même temps d'un instrument.' So Heliodorus, lib. 1. Θίσβην παιδισκάριον τη αὐτῆς ψάλλειν τε πρός Κιθάραν ἐπισάμενον, και &c. But then how the same persons, amongst the ancient Greeks and Romans, both piped and sung together, is not so easy to determine, and yet we are very sure that the rustics, the shepherds and swains did this. They could not sing and play with the same breath, we are sensible, but the words must either follow the music, or the music the words, which is the very question I desire to start; but before I deliver my own opinion upon it, I shall establish the fact, by shewing that amongst the old shepherds the pipe and the song were usually conjoined; for the doing of which I shall not need to go any farther than the five first eclogues, though the same kind of proofs may be drawn from the others, as will appear to the curious upon trial. Ecl. 1. 1. 2. Melibus, says to Tityrus. Sylvestrem tenui musam meditaris avena. Avena here is the pipe; Montfaucon makes a difference between Avena and Fistula, but I take it that Avena, Calamus, Arundo, Cicuta, &c. all mean, by a common metonymy of the matter for the instrument, the Fistula or the pipe; not the single but the compound one, or the Syrinx, which consisted of six or seven single pipes, and sometimes more, all fastened together. The Syrinx was the usual instrument of the shepherds, as appears from Ecl. II. 31. seq. 36. seq. Ovid. Metam. xiii. 784. Theocrit. Idyll. viii. 18. Musa is the words or song, and it is evident that he sung words at the same time that he played, from what follows, Formosam resonare doces Amaryllida sylvas. Where Melibus informs us of the subject of Tityrus's song, namely, his mistress Amaryllis, whom yet he did not celebrate without his pipe, as is clear from his answer; Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum Ecl. II. Corydon pours out his complaint, but he used the pipe with his voice, as is plain from the following passages; Mecum una in sylvis imitabere Pana canendo. Again, Nec te pœniteat calamo trivisse labellum. Hæc eadem ut sciret, quid non faciebat Amyntas? Fistula, Damætas dono mihi quam dedit olim. Hæc eadem ut sciret--he means the tune, and not the words, which Amyntas, could have nothing to do with. Corydon must be supposed to use the pipe with his song, for Menalcas giving Mopsus a pipe, Ecl. V. says, Hac te nos fragili donabimus ante cicuta. Hæc nos, Formosum Corydon ardebat Alexim: These being the first lines of the 2d and 3d Eclogues, and consequently denoting those Eclogues, this passage imports, that these very Eclogues of Virgil, and I presume the Idyllia of Theocritus in like manner, are to be understood as learnt by the shepherds, and sung to the pipe; that the shepherds are not to be imagined to sing always extempore, but some times to make use of compositions, and even tunes, previously composed; sometimes the compositions of others, and sometimes their own, as Ecl. V. Immo hæc, in viridi nuper quæ cortice fagi Carmina descripsi, et modulans alterna notavi, And again, ista Jam pridem Stimicon laudavit carmina nobis. The particular tune appropriate to a piece, you find men tioned, Ecl. ix. 45. Numeros memini, si verba tenerem. Ecl. III. Damætas intimates that in his contest with Damon he had sung and played together. An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille, Quem mea carminibus meruisset fistula, caprum? And Menalcas, speaking of the same contest, joins singing and playing. Cantando tu illum? aut unquam tibi fistula cera And then adds to the same effect, Non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas Stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen? where the pipe and the verse occur united again, and he sneers at his playing as well as his composition. I conceive that the Amabæa which follows in that Eclogue between these two antagonists, was sung by them to the pipe; for Damotas upon this sneer immediately challenges Menalcas, and consequently intended to dispute the prize with him in both respects. Ecl. IV. and V. Mopsus was excellent at piping, Menalcas at singing; but it does not follow that the first did not sing, and the other did not play; all that can be said, is that Mopsus was not so good at singing, as he was at playing; nor Menalcas so good at playing, as he was at singing. This I say is all that is intended by the two first