This, or a similar passage, may have been employed proverbially in the time of Sophocles. See l. 632. et seq. of the Antigone (ed. Johnson. Londini. 1758. 8vo.); on which passage there is the following scholium:—
"Μετα σοφιασ γαρ υπο τινοσ αοιδιμου κλεινον εποσ πεφανται,
Οταν δ' ο δαιμων ανδρι πορσυνη κακα,
Τον νουν εξλαψε προτον ω βουλευεtai.
Respecting the lines referred to in the Chorus, Dr. Donaldson makes the following remarks, in his critical edition of the Antigone, published in 1848:—
"The parallel passages for this adage are fully given by Ruhnken on Velleius Paterculus, ii. 57. (265, 256.), and by Wyttenbach on Plutarch, De Audiendis Poetis, p. 17. B. (pp. 190, 191.)"
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."