Book VIII

The magistrate should greatly interest himself in caring for youth because neglecting this harms the city. Every state must be governed according to its own nature, preserving the particular forms and manners that originally established it.

Aristotle asserts that the best manners produce the best government, contrasting with how democratic manners produce democracies and oligarchic manners produce oligarchies.

Just as in every art or business there are things men must learn first and become accustomed to, the same necessity applies to practicing virtue.

Since every city has one end in view, education should be one and the same for all, made a common public concern rather than private responsibility where each person instructs his own children.

No citizen should be thought to belong privately to anyone; each belongs to the state as a part of the whole, and naturally each part should regard the good of the whole.

The Lacedaemonians deserve praise for giving the greatest attention to education and making it public, serving as an example to follow.

It is evident that there should be laws concerning education and that it should be public in nature.

There are doubts about what education is and how children should be instructed, as people disagree about what subjects should be taught and whether education should aim at virtue or useful life.

People do not equally esteem all virtues, so they reasonably will not cultivate the same ones, making universal virtue education impossible.

What is necessary should be taught to all, but what is necessary for one person is not necessarily for all; distinctions should be made between freeman and slave education.

Freemen should be taught useful things that do not make those who know them mean; any work or discipline that renders the body, mind, or understanding unfit for virtue should be avoided.

Arts that deform the body and employments exercised for gain are called mean because they diminish freedom of mind and render it sordid.

Certain liberal arts are not improper for freemen to pursue to a degree, but acquiring perfect skill in them is problematic; the reason and motivation for doing something determines its liberality.

The four subjects commonly taught to children are reading, gymnastics, music, and painting, though the last is sometimes added.

Reading and painting are of singular use in life, and gymnastics produces courage.

Music's purpose is doubted because most people use it for pleasure alone, though the ancients included it in education for a deeper purpose.

The ancients made music part of education because nature requires that we not only work but also be able to enjoy leisure honorably, and this is the most principal thing.

Although both labor and rest are necessary, rest is preferable, and we should learn what to do when at rest rather than making play the necessary business of life.

Play should be introduced under proper regulation as a medicine for the pain and exertion of labor, providing relaxation and pleasure to the mind.

Rest itself seems to partake of pleasure, happiness, and an agreeable life, and this belongs to those at rest, not those who labor.

He who labors does so for an end he does not have; happiness is an end all think accompanied by pleasure, not pain.

People disagree about what pleasure consists in, each having a standard corresponding to their habits, though the best man proposes the best pleasure from noblest actions.

To live a life of rest, men must learn and be instructed in things whose acquisition is the object of that learning.

The ancients made music part of education not as necessary or useful like reading, but as a noble and liberal occupation for those with leisure.

Painting seems useful to enable men to judge more accurately of the productions of the finer arts.

Music contributes neither to health nor strength like gymnastics, so it remains as the employment of rest, which the ancients allotted to freemen.

Aristotle cites Homer's descriptions of bards being called to feasts and of Odysseus finding the happiest part of life at the festive board to support music's role in leisure.

There is a certain education in which a child may be instructed not as useful or necessary but as noble and liberal.

The ancients' own practices deliver testimony in favor of music being part of education.

It is necessary to instruct children in useful things not only for their utility but as means of acquiring other different sorts of instruction.

Children should be instructed in painting not to avoid being cheated in purchases but to become judges of the beauties of the human form.

To always hunt after profit ill agrees with great and freeborn souls.

It is evident whether a boy should learn morals or reasoning first, and that the body should be cultivated before the understanding; boys should be put under gymnastic masters.

States that focus greatly on wrestling education do so to their fault, as wrestling prevents bodily growth and harms bodily form.

The Lacedaemonians avoided the wrestling fault but made children fierce through painful labor, chiefly to inspire courage.

Even with regard to courage, the Lacedaemonian method may not achieve their end, as courage is neither the only nor principal thing to attend to in education.

