Aurelii Augustini de Musica Libri VI : a pythagorean interpretation
Creators: name: Collis, Frederick John
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 1982
Subjects: subject: Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. De musica
subject: Pythagoras and Pythagorean school

description: This thesis attempts to interpret Augustine's of Hippo De Musica Libri VI in a fashion consistent with what I assume are typically pythagorean modes of thinking. Its fundamental principle is that the space-time universe and the atemporal universe of being are both constructed and understood on the model of the principles and arrangements of numbers. This position is embedded in a Platonic philosophical tradition communicated via Plotinus and Varro which more specifically provides Augustine with the imagery out of which he constructs his study. The text is divided into six books which are considered consecutively before finally considering the whole in relation to its most obvious historical counterparts Martianus' De nuptiis and Boethius' De institutione musica. The opening chapter attempts in very general terms to specify a tradition of 'number imagery' which I notice running through ancient Greek and Roman thought. Some of its more specific locations are described briefly, especially the work of the 'Neo-pythagoreans' and Plotinus' Ennead VI6. Augustine's relationship to this tradition is briefly sketched. The second chapter discusses book one in detail. It deals first with the definition of musica as scientia bene modulandi. It is clear that Augustine thinks of musica as first an intellectual discipline directly apprehended by the intellect and founded on a study of number relations. Then the detailed numeric theory is presented as an introduction both to the philosophical imagery of book six and as an introduction to the following books on prosody. These books two to five contain a unique rhythmic theory which, Augustine argues, issues in a logical way from the theory of number relations and must be clearly distinguished from the grammarian's interest in prosody" The principle of understanding is pat io which is used in the treatise to mean both ratio and reason. This double meaning is exploited, especially in these books, to make the rational character of his system clear. At the same time he maintains that sense itself is formed after these intellectual qualities and so the perfection of rhythmic movement can be recognized without ever being understood. Chapter four discusses book six of the treatise in considerable detail. It is a psychological study of sensation and its relation to patio. Ratio appears as the centrepiece of a theory of sensation based on kinds of numePi which are all immaterial contents of the active soul. Their relation to 'natural' and rational judgement is explored. The puzzle of sensible experience is explained in terms of an image, the carmen universitatis, which is central to my interpretation of the treatise. The image helps merge several categories of discourse as it locates the rational soul in social, aesthetic and ontological terms. A short exploration of the influence of the De Musica in the middle ages is included in the final chapter. A fairly comprehensive bibliography is attached.