From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Muses
Μούσας (Mousas)
The goddesses whose name supplies the clue to identifying the craft of music, song and stepping in time.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe goddesses whose name supplies the clue to identifying the craft of music, song and stepping in time.
- In Alcibiades IAlcibiades has failed to name the general craft to which lyre-playing, singing and rhythmic movement belong.
- In this editionThe edition capitalizes the Muses as proper divine names and explains mousikē as including poetry and dance as well as music.
- A place to readThe Muses lead from an unanswered question to the words music and musically.
Meaning
The goddesses whose name supplies the clue to identifying the craft of music, song and stepping in time.
Use in the book
Alcibiades has failed to name the general craft to which lyre-playing, singing and rhythmic movement belong. Socrates asks which goddesses own that craft; Alcibiades answers the Muses and then recognizes music. The divine name functions as a linguistic and educational prompt within the search for the proper name of “the better” in an activity. It is not an appeal to inspiration as a replacement for expertise. The immediate successful answer is then used to expose the difficulty of naming the equivalent standard for war and peace.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The edition capitalizes the Muses as proper divine names and explains mousikē as including poetry and dance as well as music. The dialogue itself names the relevant activities before asking the question.
Μοῦσα
Attested: Μούσας (mousas; 108c). Muse; in the plural, the goddesses whose name helps Alcibiades identify music. Lexical identification: lemma: Μοῦσα. See Muses.
From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Muse
Μοῦσα (Mousa); Μούσης (Mousēs)
Mousa names the divine patron addressed by the poet.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMousa names the divine patron addressed by the poet.
- In EmpedoclesThe invocation of B32 follows a prayer that the gods restrain madness of the tongue and channel a pure spring from holy mouths.
- In this editionThe chariot's departure “from the house of Piety” renders a Greek phrase literally meaning from or beside Piety; no separate word for house is printed there.
- A place to readThe Muse is invoked within a programme of holy speech and disciplined inquiry.
Meaning
Mousa names the divine patron addressed by the poet. In B32 she is a much-remembering, white-armed maiden; B131 specifies Calliopeia. Her presence gives the poem a divine source and audience without dispensing with argument, observation, or the limits placed on mortal knowledge.
Use in the book
The invocation of B32 follows a prayer that the gods restrain madness of the tongue and channel a pure spring from holy mouths. The Muse is asked to bring what creatures of a day may lawfully hear, driving a well-reined chariot from Piety. The imagery makes inspiration controlled and ethically bounded. Fame must not induce speech beyond what is holy. Immediately afterward the addressee is urged to use every available faculty and to judge each thing by the mode in which it becomes clear. Inspired speech and discriminating inquiry are therefore neighbours within the same passage.
B4 speaks of the Muse's pledges and of an argument sifted through the inward parts. Divine authority does not remove the listener's work of receiving and testing the account. B131 renews the prayer, asking Calliopeia to stand beside the speaker as he discloses a good account of the blessed gods. The renewal indicates a continuing poetic relationship; it does not by itself prove where the invocation belonged in an original composition.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The chariot's departure “from the house of Piety” renders a Greek phrase literally meaning from or beside Piety; no separate word for house is printed there. B131 includes a supplement in its account of the Muse's earlier welcome.