[Brief discussion]
The compound, referring to the μουσοπόλοι, refers to those poets (precisely «who chatter nonsense») who spread, according to Telestes, the φάμα of Athena’s rejection of the αὐλός. The entire passage (fr. 805abc) is at the same time a strenuous defense of the instrument of the dithyramb and a criticism of certain poets of the New Music (probably Melanippides). The compound highlights the emptiness (see μάταιος and Beekes, EDG, s.v. μάτη) of the λόγος of those poets who focus more on emotions and the pleasure of the senses than on the meaning of the text. In this case, Telestes distances himself from a full adherence to the New Music movement.
[Bibliography]
F. BERLINZANI, ‘Teleste di Selinunte il Ditirambografo’, Aristonothos 2, and particularly pp. 121-123 with n. 50.
[Keywords]
Empty poetry, pleasure and music
[Francesco Buè]