§9ἐὰν οὖν ἔρηταί τις, τί ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, φήσομεν οὐχὶ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον, ᾧ τῶν Δελφῶν οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι μέτεστιν.
Therefore, if anyone asks what these things have to do with Apollo, we shall say that they concern not only him but also Dionysus, who has no less a share in Delphi than Apollo.
ἀκούομεν οὖν τῶν θεολόγων τὰ μὲν ἐν ποιήμασι τὰ δʼ ἄνευ μέτρου λεγόντων καὶ ὑμνούντων, ὡς ἄφθαρτος ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἀίδιος πεφυκώς, ὑπὸ δή τινος εἱμαρμένης γνώμης καὶ λόγου μεταβολαῖς ἑαυτοῦ χρώμενος, ἄλλοτε μὲν εἰς πῦρ ἀνῆψε τὴν φύσιν πάνθʼ ὁμοιώσας πᾶσιν, ἄλλοτε δὲ παντοδαπὸς ἔν τε μορφαῖς καὶ ἐν πάθεσι καὶ δυνάμεσι διαφόροις γιγνόμενος, ὡς γίγνεται νῦν, κόσμος ὀνομάζεται δὲ τῷ γνωριμωτάτῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων.
We hear, then, the theologians saying and singing, partly in verse and partly without meter, that the god, being by nature imperishable and eternal, yet by a certain destined purpose and reason undergoes changes of himself; at one time he kindles his nature into fire, making all things alike to all, and at another time, becoming manifold in various forms, passive states, and powers, as he is now, he is called by the most familiar of names, the cosmos.
κρυπτόμενοι δὲ τοὺς πολλοὺς οἱ σοφώτεροι τὴν μὲν εἰς πῦρ μεταβολὴν Ἀπόλλωνά τε τῇ μονώσει Φοῖβόν τε τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ ἀμιάντῳ καλοῦσι.
But the wiser people, concealing this from the multitude, call his change into fire 'Apollo' because of his oneness, and 'Phoebus' because of his purity and spotlessness.
τῆς δʼ εἰς πνεύματα καὶ ὓδωρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ἄστρα καὶ φυτῶν ζῴων τε γενέσεις τροπῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ διακοσμήσεως τὸ μὲν πάθημα καὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν διασπασμόν τινα καὶ διαμελισμὸν αἰνίττονται· Διόνυσον δὲ καὶ Ζαγρέα καὶ Νυκτέλιον καὶ Ἰσοδαίτην αὐτὸν ὀνομάζουσι, καὶ φθοράς τινας καὶ ἀφανισμοὺς οἱ τὰς ἀποβιώσεις καὶ παλιγγενεσίας, οἰκεῖα ταῖς εἰρημέναις μεταβολαῖς αἰνίγματα καὶ μυθεύματα περαίνουσι·
On the other hand, regarding his turning and ordering into winds, water, earth, stars, and the generations of plants and animals, they hint at his suffering and change as a certain tearing-apart and dismemberment; and they call him Dionysus, Zagreus, Nyktelius, and Isodaites, and they perform disappearances and destructions, deaths and rebirths, which are riddles and myths appropriate to the aforementioned changes.
καὶ ᾅδουσι τῷ μὲν διθυραμβικὰ μέλη παθῶν μεστὰ καὶ μεταβολῆς πλάνην τινὰ καὶ διαφόρησιν ἐχούσης· "
μιξοβόαν γὰρ Αἰσχύλος φησὶ πρέπει
διθύραμβον ὁμαρτεῖν
σύγκωμον Διονύσῳ; "
τῷ δὲ παιᾶνα, τεταγμένην καὶ σώφρονα μοῦσαν.
And they sing to the one god dithyrambic melodies full of passions and change that contains wandering and dispersion; 'for Aeschylus says that the clamorous dithyramb is fitting to accompany Dionysus as a fellow-reveler;' but to the other god they sing the paean, a regulated and temperate music.
ἀγήρων τε τοῦτον ἀεὶ καὶ νέον ἐκεῖνον δὲ πολυειδῆ καὶ πολύμορφον ἐν γραφαῖς καὶ πλάσμασι δημιουργοῦσι· καὶ ὅλως τῷ μὲν ὁμοιότητα καὶ τάξιν καὶ σπουδὴν ἄκρατον, τῷ δὲ μεμιγμένην τινὰ παιδιᾷ καὶ ὕβρει καὶ σπουδῇ καὶ μανίᾳ προσφέροντες ἀνωμαλίαν,
εὔιον ὀρσιγύναικα μαινομέναις Διόνυσον ἀνθέοντα τιμαῖς
ἀνακαλοῦσιν, οὐ φαύλως ἑκατέρας μεταβολῆς τὸ οἰκεῖον λαμβάνοντες.
And they fashion this one as always ageless and young, but the other as multiform and of many shapes in paintings and sculptures; and in general, attributing to the one similarity, order, and unmixed seriousness, but to the other a mixture of play, insolence, seriousness, and madness, introducing irregularity, they call upon him as 'Euius, rouser of women, Dionysus flourishing with mad honors,' not without skill grasping what is appropriate to each of the two changes.
