The Gospel of Hellas - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

the lyre of orpheus
Struck through them both in sudden ire,
From both their bosoms drove the breath
And with bright lightning wrought their death.
O mortals, seek no more from heaven
Than Zeus to mortal man hath given!
(Translated by C.J. Billson)
This “Seek not to become a god” expressed an inner resignation in regard to the
attainment of higher knowledge; on the other hand it shows the new attitude
of the intellectual self-consciousness of the poet who was recognized by the
whole of Hellas. When Philip of Macedon a hundred years later destroyed
the city of Thebes, he spared only the house of Pindar as that of a Panhellenic
cosmopolitan.
3. THE MISSION OF MUSIC
To the Hellenes the human being was a musical instrument, sounding
with his creative impulse the many melodies of the arts. The Greek sensed no
separation between word and music, poetry and song, meter and tone. Together
with gymnastics, music was the foundation of all his education—reading,
writing, grammar, dancing, oratory, arithmetic, astronomy and philosophy. The
experience of music surrounded him just as the nine muses surrounded Apollo.
Indeed, the word music was derived from the muses, indicating that no less
than all the arts were meant.
At first all nine of the muses were associated with music. Only in the
later, more intellectual times of the Alexandrian grammarians did they divide
their patronage. Clio then presided over song, Melpomene dancing, Terpsichore
rhythm, Polyhymnia the hymn, Thalia the festivals, Urania praise of the gods,
Euterpe gaiety in song, Erato desire, and Calliope the singing voice of man.
Calliope, the ninth muse, who gave to man the supreme musical instrument,
his singing voice, became the “mother of Orpheus.” The story of Orpheus
and Eurydice is the beautiful myth which relates the origin and the mission
of music to profound realities of the spirit. By emancipating himself from
nature, Orpheus could bring back to man that harmony of soul which had