86 mSTOKV OF GEEECL. with pleasure by those M bo could not hear tbem sung or see them danced. In the little of his poems which remains, we recognize that variety of rhythm and metre for which he was celebrated. In this respect he (together with the Kretan Thaletas, who is said to have introduced a more vehement style both of music and dance, with the Kretic and Phonic rhythm, into Sparta 1 ) sur- passed Archilochus, and prepared the way for the complicated choric movements of Stesichorus and Pindar ; some of the frag- ments, too, manifest that fresh outpouring of individual sentiment and emotion which constitutes so much of the charm of popular poetry. Besides his touching address in old age to the Spartan virgins, over whose ?ong and dance he had been accustomed to preside, he is not afraid to speak of his hearty appetite, satis- fied with simple food and relishing a bowl of warm broth at the winter tropic. 2 And he has attached to the spring an epithet, which comes home to the real feelings of a poor country more than those captivating pictures which abound in verse, ancient as well as modern: he calls it "the season of short fare," the crop of the previous year being then nearly consumed, the husband- man is compelled to pinch himself until his new harvest comes 1 Homer, Hymn. Apoll. 340. Oloi TE Kp^rJiv TraiTjovff, etc. : see Boeckh, De Metris Pindari, ii, 7, p. 143 ; Ephorus ap. Strabo, x, p. 480 ; Plutarch, De Musica, p. 1142. Respecting Thaletas, and the gradual alterations in the character of music at Sparta, Hoeckh has given much instructive matter ilvreta, vol. iii, pp. 340-377). Respecting Xymphaeus of Kydonia, whom jElian (V. II. xii, 50) pats in juxtaposition with Thaletas and Terpander. nothing is known. After what is called the second fashion of music (Ka-uvraoif ) had thus been introduced by Thaletas and his contemporaries, the first fashion being that of Terpander, no farther innovations were allowed. The ephors employed violent means to prohibit the intended innovations of Fhrynis and Timothcus, after the Persian war: sec Plutarch Agis, c. 10.
- Alkman, Fragm. 13-17, ed. Bergk, 6 "Kufifyayoq 'AKftdv. compare Fr.
C3. Aristides calls him b TUV irap-Qtvuv eTraivcrrif nal ci'ft,3ov/.of (Or. xlv, rol. ii, p. 40, IHndorf ). Of the Partneneia of Alkman (songs, hymns, and dances, composed for
- chorus of maidens) there were at least two books (Stephanus Byzant. v,
'Epvaixr;). He was the earliest poet who acquired renown in this speciei of composition, aflenvards much pursued by Pindar, Bacchylidcs, anj SiiaoE.'des of Keos: see "Welcker, Alkman. Fragment, p. 10.
