They used hymns in their temples, accompanied with the music of their country: which must have been very enchanting, as we may judge from the traditions handed down of its efficacy. I have mentioned, that the songs of the Canaanites and Cretans were particularly plaintive, and pleasing:
[[668]]They sang in sweet but melancholy strains;
Such as were warbled by the Delian God,
When in the groves of Ida he bewail'd
The lovely lost Atymnius.
But nothing can shew more fully the power of antient harmony than the character given of the Sirens. Their cruelty the antients held in detestation; yet always speak feelingly of their music. They represent their songs as so fatally winning, that nobody could withstand their sweetness. All were soothed with it; though their life was the purchase of the gratification. The Scholiast upon Lycophron makes them the children of the muse [[669]]Terpsichore. Nicander supposes their mother to have been Melpomene: others make her Calliope. The whole of this is merely an allegory; and means only that they were the daughters of harmony. Their efficacy is mentioned by [[670]]Apollonius Rhodius: and by the Author of the Orphic [[671]]Argonautica: but the account given by Homer is by far the most affecting.
[[672]]Σειρηνας μεν πρωτον αφιξεαι, ἁι ῥα τε παντας
Ανθρωπους θελγουσιν, ὁτις σφεας εισαφικανει.
Ὁστις αϊδρειῃ πελασει, και φθογγον ακουσει
Σειρηνων, τῳ δ' ουτι γυνη, και νηπια τεκνα