Note 15 — § 19. Relation of System and Key.
Reading edition
Plato, Rep. p. 399: ouk ara, ên d' egô, polychordias ge oude panarmoniou hêmin deêsei en tais ôdais te kai melesin. Ou moi, ephê, phainetai. Trigônôn ara kai pêktidôn kai pantôn organôn hosa polychorda kai polyarmonia dêmiourgous ou threpsomen. Ou phainometha. Ti de? aulopoious ê aulêtas paradexei eis tên polin? ê ou touto polychordotaton, kai auta ta panarmonia aulou tynchanei onta mimêma? Dêla dê, ê d' hos. Lyra dê soi, ên d' egô, kai kithara leipetai, kai kata polin chrêsima; kai au kat' agrous tois nomeusi syrinx an tis eiê.
The aulos was not exactly a flute. It had a mouthpiece which gave it the character rather of the modern oboe or clarinet: see the Dictionary of Antiquities, s. v. tibia. The panarmonion is not otherwise known, and the passage in Plato does not enable us to decide whether it was a real instrument or only a scale or arrangement of notes.