The diatessaron seems to be the basic building block of Greek music. This because the interval of the perfect fourth was used to form tetrachords which are defined in Wikipedia as follows:
Traditionally, a tetrachord is a series of four tones filling in the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion. In modern usage a tetrachord is any four-note segment of a scale or tone row. The term tetrachord derives from ancient Greek music theory. It literally means four strings, originally in reference to harp-like instruments such as the lyre or the kithara, with the implicit understanding that the four strings must be contiguous. Ancient Greek music theory distinguishes three genera of tetrachords. These genera are characterised by the largest of the three intervals of the tetrachord:
Diatonic - A diatonic tetrachord has a characteristic interval that is less than or equal to half the total interval of the tetrachord (or 249 cents). This characteristic interval is usually slightly smaller (approximating to 200 cents), becoming a whole tone. Classically, the diatonic tetrachord consists of two intervals of a tone and one of a semitone.
Chromatic - A chromatic tetrachord has a characteristic interval that is greater than half the total interval of the tetrachord, yet not as great as four-fifths of the interval (between 249 and 398 cents). Classically, the characteristic interval is a minor third (approximately 300 cents), and the two smaller intervals are equal semitones.
Enharmonic - An enharmonic tetrachord has a characteristic interval that is greater than four-fifths the total tetrachord interval (greater than 398 cents). Classically, the characteristic interval is a major third (otherwise known as a ditone), and the two smaller intervals are quartertones.
As the three genera simply represent ranges of possible intervals within the tetrachord, various shades (chroai) of tetrachord with specific tunings were specified. Once the genus and shade of tetrachord are specified the three internal intervals could be arranged in six possible permutations.
What the author isn't making clear here is that in each of these tetrachords only the second and third strings are being changed, the first and fourth strings are always tuned to a diatessaron (i.e. C - - F).
This is what Clement is underlying point in the section of text we cited from Strom. 6.11 yesterday. He says effectively, God is the Diatessaron effecting the entire harmony in the universe. I think this is very important for understanding of the manner in which the two gospels of the Alexandrian tradition must have 'harmonized' with each other. My guess would be that the secret gospel was the tone (or 'C') and the public gospel the fourth (or 'F').
In order to understand this analogy better I think it might be useful to come to terms with how ancient Greeks moved developed music from the tetrachord. We read:
The only accompaniment for the voice used by the early Greeks was a four-stringed cithara, the tetrachord; and this instrument had been so generally used, and held in such repute, that the whole system of music was founded upon the tetra- chord. Terpander was the first who added three airings to this instrument, as he himself testifies in two extant verses. 'Disdaining the four-stringed song, we shall sound new hymns on the seven-stringed phorminx.' The tetrachord was strung so that the two extreme strings stood to one another in the relation called by the ancients diatessaron, and by the moderns a. fourth; that is to say, the lower one made three vibrations in the time that the upper one made four. Between these two s rings, which formed the-principal harmony of this simple instrument, there were two others ; and in the most ancient arrangement of the gamut, called the diatonic, these two were strung so that the three intervals between these four strings produced twice a whole tone, and in the third place a semitone. Terpander enlarged this instrument by adding ohe tetrachord to another : he did not however make the highest tone of the lower tetrachord the lowest of the upper, but he left an interval of one tone between the two tetrachords. By this arrangement the cithara would have had eight strings, if Terpander had not left out the third string, which must have appeared to him to be of less importance. The heptachord of Terpander thus acquired the compass of an octave, or, according to the Greek expression, a diapason; because the highest tone of the upper and the lowest of the lower tetrachord stood in this relation, which is the simplest of all, as it rests upon the ratio of 1 to 2; and which was soon acknowledged by the Greeks as the fundamental concord. At the same time the highest tone of the upper tetrachord stands to the highest of the lower in the relation of the fifth, the arithmetical expression of which is 2 to 3; and in general the tones were doubtless so arranged that the simplest consonances after the octave octave — that is to say, the fourth and fifth — governed the whole. Hence the heptachord of Terpander long remained in high repute, and was employed by Pindar ; although in his time the deficient string of the lower tetrachord had been supplied and an octachord produced.
