The Socratic Musical Ethos

Matt Christoph December 1, 2008

While at times Socrates discussed music and its elements specifically, it is important to note that the Greek term mousik encompassed both what would presently be considered music proper as well as the literary and oratory traditions of poetry and storytelling. However, Socrates made it clear in his dialogues that music and poetry, for his purposes, were inextricably tied to one another, comprised a singular discipline, and should intend to serve the same function. The philosopher sought to define musics proper place in society and in the life of the individual, and attempted to establish a clear set of standards and rules that every musician would be bound to. According to Socrates, Mousik was not only a crucial component of education, but of a just and harmonious life, and the spiritual well-being of the individual and society at large. So in order for poets, musicians, and storytellers to serve their proper function in society, Socrates believed that they were required to practice their craft within certain limits, to be set by the lawmakers and enforced by the people or their guardians. Socrates claimed that the primary function of music was in education. Paideia was the term for the systematic training of children in liberal subjects, ideally drawing the youth towards virtue and reason, as judged by the eldest and best of the ruling aristocracy.1 Mousik was one of two crucial disciplines that made up the paideia, the other being gumnastik, meaning physical training, dance, and athletics.

Warren D. Anderson. Ethos and Education in Greek Music: The Evidence of Poetry and Philosophy. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966), 92.

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Many Ancient Greeks greatly esteemed the study of music and had already required it in the education of their youth. Vocal and instrumental training was obligatory in a number of the Greek citystates. In Arcadia, the study of music began in early youth and continued for twenty to thirty years afterward. In Sparta, schoolchildren studied music before grammar or any sort of physical training.2 Likewise, Socrates advocated that musical training should begin first, before physical training, and long before mathematics or any other intellectual field of study. In the Republic, Socrates discussed at great length the curriculum necessary in educating his ideal society. The proper combination of musical and physical training would yield a balanced and harmonious nature within the student. This balanced education would make both the rational and spirited parts of the soul harmonious with one another, stretching and nurturing the rational part with fine words and learning, relaxing the other part through soothing stories, and making it gentle by means of harmony and rhythm.3 But an excess or lack of training in either discipline would yield an extreme natureeither too hard and insensitive from excessive physical training, or too soft and weak from an overemphasis on music and poetry.

Curt Sachs. The Rise of Music in the Ancient World: East and West. (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1943), 254. 3 Ibid. 441.

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Socrates insisted that once established, the paideia was not to allow change or innovation of any kind.4 There would be firm restrictions in place to define what students should or should not be exposed to. Ultimately, the goal of the paideia, according to Classical scholar Edward A. Lippman, was the love and enjoyment of beauty but the aesthetic is ethical, in that pleasure is taken only in the music of virtue and culture.5 Elsewhere in the Republic, Socrates used musicianship as an analogy for the art of living, in terms of the individual, and for achieving peace and order in a society. He referred to music in discussing the parts which comprise an individual, the parts of a city, and how harmony between each part could be attained. Like musical tones, each element of man or of the state does its own work, not interfering or coalescing with the others, but cooperating to form the harmony of temperance and justice.6 Both musical and social order would depend on the recognition of certain requirements and limits. In tuning a string instrument, for example, the musician tightens each string to an exact and precise tension to achieve a specific pitch, acknowledging thresholds of tension above and below which the string must be kept. Likewise, harmony of the soul could be attained only when the spirit and corporeal appetites obey their limits, serve their proper functions,

4 5

Anderson, Ethos and Education in Greek Music, 95. Edward A. Lippman, Musical Thought in Ancient Greece. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), 131. 6 Ibid. 40.

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and are subordinate to reason.7 Describing the diet which would be appropriate for the peacekeepers and guardians of his ideal city, Socrates compared an overly-indulgent and unhealthy diet with the kinds of lyric odes and songs which are conducted in all sorts of modes and rhythms.8 While simplicity would bolster moderation, embellishment would bring licentiousness and perversion.9 Because of the higher purposes ordained for music, namely education and the nourishment of the soul, the Socratic dialogues present music as a serious undertaking, not to be mishandled or taken lightly. Mousik was a gift to humanity from the muses, given for intelligent use and not as an aid to irrational pleasure (as is now supposed) but as an auxiliary to the inner revolution of the soul, when it has lost its harmony, to assist in restoring it to order and concord with itself.10 Socrates believed music could be greatly destructive if not carefully censored and kept in check. Music, the most celebrated form of imitation, is the most dangerous as well. A mistake in handling it may cause untold harm, for one may become receptive to evil habits.11 Censorship and the enforcement of a moral code would be crucial, because while the decay of a city or the imbalance of a soul could be attributed to the neglect of mousik,

Samuel E. Stumpf, Socrates to Sartre: A History of Philosophy, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), 68. 8 Republic 404. 9 Ibid. 10 Plato. Timaeus. Trans. Benjamin Jowlett. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/timaeus.1b.txt, 47. 11 Plato, Laws. Trans. Benjamin Jowlett. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/laws.html, 669.