In neither animals nor nations does courage necessarily attend the most cruel; rather, courage is found in the milder and those with lion-like dispositions.

Many peoples like the Achaeans and Heniochi who eat human flesh and live by tyranny are cruel but lack courage.

The Lacedaemonians did not acquire superiority through harsh training but because their disciplined youth opposed undisciplined opponents.

What is fair and honorable ought to take precedence in education over what is fierce and cruel.

It is not a wolf or wild beast but rather a good man who will bravely face noble danger.

Those who permit boys to engage too earnestly in gymnastic exercises without instructing them in necessary knowledge render them mean and vile, accomplished in only one citizen duty.

We should form judgments from what we see at present rather than past events, since now the Lacedaemonians have rivals in their mode of education.

That gymnastic exercises are useful and in what manner is admitted; during youth, only gentle exercises should be done, omitting violent diet and painful exercises.

Violent exercise and strict diet in youth have the effect of preventing bodily growth, as shown by Olympic candidates rarely winning victories as both boys and men.

When three years from puberty are allotted to other education, youth are then ready to submit to labor and regulated diet.

It is impossible for mind and body to labor simultaneously, as bodily labor prevents mental progress and mental labor prevents physical development.

It is difficult to distinctly point out what power music has and whether it should be used as amusement like sleep and wine, or for virtue, or for prudence.

There are alternative views: music is mere amusement and pleasure like sleep and wine, or it produces virtue by influencing manners and accustoming to right rejoicing.

Boys should not be instructed in music as play since learning is troublesome, and it is improper to permit boys at their age perfect leisure.

The earnest attention of boys in music might be for the sake of amusement they will enjoy as completely formed men.

If music's purpose is adult amusement, why should boys themselves learn it rather than follow Persian and Median kings who enjoy music by hearing others play?

Those who make music their particular study and business are necessarily better skilled than those who spend only enough time to learn principles.

If this reasoning is sound for music, boys should also learn cookery to enjoy it as adults, but this is absurd.

The same doubt occurs if music improves manners: why should they learn it themselves rather than reap benefits by hearing others as the Lacedaemonians do?

The Lacedaemonians, without having learned music, are able to judge accurately what is good and bad in it.

If music is supposed to be the amusement of those living an elegant and easy life, why should they learn it themselves rather than enjoy others' skill?

Poets never represent Jupiter himself as singing and playing, suggesting the gods do not engage in music.

We treat the professors of music as mean people, saying no one would practice it but a drunkard or buffoon.

The first question is whether music should be part of education at all, and if so, which of its three purposes—instruction, amusement, or leisure employment—should guide its inclusion.

Music appears to partake of all three functions: instruction, amusement, and leisure employment.

Play is necessary for relaxation, and relaxation is pleasant as it acts as a medicine for the uneasiness arising from labor.

A happy life must be both honorable and pleasant, since happiness consists in both these qualities.

All agree that music is one of the most pleasing things whether alone or with voice, as Musseus says.

Music is justly admitted into every company and happy life as it has the power of inspiring joy.

From music's power to inspire joy, one may suppose it is necessary to instruct young persons in it.

All harmless pleasures are not only conducive to the final end of life but serve as relaxations from labor.

Men are but rarely in attainment of the final end, so they often cease from labor and apply to amusement for the pleasure attending it.

It is therefore useful to enjoy such harmless pleasures.

Some persons make play and amusement their final end, probably confusing it with the ultimate end of happiness.

While men seek the ultimate end they accept amusement pleasures for it because there is likeness in human actions to the end.

The end is pursued for the sake of nothing else that attends it, but for itself only.

Pleasures like amusement are sought for not on account of what follows them but on account of what has gone before—labor and grief.

Men seek for happiness in these sorts of pleasures because they confuse amusement with the true end.

Music should be pursued not only for amusement during leisure hours but also inquired whether it has another nobler nature.

We should not only partake of the common pleasure music gives but also examine if it tends to improve our manners and souls.

Whether music tends to improve manners will be easily known if we feel our dispositions influenced thereby.

