aphrodite alexandrakis

THE ROLE OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN

ANCIENT GREEK AND CHINESE RITUALS:
FORM VERSUS CONTENT

At the same time that this paper examines the role of rituals, specifi-
cally that of dance, and the role of music in rituals in ancient Greece
during Plato’s time, it also compares the Platonic formal/callistic
views on rituals to those of the Chinese philosopher Xunzi, who lived
about a hundred years after Plato (310 BC).1
Both Plato and Xunzi were concerned with similar philosophical
issues, but their way of thinking about them differed sharply. While
the essence and purpose of rituals throughout the centuries remained
the same, namely, to “maintain harmonious relationships between
human society and the gods,”2 the relative emphasis on the content
and form (structure) varied from one society to the other. Both Plato
and Xunzi used the term form, but they had different understandings
and approaches to the notion of form. The meaning of form in Plato
will be discussed first, followed by Xunzi’s interpretation. I will argue
that Xunzi’s notion of form as regards ceremonial rites is not con-
stricted by a rational structure. In fact, Xunzi’s position is the opposite
of Plato’s: Chinese rituals, as conceived by Xunzi, are of an emotional
nature, always expressing and focusing on emotions (content) and
often associated with themes of war and combat.
In the Laws,3 Plato praises those men “who preserve measure in
their pleasures,” and gives credit to the inventor of the search “for the
truth and musical taste of the names, and the philosophical
insight . . .” Plato rejects the emotional impact of any act of ceremony
on man. He therefore plays down the content (message) and empha-
sizes the form (structure), which for him is rational and consists of
several abstract elements, three of which are fundamental: harmony,
rhythm, and symmetry. Indeed, according to the formalists—Plato
was one of the earliest representatives—form, whether in art or in any
of the other areas of music, dance, and ceremonial rites, is most
important to the constitution of the beauty of a rational whole. For
Plato, as for all formalists (objectivists) from the classical period to the

APHRODITE ALEXANDRAKIS, professor, School of Arts and Sciences, Barry

University. Specialties: ancient philosophy, aesthetics, ethics. E-mail: aalexandrakis@
mail.barry.edu
© 2006 Journal of Chinese Philosophy
268 aphrodite alexandrakis

twentieth century, beauty consists of the three essential elements of

harmony, rhythm, and symmetry. The term “harmony” was first men-
tioned and analyzed by Pythagoras. It means “fitting together,” a
rhythmic, and balanced flow of lines, colors, shapes, words or written
actions from one part to another. This leads naturally to a harmonious
effect that produces a feeling of “calmness” about a complete whole,
which can be readily perceived by the spectator. This idealized “calm-
ness” is imprinted on the early fifth-century Athenian sculptures and
sculptural relief and it gives them the serene, lofty beauty and gran-
deur of a rational construct. One of the best examples is the interior
sculptural relief of the Parthenon above the Doric columns.
Plato was very particular in analyzing and defining the notion of
form. In the Phelibus, for example, he analyzes the notion of pure form
(schematon kallos) by referring to the straight and solid curved lines:
The principle of goodness has reduced itself to the law of beauty. For
measure and proportion, always pass into beauty and excellence. For
when I say beauty of form, I am trying to express, not what most
people would understand by the words . . . but . . . the straight line
and the circle and the plane and solid figures formed from these by
turning lathes and rulers and patterns of angles; for these I affirm to
be not only relatively beautiful . . . but they are eternally and abso-
lutely beautiful, and they have peculiar pleasures, quite unlike the
pleasures of irritating an itching place . . . And there are colors which
are of the same character, and have similar pleasures . . . When
sounds are smooth and clear, and utter a single pure tone . . . they are
not relatively beautiful but absolutely beautiful . . . 4
Plato appreciates and values pure form, which is the result of the
well-calculated spatial relations of the shapes and lines involved.
Thus, despite the fact that Plato is against most forms of art, he accepts
works of art made of pure form. This pure form, or formal quality,
produces an aesthetic emotion, or intellectual appreciation, in the
perceiver, which is quite similar to the one described by Clive Bell,
namely that emotion has an intellectual (i.e., nonsensual) nature; the
same emotion one experiences when solving a mathematical equa-
tion. This emotion is the response to the form—“significant form”—
which is universal and eternal.5 This kind of emotion is quite different
from the emotions we experience in everyday life. In common every-
day emotions, form is conceived in its relation to content and the
emphasis is on content. As will be shown, contrary to the Platonic
notion of rites, the Chinese rituals according to Xunzi focus on human
emotions, that is, the content and message, and not on the rational
aspect of the form and structure. These two aspects result in two kinds
of beauty: formal (objective) and sensual (subjective). Formal beauty
is a unity in variety (unity of formal elements such as lines, shapes,
structured symmetrically, rhythmically, and harmoniously), based on a
 the role of music and dance 269