It will be convenient in this place to explain the difference between the scales and the styles and harmonies of Greek music, since it is probable that they were regulated by Terpander. The musical scales are determined by the intervals between the four tones of the tetrachord. The Greek musicians describe three musical scales, viz., the diatonic, the chromatic, and the enharmonic. In the diatonic, the intervals were two tones and a semitone ; and hence the diatonic was considered the simplest and most natural, and was the most extensively used. In the chromatic scale the interval is a tone and a semitone, combined with two other semitones. This arrangement of the tetrachord was also very ancient, but it was much less used, because a feeble and languid, though pleasing character, was ascribed to it. The third scale, the enharmonic, was produced by a tetrachord, which, besides an interval of two tones, had also two minor ones of quarter-tones. This was the latest of all, and was invented by Olympus, who must have flourished a short time after Terpander. The ancients greatly preferred the enharmonic scale, especially on account of its liveliness and force. But from the small intervals of quarter tones, the execution of it required great skill and practice in singing and playing. These musical scales were further determined by the styles or harmonics, because on them depended, first, the position or succession of the intervals belonging to the several scales, mid, secondly, the height and depth of the whole gamut. Three styles were known in very early times, — the Doric, which was the lowest, the Phrygian, the middle one, and the Lydian, the highest. Of these, the Doric alone is named from a Greek race ; the two others are called after nations of Asia Minor, whose love for music, and particularly the flute, is well known. It is probable that national tunes were current among these tribes, whose peculiar character was the origin of these styles. Yet their fixed and systematic relation to the Doric style must have been the work of a Greek musician, probably of Terpander himself, who, in his native island of Lesbos, had frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the different musical styles of his neighbours of Asia Minor. Thus a fragment of Pindar relates, that Terpander, at the Lydian feasts, had heard the tone of the pectis, (a Lydian instrument, with a compass of two octaves,) and had formed from it the kind of lyre which was called Barbiton. The Lesbians likewise used a particular sort of cithara, called the Asiatic; and this was by many held to be the invention of Terpander, by others to be the work of his disciple Cepion. It is manifest that the Lesbian musicians, with Terpander at their head, were the means of uniting the music of Asia Minor with that of the ancient Greeks (which was best preserved among the Dorians in Peloponnesus), and that they and founded on it a system in which each style had its appropriate character. To the establishment of this character the nomes contributed, musical compositions of great simplicity and severity, something resembling the most ancient melodies of our church music. The Doric style appears from the statements of all the witnesses to have had a character of great seriousness and gravity, peculiarly calculated to produce a calm,firm, collected frame of mind. " With regard to the Doric style (says Aristotle), all are agreed that it is the most sedate, and has the most manly character." The Phrygian style was evidently derived from the loud vehement styles of music employed by the Phrygians in the worship of the Great Mother of the gods and the Corybantes. In Greece, too, it was used in orgiastic worships, especially in that of Dionysus. It was peculiarly adapted to the expression of enthusiasm. The Lydian had the highest notes of any of the three ancient styles, and therefore approached nearer to the female voice; its character was thus softer and feebler than either of the others. Yet it admitted of considerable variety of expression, as the melodies of the Lydian style had sometimes a painful and melancholy, sometimes a calm and pleasing character. Aristotle (who, in his Politics, has given some judicious precepts on the use of music in education) considers the Lydian style peculiarly adapted to the musical cultivation of early youth. [Karl Otfried Muller, The History of the Literature of Ancient Greece p 203 - 204]
The point we are trying to establish in all of this is that Greek music was necessarily developed from the diatessaron. The diatessaron was really understood to have been the basic 'building block' not only of the musical universe, but the universe itself. I think it would have been quite natural for the Alexandrian Church to have associated the diatessaron with holy writings - especially the gospels.
We saw Pythagorean theory reflected in Strom 6.11 but now we are going to step things up and cite from Clement's Exhortation to the Greeks (Protreptikos). We will argue here that the Protreptikos implicitly confirms the great secret at the heart of Alexandrian Christianity - viz. that there were two texts symbolically 'harmonized' according to a 'diatessaron.' I will cite the opening words in full, go back to some Greek musical theory and then demonstrate that the text says what I claim it does. First the reference from the beginning:
Amphion of Thebes and Arion of Methymna were both minstrels, and both were renowned in story. They are celebrated in song to this day in the chorus of the Greeks; the one for having allured the fishes, and the other for having surrounded Thebes with walls by the power of music. Another, a Thracian, a cunning master of his art (he also is the subject of a Hellenic legend), tamed the wild beasts by the mere might of song; and transplanted trees--oaks--by music. I might tell you also the story of another, a brother to these--the subject of a myth, and a minstrel--Eunomos the Locrian and the Pythic grasshopper. A solemn Hellenic assembly had met at Pytho, to celebrate the death of the Pythic serpent, when Eunomos sang the reptile's epitaph. Whether his ode was a hymn in praise of the serpent, or a dirge, I am not able to say. But there was a contest, and Eunomos was playing the lyre in the summer time: it was when the grasshoppers, warmed by the sun, were chirping beneath the leaves along the hills; but they were singing not to that dead dragon, but to God All-wise,--a lay unfettered by rule, better than the numbers of Eunomos. The Locrian breaks a string. The grasshopper sprang on the neck of the instrument, and sang on it as on a branch; and the minstrel, adapting his strain to the grasshopper's song, made up for the want of the missing string. The grasshopper then was attracted by the song of Eunomos, as the fable represents, according to which also a brazen statue of Eunomos with his lyre, and the Locrian's ally in the contest, was erected at Pytho. But of its own accord it flew to the lyre, and of its own accord sang, and was regarded by the Greeks as a musical performer.
