Amusement is for the sake of relaxation, and
relaxation is of necessity sweet, for it is the remedy of pain
caused by toil; and intellectual enjoyment is universally acknowledged
to contain an element not only of the noble but of the pleasant, for
happiness is made up of both. All men agree that music is one of the
pleasantest things, whether with or without songs; as Musaeus says:
Song to mortals of all things the sweetest.
Hence and with good reason it is introduced into social gatherings and
entertainments, because it makes the hearts of men glad: so that on
this ground alone we may assume that the young ought to be trained
in it. For innocent pleasures are not only in harmony with the perfect
end of life, but they also provide relaxation. And whereas men
rarely attain the end, but often rest by the way and amuse themselves,
not only with a view to a further end, but also for the pleasure's
sake, it may be well at times to let them find a refreshment in music.
It sometimes happens that men make amusement the end, for the end
probably contains some element of pleasure, though not any ordinary or
lower pleasure; but they mistake the lower for the higher, and in
seeking for the one find the other, since every pleasure has a
likeness to the end of action. For the end is not eligible for the
sake of any future good, nor do the pleasures which we have
described exist for the sake of any future good but of the past,
that is to say, they are the alleviation of past toils and pains.
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