ἐπεὶ δʼ οὐκ ἴσος τῶν περιόδων ἐν ταῖς μεταβολαῖς χρόνος, ἀλλὰ μείζων ὁ τῆς ἑτέρας ἣν
κόρον· καλοῦσιν, ὁ δὲ τῆς
χρησμοσύνης
ἐλάττων, τὸ κατὰ λόγον τηροῦντες ἐνταῦθα τὸν μὲν ἄλλον ἐνιαυτὸν παιᾶνι χρῶνται περὶ τὰς θυσίας, ἀρχομένου δὲ χειμῶνος ἐπεγείραντες διθύραμβον τὸν δὲ παιᾶνα καταπαύσαντες, τρεῖς μῆνας ἀντʼ ἐκείνου τοῦτον κατακαλοῦνται τὸν θεὸν· ὅπερ τρία πρὸς ἕν, τοῦτο τὴν διακόσμησιν οἰόμενοι χρόνῳ πρὸς τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν εἶναι.
And since the time of the cycles in the changes is not equal, but that of the one which they call 'satiety' is longer, while that of 'want' is shorter, keeping the proportion here, they use the paean during the rest of the year in their sacrifices, but at the beginning of winter they rouse the dithyramb and silence the paean, calling upon this god instead of the other for three months; which is a ratio of three to one, believing that this is the proportion of the time of the world-ordering to that of the conflagration.
§10ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἱκανοῦ καιροῦ μᾶλλον ἀπομεμήκυνται· δῆλον δʼ ὅτι συνοικειοῦσιν αὐτῷ τὴν πεμπάδα, νῦν μὲν αὐτὴν ἑαυτὴν ὡς τὸ πῦρ αὖθις δὲ τὴν δεκάδα ποιοῦσαν ἐξ ἑαυτῆς ὡς τὸν κόσμον.
But these things have been prolonged beyond what is sufficient opportunity; yet it is clear that they associate the number five with him, making it produce now itself, like fire, and again the number ten from itself, like the cosmos.
τῆς δὲ δὴ μάλιστα κεχαρισμένης τῷ θεῷ μουσικῆς οὐκ οἰόμεθα τούτῳ τῷ ἀριθμῷ· μετεῖναι;
And in music, which is indeed most pleasing to the god, do we not think that this number has a share?
τὸ γὰρ πλεῖστον ὡς ἔνι εἰπεῖν ἔργον ἁρμονικῆς περὶ τὰς συμφωνίας ἐστίν.
For the greatest part of the work of harmonics, so to speak, is concerned with concords.
αὗται δʼ ὅτι πέντε καὶ οὐ πλείους, ὁ λόγος ἐξελέγχει τὸν ἐν χορδαῖς καὶ τρυπήμασι ταῦτα θηρᾶν ἀλόγως τῇ αἰσθήσει βουλόμενον.
And that these are five and no more, reason refutes the one who wishes to pursue these matters on strings and holes irrationally by means of perception.
πᾶσαι γὰρ ἐν λόγοις τὴν γένεσιν ἀριθμῶν λαμβάνουσιν· καὶ λόγος ἐστὶ τῆς μὲν διὰ τεσσάρων ἐπίτριτος, τῆς δὲ διὰ πέντε ἡμιόλιος, διπλάσιος δὲ τῆς διὰ πασῶν, τῆς δὲ διὰ πασῶν καὶ διὰ πέντε τριπλάσιος, τῆς δὲ δὶς διὰ πασῶν τετραπλάσιος.
For all concords have their origin in the ratios of numbers; and the ratio of the fourth is sesquitertian, of the fifth sesquialter, double of the octave, triple of the octave and fifth, and quadruple of the double octave.
ἣν δὲ ταύταις ἐπεισάγουσιν οἱ ἁρμονικοὶ διὰ πασῶν καὶ διὰ τεσσάρων ὀνομάζοντες, ἔξω μέτρου βαίνουσαν, οὐκ ἄξιόν ἐστι δέχεσθαι, τῆς ἀκοῆς τῷ ἀλόγῳ παρὰ τὸν λόγον ὥσπερ νόμον χαριζομένους.
But the concord which the harmonists introduce besides these, calling it the octave and fourth, which goes beyond the measure, is not worthy of acceptance, as they gratify the irrational part of the hearing against reason as if it were a law.
ἵνα τοίνυν ἀφῶ πέντε τετραχόρδων θέσεις, καὶ πέντε τοὺς πρώτους, εἴτε τόνους ἢ τρόπους; εἴθʼ ἁρμονίας χρὴ καλεῖν, ὧν ἐπιτάσει καὶ ὑφέσει τρεπομένων κατὰ τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον αἱ λοιπαὶ βαρύτητές εἰσι καὶ ὀξύτητες ἆρʼ οὐχὶ πολλῶν, μᾶλλον δʼ ἀπείρων διαστημάτων ὄντων, τὰ μελῳδούμενα μόνα πέντʼ ἐστί, δίεσις καὶ ἡμιτόνιον καὶ τόνος καὶ τριημιτόνιον καὶ δίτονον, ἄλλο δʼ οὐδὲν οὔτε μικρότερον οὔτε μεῖζον ἐν φωναῖς χωρίον ὀξύτητι καὶ βαρύτητι περατούμενον μελῳδητόν ἐστι;
In order, therefore, that I may pass over the five placements of the tetrachords, and the first five—whether we should call them tones, keys, or modes—by whose tension and relaxation in degree the remaining low and high pitches are formed; is it not true that, although there are many, or rather infinite intervals, only five are sung in melody, namely the diesis, the semitone, the tone, the minor third, and the ditone, and no other interval, either smaller or larger in voices bounded by high and low pitch, is singable?