How, let me ask, have you believed vain fables and supposed animals to be charmed by music while Truth's shining face alone, as would seem appears to you disguised, and is looked on with incredulous eyes? And so Cithaeron, and Helicon, and the mountains of the Odrysi, and the initiatory rites of the Thracians, mysteries of deceit, are hallowed and celebrated in hymns. For me, I am pained at such calamities as form the subjects of tragedy, though but myths; but by you the records of miseries are turned into dramatic compositions.
But the dramas and the raving poets, now quite intoxicated, let us crown with ivy; and distracted outright as they are, in Bacchic fashion, with the satyrs, and the frenzied rabble, and the rest of the demon crew, let us confine to Cithaeron and Helicon, now antiquated.
But let us bring from above out of heaven, Truth, with Wisdom in all its brightness, and the sacred prophetic choir, down to the holy mount of God; and let Truth, darting her light to the most distant points, cast her rays all around on those that are involved in darkness, and deliver men from delusion, stretching out her very strong right hand, which is wisdom, for their salvation. And raising their eyes, and looking above, let them abandon Helicon and Cithaeron, and take up their abode in Sion. "For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem, --the celestial Word, the true athlete crowned in the theatre of the whole universe. What my Eunomos sings is not the measure of Terpander, nor that of Capito, nor the Phrygian, nor Lydian, nor Dorian, but the immortal measure of the new harmony which bears God's name--the new, the Levitical song.
"Soother of pain, calmer of wrath, producing forgetfulness of all ills."
Sweet and true is the charm of persuasion which blends with this strain.
To me, therefore, that Thracian Orpheus, that Theban, and that Methymnaean,--men, and yet unworthy of the name,--seem to have been deceivers, who, under the pretence of poetry corrupting human life, possessed by a spirit of artful sorcery for purposes of destruction, celebrating crimes in their orgies, and making human woes the materials of religious worship, were the first to entice men to idols; nay, to build up the stupidity of the nations with blocks of wood and stone,--that is, statues and images,--subjecting to the yoke of extremest bondage the truly noble freedom of those who lived as free citizens under heaven by their songs and incantations. But not such is my song, which has come to loose, and that speedily, the bitter bondage of tyrannizing demons; and leading us back to the mild and loving yoke of piety, recalls to heaven those that had been cast prostrate to the earth. It alone has tamed men, the most intractable of animals; the frivolous among them answering to the fowls of the air, deceivers to reptiles, the irascible to lions, the voluptuous to swine, the rapacious to wolves. The silly are stocks and stones, and still more senseless than stones is a man who is steeped in ignorance. As our witness, let us adduce the voice of prophecy accordant with truth, and bewailing those who are crushed in ignorance and folly: "For God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham;" and He, commiserating their great ignorance and hardness of heart who are petrified against the truth, has raised up a seed of piety, sensitive to virtue, of those stones--of the nations, that is, who trusted in stones. Again, therefore, some venomous and false hypocrites, who plotted against righteousness, He once called "a brood of vipers." But if one of those serpents even is willing to repent, and follows the Word, he becomes a man of God.
Others he figuratively calls wolves, clothed in sheep-skins, meaning thereby monsters of rapacity in human form. And so all such most savage beasts, and all such blocks of stone, the celestial song has transformed into tractable men. "For even we ourselves were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." Thus speaks the apostolic Scripture: "But after that the kindness and love of God our saviour to man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us."
