Polibio e la mousike (oltre l'elogio degli Arcadi)

In Hist. IV 20-21 Polybius praises the role of music in Arcadian paideia and daily life, and attaches great importance to the moral effect of «true music», i.e. music respectful to tradition. However this is only a pose, useful to extol Arcadian moral excellence. This is proved by several evidences in the rest of Polybius’ work: Polybius (XXXVIII 5, 4-7) accepts without trouble the tropos metabolikos, typical of ‘new music’ and devoided of educational value; he pays no attention to musical styles and facts, or to musicians; he attaches no importance to the possess of musical education or kwnoledge, not only by politicians or monarchs from other Hellenic countries, but even by an exemplar Arcadian like Philopoemen; on the contrary, Polybius often disapproves of the exhibition of musical qualities or of interest in akroamata (the most frequent musical term in Polybius’ work), regarding it as proof of baseness.