callistic (intellectual beauty) principle. Both formal and sensual

beauty is found in rituals and in music.
Most Greek rituals and religious laws originate from the oracles of
Delphi and Dodona, which were the most famous religious as well as
political centers. All rituals were dedicated to the gods. Dedications
and consecrations of statues, altars, and the like were prescribed by
the oracle of Delphi and Dodona, and according to Plato, female or
male priests “act as sacristans for the gods.”6 The practice of rituals
was an important part of the festivals, where dancing and music were
also central activities. However, as will be argued, contrary to the
exuberant Chinese presentation of music and rituals, Plato preferred
the controlled, calculated dance movements and the simple, calm,
music of the Dorian scale that is devoid of sensuality and emotion.
Plato’s love for calm and rhythmical—hence rational—dance move-
ments and melody is reflected in his statement that just as mothers put
their babies to sleep by rocking them in their arms and humming a
tune, so the Dionysian priestesses should combine the movement of
dance and song. Thus the “external motion dominates the internal
which is the source of the fright or frenze. By its domination it pro-
duces a mental sense of calm and relief.”7 Hence, the rational struc-
ture of the calm dance movements is controlled, and form dominates
content, which in this case, is frenze.
There were some dances, the bacchanals for example, which, for
Plato, were a “mimic” exhibit of persons affected by liquor, and he had
difficulty determining their purpose.8 He therefore rejected this type
of dance, which for him had no specific purpose as they consist of
violent, frenze movements. However, Plato did distinguish the bac-
chanal dances from those of war and peace.9 He explained that the
educated and disciplined man’s dance movements will not be violent:
“the more sober the man and the more schooled to fortitude, the less
violent the movement.”10 Thus, dancing has two species: The comic
and the serious, the latter having a dignified effect while the former is
ludicrous. The serious kind of dance has two subspecies: One repre-
sents “the movements of the comely body and its valiant soul in battle
and its toils of enforced endurance. The other, the bearing of the
continent soul in a state of prosperity and duly measured pleasure.”11
This is the dance of peace. Plato favors the dance of peace because of
his formal theory based on rationality that values well-calculated and
nonemotional body movements that reflect the formal, objective ele-
ments of harmony, rhythm, and symmetry. As he states, this dance
reflects the “right attitude” in which there is “a well braced posture
which represents the good body and good mind, and in which the
bodily members are kept straight . . .”12 Another kind of dance is the
war dance or Pyrrhic dance, which “depicts the motions of eluding
270 aphrodite alexandrakis

blows and shots of every kind by various devices of swerving, yielding

ground or crouching as well as the contrary motions which lead to a
posture of attack . . .”13 Thus Plato accepts the dance of war only if the
bodily motions have the correct (nonviolent, controlled) movements
that yield a dignified effect. On the other hand, in the peace dance the
performer must have a graceful style becoming to the “law-abiding
man.”14 Hence, the choric expressions of vice versus virtue will give
pleasure to bad men rather than the virtuous.15 This is in agreement
with his theory of the good (moral) and the beautiful (callistic) always
going hand in hand rhythmically and in harmony.
Unlike animals, most human beings are capable of perceiving and
enjoying rhythm and melody. This is noticeable in choric art whose
content is rhythm and melody. In both dance and singing, the part
which “deals with bodily movement has rhythm in common with the
movements of the voice.”16 In Plato’s scheme of things, there are two
branches of instruction and learning: Physical culture concerned with
the body and music that “aims at mental excellence.” Physical culture
consists of dancing and wrestling. Plato says:
One department of dancing is the presentation of works of poetical
inspiration with the care of the preservation of dignity and decorum;
the other, which aims at physical fitness, nobility, and beauty, ensures
an appropriate flexure and tension and actual bodily limbs and
members, and endows them all with the grace of movement which is
incidentally extended to every form of the dance and pervades all
intimacy.17