Behold the might of the new song! It has made men out of stones, men out of beasts. Those, moreover, that were as dead, not being partakers of the true life, have come to life again, simply by becoming listeners to this song. It also composed the universe into melodious order, and tuned the discord of the elements to harmonious arrangement, so that the whole world might become harmony. It let loose the fluid ocean, and yet has prevented it from encroaching on the land. The earth, again, which had been in a state of commotion, it has established, and fixed the sea as its boundary. The violence of fire it has softened by the atmosphere, as the Dorian is blended with the Lydian strain; and the harsh cold of the air it has moderated by the embrace of fire, harmoniously arranging these the extreme tones of the universe. And this deathless strain,the support of the whole and the harmony of all,--reaching from the centre to the circumference, and from the extremities to the central part, has harmonized this universal frame of things, not according to the Thracian music, which is like that invented by Jubal, but according to the paternal counsel of God, which fired the zeal of David. And He who is of David, and yet before him, the Word of God, despising the lyre and harp, which are but lifeless instruments, and having tuned by the Holy Spirit the universe, and especially man,--who, composed of body and soul, is a universe in miniature,makes melody to God on this instrument of many tones; and to this intrument--I mean man--he sings accordant: "For thou art my harp, and pipe, and temple." --a harp for harmony--a pipe by reason of the Spirit a temple by reason of the word; so that the first may sound, the second breathe, the third contain the Lord. And David the king, the harper whom we mentioned a little above, who exhorted to the truth and dissuaded from idols, was so far from celebrating demons in song, that in reality they were driven away by his music. Thus, when Saul was plagued with a demon, he cured him by merely playing. A beautiful breathing instrument of music the Lord made man, after His own image. And He Himself also, surely, who is the supramundane Wisdom, the celestial Word, is the all-harmonious, melodious, holy instrument of God. What, then, does this instrument--the Word of God, the Lord, the New Song--desire? To open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf, and to lead the lame or the erring to righteousness, to exhibit God to the foolish, to put a stop to corruption, to conquer death, to reconcile disobedient children to their father. The instrument of God loves mankind. The Lord pities, instructs, exhorts, admonishes, saves, shields, and of His bounty promises us the kingdom of heaven as a reward for learning; and the only advantage He reaps is, that we are saved. For wickedness feeds on men's destruction; but truth, like the bee, harming nothing, delights only in the salvation of men.[Protreptikos 1.1 - 1.5]
The image of David playing the lyre is key because we learn from various Psalms of an instrument called a Sheminith, an eight stringed lyre (shemini = eight). So the Targum of Psalm 6 reads: "To praise with song on a kinnor of eight cords." Josephus informs us that the kinnor had ten strings while R. Judah interprets the superscription of Psalm xii as "For the liturgy on sheminith, meaning on the eighth string," from which he decudes that the kinnor of the Messianic times will have eight strings. (b.Arakhin 13b)
The concept of the eight stringed lyre is absolutely critical. Most lyres at the time that Clement was writing were seven stringed. As Muller references above, the seven stringed lyre necessarily droped one of the notes is the second tetrachord. As Mathiesen notes:
Although the lyre may have had, in earliest times, only three or four strings, from at least as early as the time of Terpander, it had seven or more strings. The Homeric hymn In Mercurium, "seven consonant strings of sheep gut," and the Nicomachean Excerpta repeats this number. In the third chapter of his Manuale harmonices, Nicomachus suggests that these seven strings were associated with the planetary revolutions and named hypate, parhypate, hypermese or lichanos, mese, paramese, paraneate, and neate. In the fifth chapter, Nicomachus observes that the seven strings formed two conjunct tetrachords, each of which embraced the interval of a fourth. As the interval between the lowest and highest string was a seventh, Nicomachus explains, Pythagoras added an eighth string in order to produce the overall range of an octave.At first glance it would appear that we have our 'eight stringed lyre.' There were two two tetrachords - i.e. two 'sets' of four notes each contained within a diatessaron and in turn separted from each other by a diatessaron (i.e. an interval of a perfect fourth). However, there is good reason to believe that this is not the instrument Clement has in mind in the Protreptikos (προτρεπτικός).
