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27. For we must not listen to the falsities of heathen
superstition, which represent the nine Muses as daughters of Jupiter
and Mercury. Varro refutes these, and I doubt whether any one can
be found among them more curious or more learned in such matters. He
says that a certain state (I don't recollect the name) ordered from
each of three artists a set of statues of the Muses, to be placed as
an offering in the temple of Apollo, intending that whichever of the
artists produced the most beautiful statues, they should select and
purchase from him. It so happened that these artists executed their
works with equal beauty, that all nine pleased the state, and that all
were bought to be dedicated in the temple of Apollo; and he says that
afterwards Hesiod the poet gave names to them all. It was not
Jupiter, therefore, that begat the nine Muses, but three artists
created three each. And the state had originally given the order for
three, not because it had seen them in visions, nor because they had
presented themselves in that number to the eyes of any of the citizens,
but because it was obvious to remark that all sound, which is the
material of song, is by nature of three kinds. For it is either
produced by the voice, as in the case of those who sing with the mouth
without an instrument; or by blowing, as in the case of trumpets and
flutes; or by striking, as in the case of harps and drums, and all
other instruments that give their sound when struck.
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