Plato insists that the performer maintain a “graceful style of dancing

in a way becoming to the law-abiding man.” He draws a distinction
between questionable dances and those beyond question. The dances
that are dedicated to and performed in the honor of the gods express
“a sense of well-being.” But dance cannot be performed without
music, for the bodily movements by themselves do not express or
mean anything in particular.18 Thus, music is an important part of
Greek rituals.
According to Plato, proper education gives the proper surround-
ings and brings out what is best in the soul. Education in music is
designed to forge a wholesome discipline.19 Music is one of the most
important disciplines because
. . . more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to
the inmost soul and take strongest hold upon it, bringing with them
and imparting grace . . . because omissions and the failure of beauty
in things badly made or grown would be most quickly perceived by
one who was properly educated in music . . . he would praise beau-
tiful things and take delight in them and receive them into his soul to
foster its growth and become himself beautiful and good.20
 the role of music and dance 271

As for the teachers, Plato says, they must be very sensitive to rhythmic
and melodic structure. He goes so far as to say that a man with no
choric training is uneducated.21 Moreover, the performers must also
be educated to a degree “better than that of a choir.”22 They must
understand and be able to judge rhythms and melodies, and only one
familiar with the Dorian scale may be the judge of the rightness or
wrongness of the rhythm. Music educates the guardians “through
habits imparting by the melody of certain harmony of spirit that is not
science, and by the rhythm, measure and grace.”23 It is through music
(mousike) that man develops the love of the beautiful and for Plato,
the love of the beautiful is the love of the good. He says:
. . . education in music is most sovereign, because more than anything
else, rhythm and harmony find their way to the inmost soul and take
strongest hold upon it, bringing with them and imparting grace, if one
is rightly trained, and otherwise the contrary?24

Accordingly, “true beauty and grace” spring out of the formal ele-
ments of harmony, rhythm, and melody. First, one perceives the
formal elements, then one loves them, and finally one recognizes
beauty that in turn reflects the good. Furthermore,
good speech, then, good accord, good grace, and good rhythm wait
upon a good disposition, not that weakness of head, which we euphe-
mistically style goodness of heart, but the truly good and fair dispo-
sition of the character and the mind.25

Ancient Greek music is divided into several types and patterns. One
type of song (hymn) consists of prayers to the gods; the second and
contrasting type is the lament; paeans constitute the third type, and
there is the fourth, the dithyramb (dealing with the birth of Dionysos).
Furthermore, there is Nome with the qualification of citharoedic.
Using one type of melody for another is not permitted. The various
types of music bring pleasure to a variety of audiences, just as a
puppet show will, for example, brings pleasure to children. Thus, Plato
thinks that
the standard by which music should be judged is the pleasure it gives,
but not the pleasure given to any and every auditor. We may take it
that the finest music is that which delights the best men, the properly
educated . . . above all, which pleases the one man who is supreme in
goodness and education.26

For Plato, citizens should “aim at the noblest kind of song”27 and at
the kind of music that is right and not just pleasing. A man who does
not understand the rightness of a particular production is not in “a
position to discuss the goodness or badness of the work.” He points
out that some ignorant poets “possessed by a frantic lust for pleasure
272 aphrodite alexandrakis