For as Mathiesen notes, there was something inherently imperfect in the design of the Greek eight stringed lyre. It was not the pattern of 'diatessaronic' perfection that Clement was trumpeting throughout his writings:
He did not add this new string, however, at the top, as might have been expected, but rather between the old mese and and paramese. Thus, while the old paramese was renamed trite — a name not present in the original heptachord - it retained the same intervallic relationship with its neighboring notes: a whole tone above and a semitone below. The new string was now called paramese, separated from the mese by a whole tone and the trite by a semitone. In the eleventh chapter, Nicomachus then clarifies that as the Greek scale system expanded to two octaves, two new tetrachords were needed to accommodate this range; they were added above and below the tetrachords of the old seven- or eight-string lyre The new bottom tetrachord, which was conjunct with the old lower tetrachord, was called the hyperbolaion. In consequence, the original tetrachords took on names as well: that from e' to a' began to be known as the meson (or, "middle"); from a' to d", the synemmenon (or "conjunct"); and from b' to e", the diezeugmenon or, ("disjunct"). Finally, in order to complete the double octave the proslambanomenos note (or, "added" note) was indeed added at the bottom. Nicomachus is very careful not to specify the intervals between each string, but the outline of his first two systems may be deduced and represented as in figure below
heptachord
Pythagorean octachord
[e f' g' a] [b c" d" e]
Nicomachus's explanation may very well represent something close to the actual manner in which the early lyres were strung and tuned. It would have been a simple matter to tune the two conjunct fourths of the heptachord or the octave and two disjunct fourths of the octachord. Nevertheless, there are other explanations. The Greeks commonly referred to the intervals of a fourth and a fifth as diatessaron (δια τεσσάρων) and diapente (διὰ πέντε) because these intervals presumably ranged "through four strings" or "through five strings" — , but with a few exceptions they called the octave 'dia pason' (διά πασων), that is 'through all the strings' rather than di octo, as might be expected. In response to a question about this anomaly, the Aristotelian Problemata (19:32) assert that Terpander tuned the lyre so that the seven strings would span an octave; thus, 'through all the strings' rather than 'through eight strings' [Mathiesen, Apollo's Lyre p. 244 - 245]
Interestingly Mathiesen has identified for us why the perfect fourth was originally called 'dia tessaron.' The arrangement of strings on a lyre led to the perfect fourth and perfect fifth spanning 'across four' and 'five' strings respectively.
If the reader may allow me a short digression, one can immediately see where the identification of the four canonical gospels as a 'set' became identified with a single 'diatessaron.' For on the Greek lyres of antiquity we necessarily had two tetrachords stacked beside one another as illustrated above. The 'diatessaron' actually spanned the four strings and even though the second and third strings had nothing to do with the perfect fourth their position on the lyre necessarily gave birth to the idea that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John formed such a tetrachord. As I have noted before, it is very curious that the first and fourth gospels are specifically identified as gospels written by eyewitnesses of the Lord and the second and third gospels were of subordinate value being authored supposedly by those who had never had any contact with Christ. Matthew and John thus form a sort of 'diatessaron' on their own.
Nevertheless it is absolutely clear that the text called 'the Diatessaron' was not identified as this tetrachord but the second tetrachord in the familiar seven string lyre (i.e. heptachord). This is clearly the germ of the idea - i.e. two tetrachord 'arrangements' themselves established as perfect fourths separated by a perfect fourth (or diatessaron). There is no way around this interpretation now that we see the unshakable grounding of the very concept of the diatessaron on the arrangement of strings on a lyre. Irenaeus could not have established the idea of a fourfold harmony of the gospels without having to necessarily excise this very concept from its original 'grounding' of two tetrachords separated by diatessaron on the neck of a lyre. This necessarily suggests that the Catholic concept of a single fourfold gospel was derivative of the original Alexandrian notion of the diatessaron harmony between two tetrachords or if you will a harmony of 'public' and 'secret' gospels of Mark.
This will become absolutely certain when we go back to Clement's Protreptikos and realize that it was undoubtedly written at the same time or slightly before the fourfold gospel in Book Three of Against Heresies. It is generally acknowledged that both texts were written during the Commodian era but if we look carefully Clement's discussion again it is clear that he is actually referencing an Alexandrian tradition that antedates him by several generations. This becomes absolutely clear when we understand that Clement is actually presenting Christianity as a 'new instrument' which creates a 'new song' owing to the new arrangement of notes in its construction.
This has been lost on all previous understandings of the opening lines of the Protreptikos. Clement is not simply developing some 'superfluous' or 'poetic' rhetoric here. The reference to 'Amphion of Thebes and Arion of Methymna' in the first sentence is critical to the understanding of all that follows. For these men were renowned in antiquity for playing seven string lyres. If we look again the section which follows the identification of Christianity as 'the new song' it is clear that Clement is identifying the tradition as 'the new instrument' - the eighth stringed lyre, the Sheminith, which as we will see shortly not only had messianic implications for contemporary Jews but literally arranged the same seven notes in a radical new way.
Let's first look again at Clement's words to make clear that the Sheminith is at the heart of his conception. The first paragraph brings forward various famous historical lyre players who supposedly had the power to charm wild animals. Clement begins by denying these myths - viz. "How, let me ask, have you believed vain fables and supposed animals to be charmed by music while Truth's shining face alone" - but insteads put forward a new Christian understanding of the same metaphor of a divinely inspired musician:
But let us bring from above out of heaven, Truth, with Wisdom in all its brightness, and the sacred prophetic choir, down to the holy mount of God; and let Truth, darting her light to the most distant points, cast her rays all around on those that are involved in darkness, and deliver men from delusion, stretching out her very strong right hand, which is wisdom, for their salvation. And raising their eyes, and looking above, let them abandon Helicon and Cithaeron, and take up their abode in Sion. "For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem, --the heavenly Word (λόγος οὐράνιος), the true athlete crowned in the theatre of the whole universe. What my Eunomos sings is not the measure of Terpander, nor that of Capito, nor the Phrygian, nor Lydian, nor Dorian, but the immortal measure of the new harmony which bears God's name (ἀλλὰ τῆς καινῆς ἁρμονίας τὸν ἀίδιον νόμον τὸν φερώνυμον τοῦ θεοῦ) --the new, the Levitical song.The can be no doubt that everyone reading this passage again will acknowledge the obvious comparison with the great musicians of the ancient past. Yet I bet everyone missed the reference to the divinely inspired 'instrument' (ὄργανον) at the heart of the whole Protreptikos.
