Psallo.Mark.of.Effeminate

In that regard, epic's position is parallel to that of rhetoric. Beginning with Aristotle's Rhetorica (1404a), critics of rhetorical performance have ascribed to lively delivery the same effect as that of acting. There is a persistent association between theatrics, bad rhetoric and effeminacy.

Rhetoric was forever at pains to disentangle itself from unwanted associations with female deception and histrionic art, because it was viewed as the art of socially weak women and slaves,and rhetoricians of all ages have assiduously fought against any trace of bodily and vocal practice associated with these groups.

However, from the examples that I have just used, it is evident, I believe, which art of music I consider appropriate in the training of the orator and to what extent.

Nevertheless, I think that I need to be more explicit in stating that the music which I prescribe is not the modern music which has been emasculated by the lascivious melodies of the effeminate stage and has to no small extent destroyed the amount of manly vigor that we still possessed.

I refer rather to the music of old with which people used to sing the praises of brave men and which the brave themselves used to sing.

But this fact does not justify degeneration into sing-song or the effeminate modulations now in vogue. There is an excellent saying on this point attributed to Gaius Caesar while he was still a boy:

"If you are singing, you sing badly; if you are reading, you sing."

The Evil Psallo “psallere saltare ēlĕgans I. In the ante-class. period in a bad sense, luxurious, effeminate, fastidious, nice: elegans homo non dicebatur cum laude “mulier (Phryne—with formo

saltātor , ōris, m. salto,

I.a dancer (generally among the Romans with an accessory contemptuous signif.), Cic. Off. 1, 42, 150; id. Mur. 6, 13; id. Deiot. 10, 28; id. Fin. 3, 7, 24; Quint. 1, 12, 14; 11, 3, 89; Suet. Calig. 54; id. Ner. 6; Macr. S. 2, 10 al.

--saltātĭo , ōnis, f. id.,

I. a dancing; concr., a dance, Quint. 1, 11, 18 sq.; 2, 18, 1; Scipio Afric. ap. Macr. S. 2, 10: “multarum deliciarum comes est extrema saltatio,” Cic. Mur. 6, 13; id. Brut. 62, 225; id. Fin. 3, 7, 24; Quint. 11, 3, 128; Suet. Tit. 7 al.—Plur., Plaut. Stich. 5, 2, 11.

--dēlĭcĭae , ārum, f. (sing. dēlĭcĭa , ae, f.; [delicio; that which allures, flatters the senses], delight, pleasure, charm, allurement; deliciousness, luxuriousness, voluptuousness, curiosities of art; sport, frolics, etc. (freq. and class.; for syn. cf.: voluptas, libido, delectatio, oblectatio, delectamentum, oblectamentum).

E-lēgo , āvi, 1, v. a.,
I.to convey away (from the family) by bequest, to bequeath away, Petr. 43, 5; Gai. Inst. 2, 215.

Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary:
5.4.2 Behind the anthropological predilections against the victim's perspective, there is a very practical, quasi-historical reason: namely, the victim is shunned and often killed. In the ancient world, the role of music during ritual sacrifice was often to drown out any cries from the victim.⁽⁴⁵⁾ It is crucial that the victim not be heard. The practical mechanics of making victims means that it is unusual for the victim's perspective to survive. In the world of ancient ritual it was probably impossible.

45. The Greek verb myo means to close the mouth or shut the eyes. There is debate about whether myo plays a crucial role in the etymology of other significant words such as myth, mystery, and even music. These etymologies make sense within the Girardian hypotheses.
Myth means to close ourselves to the victim
                and tell the tale according to the perpetrator's perspective;
   mystery cults are based on the silence of the victims; music derives from drowning out
        the voice of the victim
5.5 In general, then, the survival of the victim's perspective is highly unusual as a historical phenomenon -- until more recent history, that is, when the victim's perspective has finally established a beachhead in Western culture, namely, the cultures most often in closest contact with the Gospel (more on this below). (And it must be emphasized that the close contact is in the category of being an accident of history and not by any meritorious claims for Western culture. In short, the perspective of the victim has established a place in Western culture not because of any inherent merit in Western culture but because of the historical accident of being in close proximity to the Gospel over a long period of time.)

mŭlĭer , II. Transf., as a term of reproach, a woman, i. e. a coward, poltroon: “non me arbitratur militem, sed mulierem,” Plaut. Bacch. 4, 8, 4.

Cic. Catil. 2.10.23 In these bands are all the gamblers,
        all the adulterers, all the unclean and shameless citizens.
        These boys, so witty and delicate,
        have learnt not only to love and to be loved,
          not only to sing and to dance,
    but also to brandish daggers and to administer poisons;
       and unless they are driven out,
       unless they die, even should Catiline die,
   I warn you that the school of Catiline would exist in the republic.
But what do those wretches want? Are they going to take their wives with them to the camp? how can they do without them, especially in these nights? and how will they endure the Apennines, and these frosts, and this snow?
      unless they think that they will bear the winter more easily
because they have been in the habit of dancing naked at their feasts. O
war much to be dreaded, when Catiline is going to have his bodyguard of prostitutes!

Suet. Tit. 3 While yet a boy, he was remarkable for his noble endowments both of body and mind; and as he advanced in years, they became still more conspicuous.
        He had a fine person, combining an equal mixture of majesty and grace;
        was very strong, though not tall, and somewhat corpulent.
Gifted with an excellent memory, and a capacity for all the arts of peace and war; he was a perfect master of the use of arms and riding; very ready in the Latin and Greek tongues,
        both in verse and prose; and such was the facility he possessed in both,
        that he would harangue and VERSIFY extempore.
        Nor was he unacquainted with MUSIC,
                but could both SING and PLAY upon the HARP sweetly and scientifically.
        I have likewise been informed by many persons,
                that he was remarkably quick in writing short-hand,
              would in merriment and jest engage with his secretaries
                in the imitation of any hand-writing he saw, and often say, "
                that he was admirably qualified for forgery."

The Evil Psallo includes: Phrȳnē , ēs, f., = Phrunē.

I. A celebrated hetœra in Athens, so wealthy that she offered to rebuild the city of Thebes after it had been destroyed by Alexander: “nec quae deletas potuit componere Thebas Phryne,” Prop. 2, 6, 6; cf. Quint. 2, 15, 9; Val. Max. 4, 3, ext. 3.—

II. A Roman courtesan, Hor. Epod. 14, 16.—

Quint. Inst. 2 15.9 So also according to general opinion Phryne was saved not by the eloquence of Hyperides, admirable as it was, but by the sight of her exquisite body, which she further revealed by drawing aside her tunic. And if all these have power to persuade, the end of oratory, which we are discussing, cannot adequately be defined as persuasion.

componere Plin. praef. § 25: carmen,” Cic. Mur. 12, 26: “carmina,” Tac. Or. 12; id. A. 3, 49: “epistulas, blanditias tremulā voce,” T

2. In a bad sense, soft, effeminate, unmanly, weak (syn. effeminatus): “philosophus tam mollis, tam languidus, tam enervatus,” Cic. de Or. 1, 52, 226: “Sabaei,” Verg. G. 1, 57: “viri molles, i. e. pathici,” Liv. 33, 28; Sen. Ep. 87: “disciplina,” effeminate,

III. A procuress, Tib. 2, 6, 45.