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vice and perversion could be introduced by songs or stories contrary to the regulations and norms set by the ruling authority. Socrates assumed that the masses, if left to their own devices, would gravitate away from virtue and good character towards corruption, ignorance, and hedonism. He described those without virtue and reason as cattle, and with their heads bent over the dinner table, they feed, fatten, and fornicate. To outdo others in these things, they kick and butt them with iron horns and hooves, killing each other, because their desires are insatiable.12 The public was therefore unfit to judge for themselves which music was appropriate or inappropriate. A true philosopher, however, as Socrates claimed to be, was enlightened and wise, and as near to absolute truth as a human being could be. A philosopher would be rigorously educated in all subjects, understanding of truth and reality, and outstandingly virtuous. For these reasons, Socrates found it preferable to any form of government, including democracy, for a philosopher-king to rule society. They alone would be fit to create laws and to judge what was appropriate or inappropriate for the people.13 To Socrates, the arts were not about creative expression, but the imitation of other tangible or intangible subjects. However, any imitation, even a masterwork, was a weak and incomplete shadow of whatever it sought to represent. A song which represented the virtue of courage, for example, was at least twice-removed from the virtue itself. Socrates said, The imitation is far removed from the truth,
12 13

Republic 586. Ibid. 484-487.

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for it touches only a small part of each thing and a part that is itself only an image.14 The imitation was to be judged according to the virtue of the object it imitated, and its fidelity to that object. Representation of any undesirable object could not be allowed, since the imitator and the spectator both were likely to be affected by or to become like the object being imitated.15 All artists and craftsmen would be required to depict only what was rightfully associated with good character, and any depiction of vicious, unrestrained, slavish, and graceless characteristics would be prohibited.16 It is also asserted in the Republic that words are no different in songs than when they are not set to music17 The stipulations that would apply to musicians, poets, and storytellers alike are discussed in great detail. In the interest of preserving justice and harmony in their society, the wise rulers would supervise the storytellers select their stories whenever they are fine or beautiful and reject them when they arent.18 No story or song was to disparage the gods; represent death or the afterlife as unpleasant or frightening; or glorify drunkenness, gluttony, sex, wealth, or any kind of vice.19 In the dialogue Laws, Socrates implored his audience that vulgarity and blasphemy which employ the medium of music are intolerable: such abuses we must legislate out of existence.20

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Ibid. 598. Lippman, Musical Thought, 73-74. Republic 401. Ibid. 398. Ibid. 377. Republic 377-398. Laws 799.

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Limitations were to be imposed on the modes, melodies, rhythms, and lyrics that musicians could use.21 No works were to be presented to any citizen without being reviewed and accepted by lawmakers first.22 Music, as with all other art forms, was to be placed under state jurisdiction to ensure conformity with these predetermined ideals. Anyone who did not comply was to be punished, jailed, or banished from the city.23 The instruments musicians could use would be legislated as well. The aulos, for example, was a common wind instrument used in Greek rituals, theater, and athletic events. Socrates sought to eliminate the aulos, associating it with the orgiastic rites of cults, such as the cults of Cybele and Dionysus. Simpler instruments like the syrinx, a pan-pipe instrument, and the salpinx, a trumpet-like instrument, would be acceptable for use by shepherds and other herdsmen, but the aulos was a threat to the greater good because of its penetrating tone and capacity for modulation.24 Socrates called it the instrument of Marsyas (a satyr described in myth as bestial and stupid) and he asserted that the lyre and kithara (the instruments of Apollo) should be preferred.25 All string instruments were not safe however, as the multi-stringed trigonon and pektis were to be outlawed, since they too were capable of excessive modulation.26 Socrates proposed that a just society would have no need for polyharmonic or multi-stringed

21 22 23 24 25 26

Ibid. 656. Ibid. 801. Anderson, Ethos and Education in Greek Music, 83. Anderson, Ethos and Education in Greek Music, 64-66. Republic 399. Anderson, Ethos and Education in Greek Music, 66.