I am sure that everyone just passed over the reference to Isa 3.2 - "For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" - and naturally understood 'the law' and 'the word of the Lord' to be a repeated allusion to the same concept. This is certainly not how Clement and the Alexandrian tradition read the passage. We can be absolutely certain that Clement is envisioning an one instrument 'harmonized' according to the diatessaron according to two parts - viz. 'the law' and 'the word of God.' For his successor Origen certainly takes the two to be separate things:
For the law came forth from the dwellers in Sion, and settled among us (in Alexandria) as a spiritual law. Moreover, the word of the Lord came forth from that very Jerusalem, that it might be disseminated through all places, and might judge in the midst of the heathen, selecting those whom it sees to be submissive, and rejecting the disobedient, who are many in number. (Contra Celsus 5.33)
Irenaeus similarly cites these same words against the Marcionites for their similar interpretation that two different things are being described here i.e. (secret) 'Law' and (public) 'gospel' (AH 4.56.3. Proof Apost. 85).
Once we understand that Clement like Origen necessarily sees two texts at work in the world. Notice that Clement only speaks of a 'heavenly word' immediately following Isaiah's reference to 'the word of the Lord from Jerusalem' (καὶ λόγος κυρίου ἐξ Ἱερου σαλήμ). Irenaeus intimates that there was indeed a Marcionite interpretation of this passage. They must necessarily have identified the λόγος κυρίου ἐξ Ἱερου σαλήμ as the gospel of Peter referenced in Galatians chapter 2. Notice also that Clement originally references the 'wisdom' of 'Truth' which is the 'heavenly word' (λόγος οὐράνιος) and 'spiritual' Law to use Origen's terminology. It is the harmony between this 'wisdom' and the 'word of the Lord from Jerusalem' which establishes the diatessaron harmony which creates the 'music' of contemporary Christian literature.
So we see Clement now develop an understanding of the 'new song' which comes from the 'instrument' of the harmony between 'mystic wisdom' and 'public gospel':
Behold the might of the new song! It has made men out of stones, men out of beasts. Those, moreover, that were as dead, not being partakers of the true life, have come to life again, simply by becoming listeners to this song. It also composed the universe into melodious order, and tuned the discord of the elements to harmonious arrangementκαὶ (τῶν στοιχείων τὴν διαφωνίαν εἰς τάξιν ἐνέτεινε συμφωνίας), so that the whole world might become harmony (ὁ κόσμος αὐτῷ ἁρμονία γένηται). It let loose the fluid ocean, and yet has prevented it from encroaching on the land. The earth, again, which had been in a state of commotion, it has established, and fixed the sea as its boundary. The violence of fire it has softened by the atmosphere, as the Dorian is blended with the Lydian strain; and the harsh cold of the air it has moderated by the embrace of fire, harmoniously arranging these the extreme tones of the universe. And this deathless strain,the support of the whole and the harmony of all (καὶ ἁρμονία τῶν πάντων),--reaching from the centre to the circumference, and from the extremities to the central part, has harmonized this universal frame of things (ἡρμόσατο τόδε τὸ πᾶν), not according to the Thracian music, which is like that invented by Jubal, but according to the paternal counsel of God (κατὰ δὲ τὴν πάτριον τοῦ θεοῦ βούλησιν), which fired the zeal of David.
Of course we should take very seriously of this conception of a 'new song,' 'new music' and above all a 'new instrument' This clearly comes from the mystical harmony from the two texts at the heart of the Alexandrian tradition.
