A rectangular woodcut headpiece depicts a pastoral landscape. In the center, a figure—likely Amphion or Orpheus—sits playing a lyre, surrounded by various animals including a lion, a stag, and birds, which appear charmed by the music. In the background, trees and a cityscape represent Thebes being built by the power of music.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

EXHORTATORY DISCOURSE

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

ADMONITION TO THE GREEKS,

A

Amphion of Thebes and Arion of Methymna were both famous for their singing. Both are the subjects of myths, and their songs are still sung to this day by the choir of the Greeks through the art of music—one (Arion) having lured a fish Clement refers to the legend of Arion, who was saved from drowning by a dolphin charmed by his music., and the other (Amphion) having built the walls of Thebes. Another Thracian sophist Clement refers here to Orpheus, whom he disparagingly calls a "sophist" to suggest he was a trickster or a manipulator of truth.—this is another Greek myth—tamed wild beasts by song alone, and even transplanted trees, the oaks, by the power of music. I could relate to you another myth related to these, and another singer: Eunomus the Locrian and the Pythian cicada original: "tettix," an insect often translated as a grasshopper or cricket, sacred to Apollo and the Muses.. A Greek festival was being held at Pytho The ancient name for Delphi. in honor of the dead dragon, where Eunomus sang an epitaph for the serpent. Whether the song was a hymn or a lament, I cannot say. It was a competition, and Eunomus was playing the lyre in the heat of the day, at the hour when the cicadas were singing under the leaves throughout the mountains, basking in the sun. They were singing not for the dead dragon, but for the all-wise God, a song of their own nature, better than the "laws" original: "nomōn." A pun on the name Eunomus ("Good Law") and the Greek word for musical modes or laws. of Eunomus. A string broke for the Locrian; the cicada flew onto the bridge of the lyre and chirped on the instrument as if on a branch. The singer, by harmonizing his song to the chirp of the cicada, filled in the missing string. So, the cicada was drawn by the song of Eunomus, as the myth would have it, and a bronze statue of Eunomus was erected at Pytho with his lyre and his fellow competitor, the Locrian's companion. The cicada flew there of its own accord, and sang of its own accord. But to the Greeks, it seemed to be an actor imitating music. Why, then, have you believed empty myths, imagining that animals are charmed by music? Yet the radiant face of Truth alone, it seems, appears to you to be a fabrication, and is looked upon with eyes of unbelief. Truly, Cithaeron, and Helicon, and the mountains of the Odrysians and Thrace—

A

Amphion of Thebes and Arion of Methymna were indeed both gifted in the art of singing. But both gave place to fable, and the song concerning them is still sung in the choir of the Greeks: that one indeed lured a fish, while the other built Thebes. Moreover, another Thracian Sophist (this is another Greek fable) rendered wild beasts tame by song alone; indeed, even other trees and beech trees were moved from their places and transplanted by his music. I can tell you another fable similar to this one, about a certain singer named Eunomus, a Locrian, and the Pythian cicada. A festival day was celebrated with a great gathering of Greeks at Pytho, on account of the dead Dragon, while Eunomus sang the serpent’s epitaph—though I could not quite say whether the song was a hymn or a lamentation for the serpent. A contest had been established, and in the heat of the season B Eunomus played the lyre, while the cicadas, glowing in the sun, sang under the branches on the mountains. Yet they sang not for the dead Dragon, but for the most wise God, a truly free song, superior to the modes of Eunomus. A string was broken for the Locrian: a cicada flew onto the yoke of the lyre and made a sound upon the instrument as if upon a branch. By tuning his voice to the cicada’s cry, the lyre-player supplied the string that was lacking in this manner. The cicada, therefore, was led by the song of Eunomus, as the fable wishes it, which placed a bronze Eunomus at Pytho with the lyre itself, C and at the same time added to the Locrian his partner in the contest. Moreover, it flew there of its own will, and sang of its own will. But to the Greeks, it seemed to have been an actor and imitator of music. For what reason, then, have you believed in empty fables, thinking that living creatures are soothed by music, while on the contrary, the splendid face of truth seems to you to be a pretense, and is subjected to unbelieving eyes? Thus—