              Copyright
Helen Forder
2004
|
The
National Music of Wales ... continued xxxxxxxxxxxxxxpage 6
John
Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia). From Y Cymmrodor, 1878 |
It may be a
circumstance worthy of remark that Abaris was
a name peculiar to Arabian kings in ancient
times, as much so as Ptolemy was to Egyptian
monarchs.
In the fourth century, Ammianus Marcellinus
relates that the British bards celebrated the
brave actions of illustrious men in heroic poems,
which they sang to the sweet sound of the harp. |
 |
| In this
respect they resembled the Grecians, as is shown
by Homer, in the 9th book of the Iliad (v.
245). In the embassy sent by Agamemnon to
Achilles, during his retirement, after he had
quitted the Grecian camp, he gives the following
description: |
"Amus'd at
ease, the God-like man they found,
Pleas'd with the solemn harp's harmonious
sound;
(The well-wrought harp from conquer'd Thebę
came,
Of polish'd silver was its costly frame);
With this he soothes his angry soul, and
sings
Th' immortal deeds of heroes and of
kings."
|
| The most
remarkable feature of all, in comparing the
manners and customs of the ancient Greeks with
those of the ancient Britons, is to be found in
the singular similarity between the Olympic games
and the Eisteddfodau, which have been
periodically held in Wales from time immemorial,
and continued up to the present. It is true that
athletic games are no longer included in the
programme of the Eisteddfod - in addition to
music and poetry - as was the case in the Olympic
games; neither have we any instance of a
challenge of skill between two musicians, and its
being mutually agreed that he who was defeated
should be tied to a tree and flayed alive by the
conqueror, as was the case between Marsyas and
Apollo; but the particular trials of strength
mentioned in the Grecian contests, such as
running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, and throwing
the quoit, are all included in the
four-and-twenty games of the Welsh; and in all
probability, they were encouraged at the
Eisteddfodau in former times, and until the more
civilising influence of music and poetry caused
them to be discontinued. |
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