lines of this Eclogue. Cur non, Mopse, boni quoniam convenimus ambo, for Menalcas expressly calls upon Mopsus for a song; and Mopsus answers, Immo hæc, in viridi nuper quæ cortice fagi Experiar. And then follows the monody upon Daphnis. Mopsus both sung and played, for Menalcas says at the conclusion of his performance, Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poëta, Nec calamis solum æquiparas, sed voce magistrum. The fact I think is clear; and since it is impossible to blow and sing at the same time, the question arises, whether the voice went first, or the tune? It is certainly most natural that the strain should be played first, but I know of no positive authority for it. However, I shall content myself with thinking so, till I see some proof of the contrary. Some perhaps may fancy, that the words were not adapted to the tune, but that the music came in independently, by way of interlude, between every verse, or every distich, &c. but the words in the 5th Ecl. Immo hæc, in viridi nuper quæ cortice fagi. and those others in the ixth, 45. -- Numeros memini, si verba tenerem shew evidently, that the words were modulated to a tune; were set, and that the music was not interposed only at cer tain breaks, or at the ends of the stanza. 1753, Suppl. I am, Sir, Your humble servant, PAUL GEMSEGE. MR. URBAN, IN your last Supplement, the ingenious Mr. Gemsege has started a difficulty in Virgil's Eclogues, where the shepherds are described as piping and singing at the same time. If their pipes were blown with the mouth, as Menalcas, in the third Eclogue seems to intimate, they could not possibly sing and play with the same breath: therefore I am of opinion that in such a case, they first played over the tune, and then sung a verse, or stanza of the song answering thereto; and so played and sung alternately; which manner of playing and singing is very common with the pipers and fiddlers at our country wakes, &c. who might perhaps originally borrow the custom from the Romans, during their residence in Britain. But Mr. Gemsege observes, that the Syrinx, which was the usual instrument of the shepherds, was not a single pipe, but a compound one which consisted of six or seven single pipes, and sometimes more, all fastened together; and Corydon, in the second Eclogue says, that Pan first taught to join several reeds together with wax; or, as Dryden has translated it, Pan taught to join with wax unequal reeds, or reeds of different tones. From whence I conjecture, that the Syrinx was an instrument somewhat like the bagpipe, and was blown with bellows, or something of that kind; if so, the music might easily accompany the song, and the same person perform both together. And I think it is highly probable, that the compound pipe, or Syrinx of the Roman shepherds, was the original of, or gave birth to, the bagpipe amongst the Britons. I am the more inclined to this opinion, as the bagpipe continues to be the favourite music of the country people in Great Britain, and particularly in Scotland, to this day. 1754, Feb. I am, Sir, yours, &c. SYLVIUS. MR. URBAN, I CAN readily agree with Sylvius, that the Syrinx might give occasion to the bagpipe, by leading the way to its invention; for it was certainly very natural, both for ease in playing, and for the saving of breath, and even for the health and safety of the performer's lungs, to contrive a method of conveying wind to the several pipes by means of bellows. This was so obvious, and at the same time so useful, that the ancients, I think, could not well miss it. And from thence afterwards gradually arose that capital instrument, the organ, But I doubt the bagpipe, though it be unquestionably an old instrument, since in the opinion of Salmasius it is alluded to in these verses, Copa syrisca caput Graia redimita mitella, Ad cubitum raucos excutiens calamos, yet did not rise so high in antiquity as these Virgilian shepherds, and consequently that the Syrinx was not played by them, like a bagpipe, whatever it might be in the after times. Nay, I think it may be proved to demonstration, that they used their mouths in performing on this instrument, for Corydon in the 2d Eclogue, immediately after speaking of the invention of the Syrinx by Pan, and the performances of that god; Mecum una in silvis imitabere Pana canendo. subjoins, Nec te poeniteat calamo trivisse labellum, |