For he who is occupied has in
view some end which he has not attained; but happiness is an end,
since all men deem it to be accompanied with pleasure and not with
pain. This pleasure, however, is regarded differently by different
persons, and varies according to the habit of individuals; the
pleasure of the best man is the best, and springs from the noblest
sources. It is clear then that there are branches of learning and
education which we must study merely with a view to leisure spent in
intellectual activity, and these are to be valued for their own
sake; whereas those kinds of knowledge which are useful in business
are to be deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things.
And therefore our fathers admitted music into education, not on the
ground either of its necessity or utility, for it is not necessary,
nor indeed useful in the same manner as reading and writing, which are
useful in money-making, in the management of a household, in the
acquisition of knowledge and in political life, nor like drawing,
useful for a more correct judgment of the works of artists, nor
again like gymnastic, which gives health and strength; for neither
of these is to be gained from music. There remains, then, the use of
music for intellectual enjoyment in leisure; which is in fact
evidently the reason of its introduction, this being one of the ways
in which it is thought that a freeman should pass his leisure; as
Homer says,
But he who alone should be called to the pleasant feast,
and afterwards he speaks of others whom he describes as inviting
The bard who would delight them all.
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