ABSTRACT
In Chapter 4 of Perikles, where Plutarch is presenting what he considers to have been the significant formative influences on his subject, he reports that 'the majority' (presumably of the sources he consulted, or the testimonies he remembered) said that Perikles' teacher of ta mousika - a term which had a wider extension than our 'music', and covered literary studies in general as well as the playing of a musical instrument, such as the lyre, and the composition of poetryl - was Damon. Plutarch goes on to say that Aristotle disagreed with this, maintaining instead that Perikles was 'thoroughly trained' in music by Pythokleides. He then digresses slightly to the theme of 'music as a cover for political theory' in relation to Damon, a section to which we shall return. He next asserts (4.5) that Perikles also 'listened to' (diekouse) Zeno the Eleatic. Plutarch closes the chapter with a lengthy comment about the person whom he took to be the major intellectual influence on Perikles, Anaxagoras, who inculcated in him his celebrated philosophical 'elevation' and 'weightiness'.