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instruments, and therefore no need for the craftsmen who made lutes, harps, flutes, and all the other instruments deemed inappropriate for the city and its people.27 The songs musicians composed and performed would also need to abide by certain standards. As with the paideia, perhaps because music comprised such an important part of this educational system, Socrates prohibited any innovation or experimentation with the prescribed musical repertoire. He expressed a dislike for poets who were ignorant of musical laws, or who mixed dirges with hymns and paeans with dithyrambs and blended every kind of music with every other.28 The only appropriate form of music would be vocal music, with or without instrumental accompaniment. Socrates said: Where only melody and rhythm combine, as in the use of the solo kithara or aulos, it is extremely difficult to recognize any meaning or imitation of any worthy object in the rhythm and mode. The rapidity, glibness, and animal imitations characteristic of such playing are utterly boorish: solo instrument performances display every sort of crudity and trickery.29 The intent to simplify and subjugate instrumentation to lyricism is further illustrated in the Socratic teachings by a de-emphasis of technical proficiency. Studies in technique or specialization were

27 28 29

Republic 399. Sachs, The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, 266. Laws 669-670.

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deemed contradictory to the proper function of musical training, which was enhancing the mind and harmonizing the soul.30 The three main elements of a song, according to Socrates, were text, rhythm, and mode. Since the text was proposed as the most important aspect of a song, all musical considerations would be secondary, and the rightful place of rhythm and mode was subordinate to the text. The lyrics were to follow the same guidelines set for poetry and storytelling, which was to promote courage, dignity, and virtue in all those who heard the song. Any work that did not fit this model, even a dirge or funeral song, was deemed inappropriate and would not be allowed.
31

The proposed regulation of rhythm sought to promote temperance and harmony as well. Variance and subtlety in rhythm were to be avoided, along with any meters which were suited to slavishness, insolence, madness, and the other vices. The meters which were desirable to Socrates were those of grace and simplicity, which would fit a fine text. He described the addition of a rhythm to a proper text and melody as being like the sort of fine and good character that has developed in accordance with an intelligent plan. He sought to discover the rhythms of someone who leads an ordered and courageous life and then adapt the meter and the tune to his words, not his words to them.
32

30 31 32

Anderson, Ethos and Education in Greek Music, 76. Republic 398. Ibid. 399-400.

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In regard to tonality, Dorian and Phrygian were the only modes which would be acceptable.33 This would exclude both the Ionian and the Aeolian modes, which are equivalent to the modern-day major and natural minor scales. The Dorian was chosen to imitate the rhythm and tone of one whose actions are courageous and grand, and was associated with the male gender. The Phrygian was believed to imitate one whose actions are orderly and discreet, and was associated with the female gender.34 According to Socrates, these were the only appropriate modes for musicians to play or compose in, and no new modes or alterations of the Dorian or Phrygian were to be allowed. Therefore, Socrates said the guardians must beware of changing to a new form of music, since it threatens the whole system the musical modes are never changed without change in the most important of a citys laws.35 It was proposed that as long as these criteria were met, noble and righteous musical works would achieve their lofty goalseducating people in harmony and beauty, promoting virtue, and supporting equally virtuous lyrics and poetry. Socrates believed that a philosopher-king able to enforce these regulations on music, literature, and the arts would be a great deal closer to attaining the ideal citizens and ideal city. However, music continued to evolve and develop new styles and forms with little or no regard for the rules Socrates sought to impose. His doctrine was never fully applied to any real society, and so it is uncertain whether the system he described would have achieved its aim or not. Many of the issues raised in his dialogues continue to
33 34 35

Ibid. 398-399. Anderson, Ethos and Education in Greek Music, 90. Republic 424.

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be issues of debate today, such as censorship, the role of the state in controlling artistic expression, and the effects of exposure to certain messages. Still, for better or worse, it is certain that if these rules had been instituted and faithfully observed from Socrates time until the present, the vast majority of the musical repertoire we enjoy today would never even have existed.

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Bibliography

Anderson, Warren D. Ethos and Education in Greek Education: The Evidence of Poetry and Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966. Lippman, Edward A. Musical Thought in Ancient Greece. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964. Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Rev. C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing, 1992. Plato. Laws. Trans. Benjamin Jowlett; available from http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/laws.html; Internet; accessed 23 Oct., 2007. Plato. Timaeus. Trans. Benjamin Jowlett; available from http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/timaeus.1b.txt; Internet; accessed 23 Oct., 2007. Sachs, Curt. The Rise of Music in the Ancient World: East and West. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1943. Stumpf, Samuel E. Socrates to Sartre: A History of Philosophy, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.

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