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Theophrastus · Fragments §88.1

Music Curing Afflictions and the Flute Therapy at Thebes

Passage 95 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Theophrastus asserts that music heals various afflictions of the soul and body, citing an anecdote in which a musician gradually cured a man in Thebes, who was driven mad by the sound of a trumpet, by using the flute.

§88.1Fr. 88 Θ. ἐν τῷ περὶ ἐνθουσιασμῶν. . φησὶ. . τὴν μουσικὴν πολλὰ τῶν περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα γιγνομένων παθῶν ἰατρεύειν καθάπερ λιποθυμίαν φόβους καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ μακρὸν γιγνομένας τῆς διανοίας ἐκστάσεις.
Theophrastus, in his work *On Inspirations*, asserts that music cures many of the afflictions that occur in relation to the soul and the body, such as fainting, fears, and long-lasting derangements of the mind.
Ἰᾶται γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ καταύλησις καὶ ἰσχιάδα καὶ ἐπιληψίαν, καθάπερ λέγεται τὸν μουσικὸν καταστῆσαι τὸν ἐξιστάμενον ἐν Θήβαις ὑπὸ τὴν τῆς σάλπιγγος φωνήν· ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἐβόησεν ἀκούων ὥστε ἀσχημονεῖν.
For, he says, playing the flute cures both sciatica and epilepsy, just as the musician is said to have restored the man in Thebes who was driven out of his mind by the sound of the trumpet; for he shouted so loudly upon hearing it that he behaved disgracefully.
Εἰ δέ ποτε καὶ πολεμικὸν σαλπίσειέ τις, πολὺ χεῖρον πάσχειν μαχόμενον.
And if anyone ever sounded a war-charge, he suffered much worse while fighting.
Τοῦτον οὖν κατὰ μικρὸν τῷ αὐλῷ προσάγειν καὶ ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι ἐκ προσαγωγῆς ἐποίησε καὶ τὴν τῆς σάλπιγγος φωνὴν ὑπομένειν.
Therefore, the musician gradually accustomed him to the flute and, as one might say, by a step-by-step approach, made him endure even the sound of the trumpet.

Notes

  1. §88.1καταστῆσαι — The aorist active infinitive of καθίστημι, used here transitively in the sense of 'to restore' or 'to calm down.' The accusative τὸν μουσικόν functions as the subject of this infinitive, while the other accusative phrase τὸν ἐξιστάμενον... serves as its object.
  2. §88.1ὑπὸ τὴν τῆς σάλπιγγος φωνήν — The preposition ὑπό followed by the accusative. Here it expresses either a temporal meaning ('immediately upon the sound of...') or the direct impact of an external stimulus ('under the influence of the sound of...').
  3. §88.1πάσχειν — An infinitive in indirect speech introduced by λέγεται (it is said). The subject is τὸν ἐξιστάμενον (the man driven out of his mind) from the preceding sentence, as indicated by the agreement of the participle μαχόμενον (fighting).
  4. §88.1ἐποίησε — While the preceding infinitives up to προσάγειν were in indirect speech governed by λέγεται, the text here suddenly shifts to the indicative aorist (ἐποίησε), marking a transition to direct narrative (anacoluthon).

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §88.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:88.1

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