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when in company with the polite; the base, with the man of honor? Thus the musician added[1] new movements and a
- ↑ Sic priscœ—arti tibicen, etc.—Sic fidibus etiam, etc. This is the application of what hath been said, in general, concerning the refinement of theatrical music to the case of tragedy. Some commentators say, and to comedy. But in this they mistake, as will appear presently, M. Dacier hath I know not what conceit about a comparison betwixt the Roman and Greek stage. His reason is, that the lyre was used in the Greek chorus, as appears, he says, from Sophocles playing upon this instrument himself in one of his tragedies. And was it not used too in the Roman chorus, as appears from Nero’s playing upon it in several tragedies? But the learned critic did not apprehend this matter. Indeed, from the caution with which his guides, the dealers in antiquities, always touch this point, it should seem that they too had no very clear conception of it. The case I take to have been this: the tibia, as being most proper to accompany the declamation of the acts, cantanti sticcinere, was constantly employed, as will in the Roman tragedy as comedy. This appears from many authorities. I mention only two from Cicero. “Quam multa (Acad. 1. ii. 7) quæ nos fugiunt in cantu, exaudiunt in eo genere exercitati: Qui, primo inflatu tibicinis, Antiopam esse aiunt aut Audromachem, cum nos ne suspicemur quidem.” The other is still more express. In his piece entitled “Orator,” speaking of the negligence of the Roman writers in respect of numbers, he observes, that there were even many passages in their tragedies, which, unless the tibia played to them, could not be distinguished from mere prose: “quæ nisi cum tibicen accesserit, orationi sint solutae simillima.” One of these passages is expressely quoted from Thyestes, a tragedy of Ennius, and, as appears from the measure, taken out of one of the acts. It is clear, then, that the tibia was certainly used in the declamation of tragedy. But now the song of the tragic chorus, being of the nature of the ode, of course required fides, the lyre, the peculiar and appropriated instrument of the lyric muse. And this is clearly collected, if not from express testimonies, yet from some occasional hints dropped by the ancients. For, 1. The lyre we are told (Cic. de Leg. ii. 9 and 15), and is agreed on all hands, was an instrument of the Roman theater; but it was not employed in comedy. This we certainly know from the short accounts of the music prefixed to Terrence’s plays. 2. Further, the tibicen, as we saw, accompanied the declamation of the acts in tragedy. It remains, then, that the proper place of the lyre was, where one should naturally look for it, in the songs of the chorus; but we need not go further than this very passage for a proof It is unquestionable, that the poet is here speaking of the chorus only, the following lines not admitting any other possible interpretation. By fidibus, then, it is necessarily understood the instrument peculiarly used in it. In this view, the whole digression is more pertinent and connects better. The poet had before been speaking of tragedy. All his directions, from l. 100, respect this species of the drama only. The application of what he had said concerning music is then most naturally made, 1. To the tibia, the music of the acts; and, 2. To fides, that of the choir: thus confining himself, as tho tenor of this part required, to tragedy only. Hence is seen the mistake, not only of M. Dacier, whose comment is in every view insupportable; but, as was hinted, of Heinsius, Lambin, and others, who, with more probability, explained this of the Roman tragedy and comedy. For, though tibia might be allowed to stand for comedy, as opposed to tragœdia (as, in fact, we find it in II. Ep. 1. 98), that being the only instrument employed in it; yet, in speaking expressly of the music of the stage, fides could not determinately enough, and in contradistinction to tibia, denote that of tragedy, it being an instrument used solely or principally in the chorus, of which the context shows, he alone speaks. It is further to be observed, that in the application here made, besides the music, the poet takes in the other improvements of the tragic chorus, these happening, as from the nature of the thing they must, at the same time. Hurd.