It is evident from the music at Olympic games that music fills the soul with enthusiasm, which is an affection strongly agitating the disposition.

All those who hear imitations sympathize therewith even without rhythm or verse.

As music is pleasant and virtue consists in rightly enjoying, loving, and hating, we ought to judge right and rejoice in honorable manners.

Anger, mildness, courage, modesty and their contraries are most naturally imitated by music and poetry, altering the very soul of those who hear them.

If a person is pleased with a statue for its beauty, seeing the original would be equally pleasing; those affected by imitations are in nearly the same situation as if affected by the objects themselves.

In touch and taste there is no imitation of manners; in sight there is only very little, as these are merely representations of things.

Statues and paintings are not properly imitations of manners but rather signs showing the body is affected by passion.

Young men ought not to view paintings of Pauso but of Polygnotus or other painters who express manners properly.

In poetry and music there are proper imitations of manners, making them uniquely capable of shaping character.

Different harmonies differ from each other so much by nature that those who hear them are differently affected and in different dispositions of mind.

The mixed Lydian harmony occasions grief and contracts the soul.

Other harmonies soften the mind and dissolve the heart.

The Doric music fixes the disposition in a firm and settled state.

The Phrygian music fills the soul with enthusiasm, as described by philosophers who have written on education.

The same holds true with respect to rhythm: some fix the disposition, others cause change, some act violently, others more liberally.

From what has been said, it is evident that music has considerable influence over the disposition of the mind and can fascinate it variously.

Since music can influence the mind, it is certain that youth ought to be instructed in it.

The learning of music is particularly adapted to youth's disposition since at their age they do not willingly attend to disagreeable things, and music is naturally one of the most agreeable.

There seems to be a certain connection between harmony and rhythm, leading some wise men to think the soul itself is harmony or contains it.

It makes a great difference when qualifying someone in any art for the person himself to learn the practical part, as it is difficult to be a good judge of what one cannot do.

It is very necessary that children should have some employment which amuses them, as they cannot sit still and will otherwise break things in the house.

The rattle of Archytas is well contrived for children to play with and prevent their breaking household things.

Instruction becomes the rattle as children grow up, showing instruction should amuse them.

It is evident that children should be taught music so as to be able to practice it, being necessary for them to practice that they may be judges of the art.

For this reason practice should be done when boys are young; when grown older the practical part may be dropped while continuing to judge what is excellent.

The censure of music as mean and low is not difficult to answer by considering how far youth should be instructed and what music and instruments they should use.

In some cases music cannot prevent being attended with the bad effects ascribed to it.

Learning music should never prevent the business of riper years nor render the body effeminate and unfit for war or the state.

Music should be practiced by the young and judged by the old.

For children to learn music properly, they should not be employed in disputed parts of music or pieces difficult in execution.

Children should learn so much as to receive proper pleasure from excellent music and rhythms, not just common pleasure that all animals and slaves feel.

It is therefore plain what instruments children should use: those making them good judges, not requiring great skill like flute or harp.

The flute is not a moral instrument but rather one that inflames the passions, better used to animate the soul than for instruction.

There is something in flute-playing contrary to education's requirements: the player is prevented from speaking.

The ancient forefathers properly forbade flute use to youth and freemen, though they later used it themselves.

When riches procured ancients greater leisure, they grew more animated in virtue's cause and attended to every part of education.

As a result of their dedication to complete education, the ancients included flute as an instrument to learn.

At Lacedaemon the choregus played flute, and at Athens it became so common that almost every freeman understood it.

The tablet dedicated by Thrasippus when choregus evidences the commonness of flute knowledge among Athenian freemen.

Afterwards the ancients rejected flute as dangerous, having become better judges of what promoted virtue.

For the same reason many ancient instruments were rejected, including dulcimer and lyre, and those requiring pleasure-seeking and great skill.

The ancient fable tells that after finding the flute, Minerva threw it away, rationally explained as her disliking it for deforming the player's face.

