Instituta Laconia

If anyone presumed to transgress in any way the rules of the good old music, they would not permit this; but even Terpander, one of the oldest and the best harp-player of his time as well as a devoted admirer of the deeds of heroes, the Ephors none the less fined, and carried away his instrument and nailed it to a wall because he put in just one extra string for the sake of the variety in the notes; for they approved only the simpler melodies. Moreover, when Timotheus was competing at the Carneian Festival, one of the Ephors took a knife, and asked him on which side he should cut out the superfluous strings beyond the usual seven.[*](For variant versions of the story see the note on Moralia, 220 c, supra.)