23. Agias, the musician, said that "the styrax, which at the Dionysiac festivals is burnt in the orchestras, presented a Phrygian odour to those who were within reach of it." Now, formerly music was an exhortation to courage; and accordingly Alcæus the poet, one of the greatest musicians that ever lived, places valour and manliness before skill in music and poetry, being himself a man warlike even beyond what was necessary. On which account, in such verses as these, he speaks in high-toned language, and says—
My lofty house is bright with brass,
And all my dwelling is adorn'd, in honour
Of mighty Mars, with shining helms,
O'er which white horse-hair crests superbly wave,
Choice ornament for manly brows;
And brazen greaves, on mighty pegs suspended,
Hang round the hall; fit to repel
The heavy javelin or the long-headed spear.
There, too, are breastplates of new linen,