Ptolemais of Cyrene
Ptolemais of Cyrene (
Life
Almost nothing is known about her life; her work is known only from references in
Work
In her work, written in the form of a
What is the distinction between those who preferred a combination of both [reason and perception]? While some adopted both perception and reason in the same way, as being of equal importance, others took one as the leader and the other as a follower. Aristoxenus of Tarentum adopted them both in the same way. For neither can what is perceived be composed by itself without reason, nor is reason strong enough to establish something if it does not take its starting points from perception, and the conclusion of the theorising does not agree again with the perception.
In what way does he want perception to be in advance of theory? In order, but not in importance. For he says when what is perceptible whatever it is, is grasped, then we must promote reason for the theoretical study of it.
Who treats both together? Pythagoras and his successors. For they want to adopt perception as a guide for reason at the beginning, as if to provide a spark for it, but to treat reason, when it has started off from such a beginning, as separating from perception and working by itself. So if the composite whole is found in a study by reason to be no longer in accord with perception, they do not turn back, but make their own accusations, saying that the perception is mistaken, and that reason by itself finds what is correct and refutes perception.
In this same passage, Ptolemais criticizes the extreme partisans of both schools, "the Pythagoreans who enjoyed disputing with the musici" for dismissing perception entirely (despite their contradictory "adoption of something perceivable in the beginning"), and "some of the musici who follow Aristoxenus" for adopting their master's "theory based upon thought" but proceeding "through expertise on musical instruments" and "regard[ing] perception as authoritative, and reason as accompanying it, and for necessity only."
Notes
- ^ Rocconi 2003, p. 101
- ^ Plant 2004, p. 87.
- ^ Rocconi 2003, p. 99
- ^ Rocconi 2003, p. 100
- ^ Rocconi 2003, p. 99
- ^ Rocconi 2003, pp. 104-5
- ^ Plant 2004, pp. 88–89.
References
- Plant, Ian Michael, ed. (2004). Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology. Norman: ISBN 978-0-8061-3621-9.
- Eleonora Rocconi, "Un manuale al femminile: L'Introduzione pitagorica alla musica di Tolemaide di Cirene," in Ars/Techne, ed. Maria Silvana Celentano, Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso, 2003, pp. 99–114
Further reading
- Andrew Barker, Greek Musical Writings, vol. 2, Harmonic and Acoustic Theory, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 239–242
- Flora R. Levin, Greek Reflections on the Nature of Music, Cambridge University Press, 2009, Chapter 7: "Aisthēsis and Logos: A Single Continent"