A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

MUSAE. MUSAE. 1125
presiding over the different'kinds of poetry, and If we now inquire into the notions entertained
over the arts and sciences. They were originally about the nature and character of the Muses, we
regarded as the nymphs of inspiring wells, near find that, in the Homeric poems, they are the godwhich they were worshipped, and bore different desses of song and poetry, and live in Olympus.
names in different places, until the Thraco-Boeotian (Ii. ii. 484.) There they sing the festive songs at
worship of the nine Muses spread from Boeotia the repasts of the immortals (II. i. 604, Hymn.
over other parts of Greece, and ultimately became in Apoll. Pyth. 11), and at the funeral of Patroclus
generally established. (Respecting the Muses con- they sing lamentations. (Od. xxiv. 60; comp.
ceived as nymphs see Schol. ad Theocrit. vii. 92; Pind. Isthm. viii. 126.) The power which we find
Hesych. s. v. Nv'Mu<q; Steph. Byz. s. v. Tob']/cos; most frequently assigned to them, is that of bringServ. ad Virg. Eclog. vii. 21.) ing before the mind of the mortal poet the events
The genealogy of the Muses is not the same in which he has to relate; and that of conferring
all writers. The most common notion was, that upon him the gift of song, and of giving gracefllthey were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, ness to what he utters. (II. ii. 484, 491, 761, Od.
and born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus i. 1, viii. 63, &c., 481, 488; Eustath. ad Hem. p.
(Hes. Theog. 52, &c., 915; Hom. Ii. ii. 491, Od. 259.) There seems to be no reason for doubting
i. l10; Apollod. i. 3. ~ 1); but some call them the that the earliest poets in their invocation of the
daughters of Uranus and Gaea (Schol. ad Pind. Muse or Muses were perfectly sincere, and that
Nemn. iii. 16; Paus. ix. 29. ~ 2; Diod. iv. 7; they actually believed in their being inspired by
Arnob. adv. Gent. iii. 37), and others daughters of the goddesses; but in later times among the Greeks
Pierus and a Pimpleian nymph, whom Cicero (De and the Romans, as well as in our own days, the
Nat. Deor. iii. 21) calls Antiope (Tzetz. ad Hes. invocation of the Muses is a mere formal imitation
Op. et D. p. 6; Paus. 1. c.), or of Apollo, or of of the early poets. Thamyris, who presumed to
Zeus and Plusia, or of Zeus and Moneta, probably excel the Muses, was deprived by them of the gift
a mere translation of Mnemosyne or Mneme, they had bestowed on him, and punished with
whence they are called Mnemonides (Ov. Met. v. blindness. (Hom. II. ii. 594, &c.; Apollod. i. 3.
268), or of Zeus and Minerva (Isid. Orig. iii. 14), ~ 3.) The Seirens, who likewise ventured upon a
or lastly of Aether and Gaea. (Hygin. Fab. Praef.) contest with' them, were deprived of the feathers
Eupheme is called the nurse of the Muses, and at of their wings, and the Muses themselves put
the foot of Mount Helicon her statue stood beside them on as an ornament (Eustath. ad Horn. p.
that of Linus. (Paus. ix. 29. ~ 3.) 85); and the nine daughters of Pierus,'who preWith regard to the number of the Muses, we sumed to rival the Muses, were metamorphosed
are informed that originally three were worshipped into birds. (Anton. Lib. 9; Ov. Met. v. 300, &c.)
on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, namely, Melete As poets and bards derived their power fromnthem,
(meditation), Mneme (memory), and Aoede (song); they are frequently called either their disciples or
and their worship and names are said to have-been sons. (Hom. Od. viii. 481, Hymn. in Lun. 20;
first introduced by Ephialtes and Otus. (Paus. ix. Hes. Tieog. 22; Pind. Nero. iii. 1; Serv. ad
29. ~ 1, &c.) Three were also recognised at Si- Virg. Georg. ii. 476.) Thus Linus is called a son
cyon, where one of them bore the name of Polyma- of Amphimarus and Urania (Paus. ix.' 29. ~ 3), or
theia (Plut. Symlpos. ix. 14), and at Delphi, where of Apollo and Calliope, or Terpsichore' (Apollod. i.
their names were identical with those of the low- 3. ~ 2); Hyacinthus a son of Pierus and Cleio
est, middle, and highest chord of the lyre, viz. (Apollod. i. 3. ~ 3); Orpheus a son of Calliope or
Nete, Mese, and Hypate (Plut./. c.), or Cephisso, Cleio, and Thamyris a son of Erato. These and a
Apollonis, and Borysthenis, which names charac- few others are the cases in which the Muses are
terise them as the daughters of Apollo. (Tzetz. described as mothers; but the more general idea
I. c.; Arnob. iii. 37; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vii. was, that, like other nymphs, they were virgin di21; Diod. iv. 7.) As daughters of Zeus and vinities. Being goddesses of song, they are naturally
Plusia we find mention of four Muses, viz. Thelxi- connected with Apollo, the god of the lyre, who
noe (the heart delighting), Aoede (song), Arche like them instructs the bards, and is mentioned
(beginning), and Melete. (Cic., Arnob., Tzetz. along with them even by Homer. (Il. i. 603, Od.
1. cc.; Serv. ad Aen. i. 12.) Some accounts, viii. 488.) In later times Apollo is placed in very
again, in which they are called daughters of Pierus, close connection with the Muses, for he is described
mention seven Muses, viz. Neilo, Tritone, Asopo, as the leader of the choir of the Muses by the surHeptapora, Achelois, Tipoplo, and Rhodia (Tzetz. name MovaayeTrr. (Diod. i. 18.) A further feaArnob. 11. cc.), and others, lastly, mention' eight, ture in the character of the Muses is their prophewhich is also said to have been the number recog- tic power, which belongs to them, partly because
nised at Athens. (Arnob. I. c.; Serv. ad Aen. i. they were regarded as inspiring nymphs, and partly
12; Plat. De Re Publ. p. 116.) At length, how- because'of their connection with the prophetic god
ever, the number nineappears-tohave become esta- of Delphi. Hence, they instructed, for example,
blished in all Greece. Homer sometimes mentions Aristaeus in the art of prophecy. -(Apollon. Rhod.
Musa only in the singular, and sometimes Musae ii. 512.) That dancing, too, was one of the occuin the plural, and once only (Od. xxiv. 60) he pations of the Muses, may be inferred from the
speaks of nine Muses, though without mentioning close connection existing among the Greeks beany of their- names. Hesiod (Theog. 77. &c.) is the tween music, poetry,' and dancing. As the inspiring
first that states the names of all the nine, and these nymphs loved to dwell on Mount Helicon, they
nine names henceforth became established. They were naturally associated with Dionysus and draare Cleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsi- matic poetry, and hence they are described as the
chore, Erato, Polymnia, Urania, and Calliope. companions, playmates, or nurses of Dionysus.
Plutarch (I. c.) states that in some places all nine The worship of the Muses points originally to
-were designated by the common name Mneiae, i. e. Thrace and Pieria about mount Olympas, from
Remembrances. whence it was introduced into Boeotia, in such a
4c 3