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there was just one note for the auloi to play. But at two places a pair of notes is given, a fourth apart. They may be meant to sound successively; but I am inclined to interpret them as representing a divergence of the two pipes (see below, p. 207). Certainly Theophrastus in his account of reed-making appears to reckon with some differentiation of function between the pipes. He specifies that the reeds for a pair of auloi must be cut from the same section of the cane if they are to sound in accord, but also that the lower part of the section will make the reed for the left-hand pipe and the upper part, which will not be quite so hard, the reed for the right-hand pipe.93 The two then are not identical, though they must blend well. Aristoxenus remarks that in listening to an aulete 'one can judge whether his auloi are in concord or not, and whether their discourse is clear-cut'. Unfortunately we cannot tell whether with 'concord' he is thinking only of unison or also of concordant intervals such as the fourth; and whether by 'discourse' (dialektos) he means to suggest a dialogue between the two pipes.94 |
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Archaeological evidence from the fourth century gives us something more definite. The Louvre auloi, which have every appearance of forming a pair, differ, as we have seen, in the number and placing of their holes. The one with the fewer holes has them lower down the pipe than the other. On a Campanian wine-jug Marsyas is shown holding a pair of pipes in his left hand; the hand hides all but two holes on one pipe and all but one on the other, but it is obvious that the disposition of holes is different. If he is holding the left pipe on the left of the right pipe, it is the left pipe that has the lowest hole.95 |
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In the first century BC Varro illustrates the relationship between pastorality and agriculture by the image of the pipes which are related but distinct, the right-hand pipe 'singing' the melody, the other supporting it. Agriculture corresponds to the latter, being 'inferior' in respect of antiquity, just as the left-hand pipe is 'lower' with respect to the holes of the right-hand pipe. Varro cites Dicaearchus for the subordinate position of agriculture, but unfortunately it is unclear whether the image of the pipes goes back to Dicaearchus.96 With a Roman author there is a greater risk that he is talking about |
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93Hist. Pl. 4. 11. 7. |
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94 Aristox. in ps.-Plut. De mus. 1144e. For dialektos cf. 1138b (also from Aristoxenus); Arist. De An. 420b8; Phot. Lex. s.v. niglareuon. |
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95 Adolphseck 165 (Paquette, 45 A20). |
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96 Varro, Rust. 1. 2. 15f.; Dicaearchus ft. 51 W. |
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