It is important to note that superifically at least Clement goes on to declare that he is not thinking of 'lifeless' instruments (τὰ ἄψυχα ὄργανα) but a mystical harmony in heaven:
And He who is of David, and yet before him, the Word of God, despising the lyre and harp, which are but lifeless instruments, and having tuned by the Holy Spirit (ἁγίῳ πνεύματι ἁρμοσάμενος), the universe, and especially man,--who, composed of body and soul, is a universe in miniature, makes melody to God on this instrument of many tones and to this intrument--I mean man--he sings accordant (ψάλλει τῷ θεῷ διὰ τοῦ πολυφώνου ὀργάνου καὶ προσᾴδει τῷ ὀργάνῳ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ): "For thou art my harp, and pipe, and temple." --a harp for harmony--a pipe by reason of the Spirit a temple by reason of the word; so that the first may sound, the second breathe, the third contain the Lord. And David the king, the musician (ὁ Δαβὶδ ὁ βασιλεύς, ὁ κιθαριστής) whom we mentioned a little above, who exhorted to the truth (προὔτρεπεν ὡς τὴν ἀλήθειαν) and dissuaded from idols, was so far from celebrating demons in song, that in reality they were driven away by his music. Thus, when Saul was plagued with a demon, he cured him by merely playing. A beautiful breathing instrument of music the Lord made man, after His own image. And He Himself also, surely, who is the supramundane Wisdom, the celestial Word, is the all-harmonious, melodious, holy instrument of God (Καλὸν ὁ κύριος ὄργανον ἔμπνουν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐξειργάσατο κατ' εἰκόνα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ· ἀμέλει καὶ αὐτὸς ὄργανόν ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ παναρμόνιον, ἐμμελὲς καὶ ἅγιον, σοφία ὑπερκόσμιος, οὐράνιος λόγος).
David the lyre-player (ὁ κιθαριστής) stands very much in the heart of the whole exposition. Indeed most studies of the text miss the fact that the example of David the musician who 'exhorted' his contemporaries 'to the truth' (προὔτρεπεν ὡς τὴν ἀλήθειαν) is the source of the very title of the work (Προτρεπτικός προς Έλληνας).
In the same manner that David played an instrument, Christ his successor has also established a diatessaronic harmony between the mystic wisdom and the public gospel or as we read:
What, then, does this instrument - the Word of God, the Lord (τὸ ὄργανον, ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, ὁ κύριος), the New Song - desire? To open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf, and to lead the lame or the erring to righteousness, to exhibit God to the foolish, to put a stop to corruption, to conquer death, to reconcile disobedient children to their father. The instrument of God loves mankind (Φιλάνθρωπον τὸ ὄργανον τοῦ θεοῦ). The Lord pities, instructs, exhorts, admonishes, saves, shields, and of His bounty promises us the kingdom of heaven as a reward for learning; and the only advantage He reaps is, that we are saved. For wickedness feeds on men's destruction; but truth, like the bee, harming nothing, delights only in the salvation of men.
It is interesting to note that Clement himself can be seen operating very much in the manner of Christ and David. He is the one here 'exhorting' people to come over to the mystic truth of Christianity. This text leaves no doubt that Christianity is indeed a mystery religion and one which has a hidden mystery text as well as a public gospel.
I find the image of David the lyre-player very significant and can't help notice that David was associated with an instrument - the Sheminith - which perfectly embodies the harmony 'between two things' that happens to be a diatessaron. The instrument had clear messianic associations as we saw in the rabbinic literature and now also on the coins of the bar Kochba revolt:
When Clement speaks of 'a new song' that is not played on lyre or harp which is also identified by Clement as "not that of Capito, nor the Phrygian, nor Lydian, nor Dorian, but the immortal measure of the new harmony which bears God's name--the new, the Levitical song" - the Sheminith is the obvious symbol given that the name means 'eight' (cf. 'ogdoad' the Alexandrian conception of the Father) and moreover it was associated with the Levites in the Psalms and Chronicles.
As such Clement is clearly associating the 'public' and 'secret' gospels of Mark with this revolutionary one Jewish instrument which could - as we see in this interesting article - which could play in two different keys, a diatessaron apart. I think this instrument is the veritable symbol of the original Alexandrian gospel paradigm. I will cite this article in full and then provide my comments as a response to any questions my readers my have (I think I provided enough reading for everyone today!).
Throughout history, the image of the lyre has been a symbol of music and musicians for centuries. The symbol of the lyre is used by Steinway Pianos as their logo, a large gold lyre sits atop the music hall in Amsterdam, numerous coins have been struck with its image and even the rate chevron I wore as a guitarist in the US Navy Band had a lyre. The lyre is an icon familiar to most of us and is one of the instruments depicted on the coins of the bar Kochba revolts, ca. 132 CE. Referred to in Hebrew as the kinor, (Heb. ke-nor', che-nor') and translated herein as lyre, this string instrument was at the heart of the musical system of the Levites [emphasis mine].
