122 HISTORY OF GREECE. dancing ; by which, in those days, was meant, not simply the power of striking the lyre or blowing the flute, but all that be- longed to the graceful, expressive, and emphatic management, either of the voice or of the body ; rhythmical pronunciation, ex- ercised by repetition of the poets, and disciplined movements, for taking part in a choric festival with becoming consonance amidst a crowd of citizen performers. Of such gymnastic and musical training, the combination of which constituted an accom- plished Grecian citizen, the former predominated at Thebes, the latter at Athens. Moreover, at Thebes the musical training was based more upon the flute (for the construction of which, excellent reeds grew near the Lake Kopais) ; at Athens more upon the lyre, which admitted of vocal accompaniment by the player. The Athenian Alkibiades 1 was heard to remark, when he threw away his flute in disgust, that flute-playing was a fit occupation for the Thebans, since they did not know how to speak ; and in regard to the countrymen of Pindar 2 generally, the remark was hardly less true than contemptuous. On this capital point, Epaminondas formed a splendid exception. Not only had he learnt the lyre 3 as well as the flute from the best masters, but also, dissenting from his brother Kapheisias and his friend Pelopidas, he mani- fested from his earliest years an ardent intellectual impulse; which would have been remarkable even in an Athenian. He sought with eagerness the conversation of the philosophers within his reach, among whom were the Theban Simmias and the Taren- tine Spintharus, both of them once companions of Sokrates ; so that the stirring influence of the Sokratic method would thus find its way, partially and at second-hand, to the bosom of Epaminon- das. As the relations between Thebes and Athens, ever since the close of the Peloponnesian war, had become more and more Compare the citations in Athenams, x, p. 417. The perfection of form required in the runner was also different from that required in the wrestlei (Xenoph. Memor. iii, 8, 4 ; iii, 10, 6). 1 Plutarch, Alkib. c. 2.
- Pindar, Olymp. vi, 90.
upxalov ovcidof Boiurtov vv, etc. 3 Aristoxenus mentions the flute, Cicero and Cornelius Nepos the lyre (Aristoxen. Fr. 60, ed. Didot, ap. Athenae. iv, p. 184 ; Cicei >, Tusc. Disp. i, J, 4 ; Cornel. Nepos, Epamin. c. 2).
