Damon of Athens

DK 37

Tap a Greek word for an LSJ definition.

Original textTranslation

Available translations: English

ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὴν Ἐπανειμένην Λυδιστί, εἴπερ ἐναντία τῇ Μιξολυδιστί, παραπλησίαν οὖσαν τῇ Ἰάδι, ὑπὸ Δάμωνος εὑρῆσθαί φασι τοῦ Ἀθηναίου.

But for the softer Lydian, being contrary to the mixed Lydian and like the Ionian, they say it was invented by Damon the Athenian.

John Philips; revised William W. Goodwin · Plutarch’s Morals, translated by several hands, corrected and revised by William W. Goodwin (1911 reprint of the nineteenth-century revision of the 1684–1694 translation)

How this fragment survives

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading.

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading in the reviewed records. The linked edition remains available below.

Original-text edition
Pseudo-Plutarch, De musica 16, in Moralia, vol 6, ed.Gregorios N.Bernardakis (Leipzig:Teubner, 1895); Perseus historic-edition transcription.
Open the historical edition ↗

Notes & source

Published passage: Concerning Music 16

Existing human translation retained verbatim; historical original-language passage covers the same translated quotation.

Same complete quoted sentence; historical capitalization and iota subscript preserved. Removed bibliographic heading.

Pseudo-Plutarch, De musica 16, in Moralia, vol 6, ed.Gregorios N.Bernardakis (Leipzig:Teubner, 1895); Perseus historic-edition transcription. View original source ↗

English: John Philips; revised William W. Goodwin · Plutarch’s Morals, translated by several hands, corrected and revised by William W. Goodwin (1911 reprint of the nineteenth-century revision of the 1684–1694 translation) Published translation ↗

Original edition: Historical printed original-language edition in the public domain; digital transcription: Perseus Digital Library, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0. Excerpted and normalized as documented. · Licence terms ↗

Available translations & credits

English · John Philips; revised William W. Goodwin. Plutarch’s Morals, translated by several hands, corrected and revised by William W. Goodwin (1911 reprint of the nineteenth-century revision of the 1684–1694 translation). Default reading. Published translation ↗ Paired original ↗
Original edition: Historical printed original-language edition in the public domain; digital transcription: Perseus Digital Library, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0. Excerpted and normalized as documented. · Licence terms ↗

DK 37 B 6

Available translations: English

οὐ κακῶς δ’ ἔλεγον οἱ περὶ Δάμωνα τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ὅτι καὶ τὰς ᾠδὰς καὶ τὰς ὀρχήσεις ἀνάγκη γίνεσθαι κινουμένης πως τῆς ψυχῆς· καὶ αἱ μὲν ἐλευθέριοι καὶ καλαὶ ποιοῦσι τοιαύτας, αἱ δ’ ἐναντίαι τὰς ἐναντίας.

And it was a good saying of Damon the Athenian, that songs and dances must inevitably exist where the mind was excited in any manner; and liberal, and gentlemanly, and honourable feelings of the mind produce corresponding kinds of music, and the opposite feelings likewise produce the opposite kinds of music.

C. D. Yonge · Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists, translated by C. D. Yonge (1854)

How this fragment survives

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading.

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading in the reviewed records. The linked edition remains available below.

Original-text edition
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 14, 628c, ed.Georg Kaibel, Athenaei Naucratitae Dipnosophistarum libri XV, vols 1–3 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1887–1892; publication range identified by the digital source metadata); Perseus historic-edition transcription.
Open the historical edition ↗

Notes & source

Published passage: Deipnosophists XIV.25, 628c

Existing human translation retained verbatim; historical original-language passage covers the same translated quotation.

Same complete quoted sentence; source orthography/punctuation retained. Removed bibliographic heading.

Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 14, 628c, ed.Georg Kaibel, Athenaei Naucratitae Dipnosophistarum libri XV, vols 1–3 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1887–1892; publication range identified by the digital source metadata); Perseus historic-edition transcription. View original source ↗

English: C. D. Yonge · Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists, translated by C. D. Yonge (1854) Published translation ↗

Available translations & credits

English · C. D. Yonge. Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists, translated by C. D. Yonge (1854). Default reading. Published translation ↗ Paired original ↗
Original edition: Historical printed original-language edition in the public domain; digital transcription: Perseus Digital Library, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0. Excerpted and normalized as documented. · Licence terms ↗

DK 37 B 8

Available translations: English

καὶ γάρ μοι δοκεῖς οὐδὲ ᾐσθῆσθαι ὅτι ταύτην τὴν σοφίαν παρὰ Δάμωνος τοῦ ἡμετέρου ἑταίρου παρείληφεν, ὁ δὲ Δάμων τῷ προδίκῳ πολλὰ πλησιάζει, ὃς δὴ δοκεῖ τῶν σοφιστῶν κάλλιστα τὰ τοιαῦτα ὀνόματα διαιρεῖν.

I rather fancy that you are not aware of the source from which his wisdom is derived. He has got all this from my friend Damon, and Damon is always with Prodicus, who, of all the Sophists, is considered to be the best puller to pieces of words of this sort.

Benjamin Jowett · Plato, Laches, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription)

How this fragment survives

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading.

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading in the reviewed records. The linked edition remains available below.

Original-text edition
Plato, Laches 197d, ed.John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol 3 (Oxford:Clarendon, 1903); Perseus historic-edition transcription.
Open the historical edition ↗

Notes & source

The speaker is Socrates in Plato and Jowett. The input’s label “Nikias” is an erroneous editorial label, not part of the ancient quotation

Published passage: Plato, Laches 197d

Existing human translation retained verbatim; historical original-language passage covers the same translated quotation.

Complete quoted sentence; source orthography/punctuation retained. Removed incorrect editorial speaker label Nikias; Socrates speaks this sentence.

Plato, Laches 197d, ed.John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol 3 (Oxford:Clarendon, 1903); Perseus historic-edition transcription. View original source ↗

English: Benjamin Jowett · Plato, Laches, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription). Published translation ↗

Available translations & credits

English · Benjamin Jowett. Plato, Laches, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription).. Default reading. Published translation ↗ Paired original ↗
Original edition: Historical printed original-language edition in the public domain; digital transcription: Perseus Digital Library, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0. Excerpted and normalized as documented. · Licence terms ↗

DK 37 B 9

Available translations: English

ὅτι μὲν γὰρ τρίʼ ἄττα ἐστὶν εἴδη ἐξ ὧν αἱ βάσεις πλέκονται, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς φθόγγοις τέτταρα, ὅθεν αἱ πᾶσαι ἁρμονίαι, τεθεαμένος ἂν εἴποιμι· ποῖα δὲ ὁποίου βίου μιμήματα, λέγειν οὐκ ἔχω. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, καὶ μετὰ Δάμωνος βουλευσόμεθα, τίνες τε ἀνελευθερίας καὶ ὕβρεως ἢ μανίας καὶ ἄλλης κακίας πρέπουσαι βάσεις, καὶ τίνας τοῖς ἐναντίοις λειπτέον ῥυθμούς· οἶμαι δέ με ἀκηκοέναι οὐ σαφῶς ἐνόπλιόν τέ τινα ὀνομάζοντος αὐτοῦ σύνθετον καὶ δάκτυλον καὶ ἡρῷόν γε, οὐκ οἶδα ὅπως διακοσμοῦντος καὶ ἴσον ἄνω καὶ κάτω τιθέντος, εἰς βραχύ τε καὶ μακρὸν γιγνόμενον, καί, ὡς ἐγὼ οἶμαι, ἴαμβον καί τινʼ ἄλλον τροχαῖον ὠνόμαζε, μήκη δὲ καὶ βραχύτητας προσῆπτε. καὶ τούτων τισὶν οἶμαι τὰς ἀγωγὰς τοῦ ποδὸς αὐτὸν οὐχ ἧττον ψέγειν τε καὶ ἐπαινεῖν ἢ τοὺς ῥυθμοὺς αὐτούς—ἤτοι συναμφότερόν τι· οὐ γὰρ ἔχω λέγειν —ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν, ὥσπερ εἶπον, εἰς Δάμωνα ἀναβεβλήσθω· διελέσθαι γὰρ οὐ σμικροῦ λόγου.

