those remote times when Chiron taught
Achilles down to our own day, continued to be studied by all except those
who have a hatred for any regular course of study, it would be a mistake to
seem to cast any doubt upon its value by showing an excessive zeal in its
defense.
12
But if music were so fundamental to education as he suggests, Quintilian was
nevertheless worried by the implications of the changes in musical style familiar to
him. In this passage he also gives several vivid examples of the power of music over
behavior. He also documents here the decay in the quality of music that others
mention and he pleas for a return to the ideals of the past.
I think I ought to be more emphatic than I have been in stating that
the music which I desire to see taught is not our modern music, which has
been emasculated by the lascivious melodies of our effeminate stage and has
to no small extent destroyed such manly vigor as we still possessed. No, I
refer to the music of old which was employed to sing the praises of brave men
and was sung by the brave themselves. I will have none of your psalteries
and viols, that are unfit even for the use of a modest girl. Give me the
knowledge of the principles of music, which have power to excite or assuage
the emotions of mankind. We are told that Pythagoras on one occasion,
when some young men were led astray by their passions to commit an
outrage on a respectable family, calmed them by ordering the aulos player to
change her strain to a spondaic meter, while Chrysippus selects a special
melody to be used by nurses to entice their little charges to sleep. Further I
may point out that among the fictitious themes employed in declamation is
one, doing no little credit to its author’s learning, in which it is supposed that
an aulos player is accused of manslaughter because he had played a tune in
the Phrygian mode as an accompaniment to a sacrifice, with the result that
the person officiating went mad and flung himself over a precipice.
In another place, Quintilian makes the curious statement,
It is held that schools corrupt the morals. It is true that this is
sometimes the case.39
It is perhaps in this light that he expresses concern over the types of poetry
introduced in school.
The reading of tragedy also is useful, and lyric poets will provide
nourishment for the mind, provided not merely that the authors be carefully
selected, but also the passages from their works which are to be read. For
the Greek lyric poets are often licentious and even in Horace there are
passages which I should be unwilling to explain to a class. Elegiacs, however,
more especially erotic elegy, and hendecasyllables, which are merely sections
of Sotadean verse, should be entirely banished, if possible; if not absolutely
banished, they should be reserved for pupils of a less impressionable age.40
39
40
Ibid., I, ii, 4.
Ibid., I, viii, 6.
13