Book 14
24
And it is on this account that the Lacedæmoians, who are a most valiant nation, go to war to the music of the flute, and the Cretans to the strains of the lyre, and the Lydians to the sound of pipes and flutes, as Herodotus relates. And, moreover, many of the barbarians make all their public proclamations to the accompaniment of flutes and harps, softening the souls of their enemies by these means. And Theopompus, in the forty-sixth book of his History, says—The Getæ make all their proclamations while holding harps in their hands and playing on them. And it is perhaps on this account that Homer, having due regard to the ancient institutions and customs of the Greeks, says— I hear, what graces every feast, the lyre; Odyss. xvii. 262. as if this art of music were welcome also to men feasting.