It is more probable that Minerva rejected the flute because knowledge of it contributed nothing to the improvement of the mind.

Minerva is regarded as the inventress of arts and sciences, supporting the interpretation that she valued mental improvement.

We disapprove of a child's being taught to understand instruments and play like a master, which should be confined to professional prize competitors.

Professional musicians play not to improve themselves in virtue but to please audiences and gratify their demands.

Such master practice of instruments is therefore unfit for freemen but should be confined to paid professionals.

Professional music practice usually gives people sordid notions as the end they have in view is bad: pleasing impertinent spectators.

Artists who perform for paying audiences regulate their bodies according to spectator motions, corrupting the art.

We must inquire whether all sorts of harmonies and rhythms should be employed in education or whether some peculiar ones should be selected.

All music consists in melody and rhythm, and we should understand the power each has in education.

We should consider whether to choose music in which melody prevails or rhythm.

Given the many writings on music by contemporary musicians and philosophers skilled in music for education, Aristotle defers to those specialists for particular knowledge.

Aristotle will treat music education only in general terms without descending to particulars.

Melody is divided by approved philosophers into moral, practical, and that which fills the mind with enthusiasm.

Philosophers allot to each type of melody a particular kind of harmony that naturally corresponds with it.

Music should not be applied to one purpose only but many: for instruction, purifying the soul, and as agreeable leisure time.

Aristotle uses the term 'purifying the soul' without explanation here but will speak at large of it in his Poetics.

It is evident that all harmonies are to be used, but not all for all purposes.

The most moral harmonies should be used in education.

The most active and enthusiastic harmonies should be used to please the ear when others play.

The passion found very strong in some souls is found in all, differing only in degree, such as pity, fear, and enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm is so powerful in some souls as to overpower them, yet can be soothed by sacred music.

Sacred music applied to soothe passionate minds renders them as sedate and composed as if they had employed the art of the physician.

This must necessarily happen for the compassionate, fearful, and all subdued by passions; all persons affected by those passions are restored to tranquility with pleasure.

All music with the power of purifying the soul affords harmless pleasure to man.

Such harmonies and music should be exhibited by those competing in the theatre.

The theatre audience consists of two sorts: the free and well-instructed, and the rude, mean mechanics, and hired servants.

Different music and spectacles are needed to please and soothe the different audience members according to their perverted and unnatural habits.

What is according to nature gives pleasure to everyone, so theatre performers should be allowed to use such music.

In education ethic melody and ethic harmony should be used, such as the Doric, or others approved by philosophers skilled in music education.

Socrates is very wrong when Plato's Republic permits only Phrygian and Doric music while banning the flute.

Phrygian music has the same pathetic power in harmony as the flute has among instruments, both inflaming the mind.

The practice of poets proves flute is chiefly used for bacchanal songs and descriptions of violent emotions.

It is generally agreed that dithyrambic measure is Phrygian, with many proofs offered.

When Philoxenus attempted to compose dithyrambic music for Doric harmony, he naturally fell back to Phrygian as most fitting.

Everyone agrees that Doric music is most serious and best fits inspiring courage.

We always commend the middle as being between two extremes, and the Doric has this relation to other harmonies.

It is evident that the Doric harmony is what youth ought to be instructed in.

Two things should be taken into consideration: both what is possible and what is proper for each age.

Everyone should chiefly endeavor to attain things containing both possibility and propriety.

This endeavor should be regulated by different times of life.

It is not easy for those advanced in years to sing pieces requiring high notes, as nature indicates they should use gentle music requiring little voice strength.

Some skilled musicians fault Socrates for forbidding youth to be instructed in gentle harmony, as if it would make them drunk, whereas it makes them bacchanals not languid.

Gentle harmonies are what should employ those who are grown old.

There is a harmony proper for a child's age—elegant and instructive—which the Lydian seems chiefly to be.

Moderation, possibility, and decorum are the three boundaries that govern educational practice in music.