From the construction and functionality of the instrument, the lyre was most likely used as a chording instrument much like a modern rhythm guitar, providing the harmonic background and chords over which the singers sung and the harps played. In addition to being easily played and tuned as a chording instrument, the unique setup of the lyre also enabled it to be used as a solo instrument. In the hands of a skilled player, the lyre was not only able to play single note melodies like a harp (Psalm 98:5), but also complex combinations of chords and melodies like a classical guitar.
As far as the number of strings used found on the lyre, there two possibilities: a seven-string model or an eight-string instrument. In the Hebrew texts there are three references that relate to "lyres on the eight" or "over the eight" or "in front of the eight" (Heb. al hä-sha-me-net') (1 Chronicles 15:21, Psalm 6 and 12). Taken one way, this could refer to the number of strings used on the lyre. Taken another way, it might refer to the fact that the tones of the lyre were an octave (eight diatonic tones) higher than the harps. Taken still another way, it could refer to the physical location of the lyres in relation to the harps (i.e., in front of the eight - refering to the eight harp players spoken of in 1 Chronicles 16:20). The later Hebrew writings of the Talmud relate in their dialogue that the lyres of the Levites had seven strings, but would have eight strings when the Messiah comes.1
From the instruments depicted on the coins of bar Kochba both a seven and an eight string instrument were possible. If you look carefully at the traditional images of the lyre and compare them to the lyres depicted on the coin of bar Kochba, you might notice something different between the two, the position of the three columns. Unlike traditional representations of the instrument, the three columns of the instruments depicted on the coins were roughly centered to the horizontal crossbar, but were always offset in relation to the center of the back (two columns to the left of center and one to the right of center). The offset columns in relation to the center of the back may have been an indication that the eight-string configuration was utilized as a model for the coins. For the purposes of our discussion, I have elected to use the eight-string scenario. As we shall see, the only difference between the an eight-string and a seven-string model is only the lowest string D.
Unlike its modern cousin, the guitar, the Hebrew lyre employed some real 'old-school' technology. By 'old school' technology I am referring to some of the basic principles discussed in the Pythagorean theories. The later students of Pythagoras even had a special teaching and test instrument known as a monochord to demonstrate this and some of the more complex technology employed in the lyre technology (Fig. 1.2).
If however, you place a secondary bridge directly in the center of a string, the resulting effect is that there are now two tones playable from one string - one tone above the center bridge and one tone below. If this secondary or center bridge is placed exactly in the center of the string, each section of the string is identical in length and exactly one octave higher than the open string without the secondary or center bridge (Fig. 1.3).
A more complicated principle in this scenario is that as the center bridge is moved closer to the heel of the instrument (away from the tuning keys), the pitch of the lower section of string becomes higher and the upper section of the string lower. This is simply because by shortening the length of the string by moving the bridge closer to the heel, the sound becomes higher in pitch. Conversely, as lower section of string becomes shorter and higher in the pitch, the section of string on the opposite side of the bridge becomes proportionality longer and in turn lower in pitch (Fig. 1.4). There is one point as the bridge is moved towards the heal of the instrument that the two tones become a perfect 5th/perfect 4th apart, a placement that is easily tuned by ear and located on the string.
Relating this back to the physical appearance and construction of the lyre, we find that the largest part of the body/sounding chamber is located towards the top of the instrument and not the bottom as on a guitar or violin. It in this section of the top that the lyre utilized a series of eight individual off-center center bridges that were placed on each string to create the perfect 5th/perfect 4th division of each string discussed.
The real beauty in this is setup is that the utilization of these center bridges permitted the instrument to be tuned and played as a chording instrument, with one complete set of chords below the center bridges and another complimentary set of chords above the center bridges. Basic chords were easily played in both the upper and lower sectors by simply playing three or more consecutive stings, a technique easily learned and utilized. This type of bridge and tuning configuration also permitted a skilled played to play complex melodies along with combinations of melodies and chords much like a modern classical/jazz guitarist. A technique however, much more difficult to learn and execute than merely playing chords. By alternating between the upper and lower sections, the instrument was able to play linier melodic lines much like the harp.
Depending on the exact pitches of the tuning references (see melodic cymbals, the lyre was a key specific instrument. If the pitch references were around an A and C as shown in our discussions, the keys would be A minor for the lower sector of chords below the center bridges and E minor for the upper sector of chords above the center bridges.
In addition to the open notes of the upper and lower tones, three additional tones were also playable on the lyre by depressing a string to one of the three columns with a finger of the left hand, functionally increasing the tension of the string, raising it by one-half to one whole tone. The three columns served not only as position markers for the player, enabling the musician to see which string to play, but were also a rudimental type of finger board on which three of the strings could be consistently raised - a situation that could not only be applied to playing chords, but also melodies.