I only know that there are some three principles of rhythm out of which metrical systems are framed, just as in sounds there are four notes (i.e. the four notes of the tetrachord.) out of which all the harmonies are composed; that is an observation which I have made. But of what sort of lives they are severally the imitations I am unable to say.

Then, I said, we must take Damon into our counsels; and he will tell us what rhythms are expressive of meanness, or insolence, or fury, or other unworthiness, and what are to be reserved for the expression of opposite feelings. And I think that I have an indistinct recollection of his mentioning a complex Cretic rhythm; also a dactylic or heroic, and he arranged them in some manner which I do not quite understand, making the rhythms equal in the rise and fall of the foot, long and short alternating; and, unless I am mistaken, he spoke of an iambic as well as of a trochaic rhythm, and assigned to them short and long quantities. Also in some cases he appeared to praise or censure the movement of the foot quite as much as the rhythm; or perhaps a combination of the two; for I am not certain what he meant. These matters, however, as I was saying, had better be referred to Damon himself, for the analysis of the subject would be difficult, you know?

Benjamin Jowett · Plato, Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription)

How this fragment survives

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading.

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading in the reviewed records. The linked edition remains available below.

Original-text edition
Plato, Republic 3, 400a–c, ed.John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol 4 (Oxford:Clarendon, 1905); Perseus historic-edition transcription.
Open the historical edition ↗

Notes & source

Jowett’s explanatory parenthesis at the end of the source paragraph is not part of the ancient quotation and is omitted

Published passage: Plato, Republic 400a–c

Existing human translation retained verbatim; historical original-language passage covers the same translated quotation.

Whole translated quotation verified. Historical σύνθετον/συναμφότερόν used; non-ancient explanatory parenthesis removed; dialogue speaker sigla removed by edition transcription extraction.

Plato, Republic 3, 400a–c, ed.John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol 4 (Oxford:Clarendon, 1905); Perseus historic-edition transcription. View original source ↗

English: Benjamin Jowett · Plato, Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription). Published translation ↗

Available translations & credits

English · Benjamin Jowett. Plato, Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription).. Default reading. Published translation ↗ Paired original ↗
Original edition: Historical printed original-language edition in the public domain; digital transcription: Perseus Digital Library, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0. Excerpted and normalized as documented. · Licence terms ↗

DK 37 B 10

Available translations: English

εἶδος γὰρ καινὸν μουσικῆς μεταβάλλειν εὐλαβητέον ὡς ἐν ὅλῳ κινδυνεύοντα· οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ κινοῦνται μουσικῆς τρόποι ἄνευ πολιτικῶν νόμων τῶν μεγίστων, ὥς φησί τε Δάμων καὶ ἐγὼ πείθομαι.

for any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole State, and ought to be prohibited. So Damon tells me, and I can quite believe him;—he says that when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them.

Benjamin Jowett · Plato, Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription)

How this fragment survives

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading.

A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading in the reviewed records. The linked edition remains available below.

Original-text edition
Plato, Republic 4, 424c, ed.John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol 4 (Oxford:Clarendon, 1905); Perseus historic-edition transcription.
Open the historical edition ↗

Notes & source

Published passage: Plato, Republic 424c

Existing human translation retained verbatim; historical original-language passage covers the same translated quotation.

Complete quotation agrees apart from orthographic iota-subscript and punctuation normalization; bibliographic label removed.

Plato, Republic 4, 424c, ed.John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol 4 (Oxford:Clarendon, 1905); Perseus historic-edition transcription. View original source ↗

English: Benjamin Jowett · Plato, Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription). Published translation ↗

Available translations & credits

English · Benjamin Jowett. Plato, Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett (nineteenth-century translation; Project Gutenberg transcription).. Default reading. Published translation ↗ Paired original ↗
Original edition: Historical printed original-language edition in the public domain; digital transcription: Perseus Digital Library, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0. Excerpted and normalized as documented. · Licence terms ↗

Damon of Athens

Search the collection

About this edition

Greek dictionary