they mixed up hymns with lament and paeans with dithyrambs and
created a universal confusion of forms. The right standard for him was
the pleasure given to the audience.”28 It follows that for Plato, the
standard for rightness in music is not its pleasure-giving effect; plea-
sure cannot be the standard of judgment. In fact, for Plato, it is
blasphemous to say so.29
Plato, as a formalist/rationalist, does not simply express his points
of view on music but he also develops a theory on which the ceremo-
nial dances of the various rituals depend. It is a theory of music for the
sake of music by analyzing the objective importance of melody and
rhythm, a theory not influenced by religion or human emotions. His is
a formal theory emphasizing the form and the structure of music and
dance by disregarding the content, that is, the underpinning message
and the underlying feelings.
One of the greatest Chinese philosophers who lived about a
hundred years after Plato, Xunzi, had a different understanding of
music, dance, and rituals in general, even though his general ideas on
life are sometimes close to Plato’s. Xunzi’s cultural background gen-
erated completely different approaches and ideas. In his description
of dance, Xunzi is brief and terse. His reference to dances such as
the “Great Elegance,” the “Libation,” the “Militant,” “Martial,”
“Panpipe,” and a few others pertains to the music that accompanies
them rather than the bodily movements.30 As with the rites, these
dances originated from and were established by the various princes
who founded the dynasties such as Yu, who established the Xia
dynasty. Xunzi does not give details of these dances but he records the
statements others made about them. For example, he says that when
Prince Zua of Wu witnessed the “Great Elegance” dance in 542 BC,
he exclaimed: “Admirable indeed! Zealous labors without any claim
to moral power, which but Yu would have been capable of this culti-
vation!”31 Xunzi also informs us that the “militant” dance showed “the
ambition of King Wu.” Based on the above, the craft of dance was
apparently always associated with someone from the upper stratum of
society, that is, a prince or a king. The majority of the ancient Chinese
dances dealt with the subjects of war, death, and killing, as such, they
featured and presented violent bodily movements. The Greek rituals,
on the other hand, having their origins in the oracles of Delphi and
Dodona, were based on the worship of gods.
In Chinese culture, the origins of rituals (li) can be traced to ances-
tor worship, and the rituals were established by the ancient kings. The
basic principles and origins of rituals, unlike the case of Platonic
Greece, are tied to the social hierarchy and infused with moral ele-
ments. Thus, while the Greek rituals are directly related to the reli-
gious ceremonies established by the people and dedicated to the gods,
 the role of music and dance 273

the Chinese rituals (li) have a clear social basis and moral connota-
tions, although it should be pointed out that the kings, because of their
elevated social hierarchical status, were almost deified. According to
Xunzi, since men cannot curb their desires, they contend with one
another and this results in chaos.32 To prevent and control such disor-
der, the ancient kings established the rites. Xunzi claims:
The Ancient Kings abhorred such disorder; so they established the
regulations contained within ritual and moral principles in order to
apportion things, to nurture desires of men, and to supply the means
for their satisfaction . . .33
As for rites, they
are the highest expression of order and discrimination, the root of
strength in the state, the Way by which the majestic sway of authority
is created . . .34
According to Xunzi, ritual principles have three roots: The root of life
(heaven and earth); the root of kinship (forebears); and the root of
order (lords and teachers). These principles provide peace and secu-
rity for men. People succeed in life only if they proceed in accordance
with the Way of ritual principles. Only when people act in accordance
with the moral principles and rituals and observe “good form” and
reason do they nurture their emotions.35 By “good form” Xunzi means
“honoring the roots.” As for “reason” he refers to “employing familiar
foods.”36 When people act in accordance with moral principles and
rituals, observing “good form” and reason, they nurture their emo-
tions. Thus Xunzi’s notion of “good form” and the rational in rituals is
quite different from Plato’s.
While Xunzi’s focus of rituals is concerned with how to nurture the
emotions and fulfill the obligations that lead to the Way,37 Plato’s
thought on this is purely rationalistic. Rituals, for Plato, are a part of
the citizen’s obligation to fulfill religious and social obligations only.
There is nothing poetic or mythical in his perception of rites. On the
contrary, Xunzi’s view is poetic, moral, and perhaps even primal in the
sense that it expresses rituals’ importance in man’s life as it is related
to the cosmos. He says:
Through rites, Heaven and Earth are conjoined,
the sun and moon shine brightly
the four seasons observe their natural precedence,
the stars and planets move in ranks
the rivers and streams flow,
and the myriad things prosper
Through them, love and hate are tempered,
and joy and anger made to fit the occasion38
In Xunzi’s thinking, ritual principles are the basis of “the highest sense
of morality, and social order . . .” which are in accord with the natural
274 aphrodite alexandrakis

order. Since rituals embrace moral principles, and not just desires and
emotion, personal involvement and participation in ritual practice will
satisfy and fulfill one’s ritual duties, desires, emotions, and morality at
the same time, for music affects “our inner states and alters our
character.”39 As a result, those who observe rituals become perfect.
However, Xunzi does not explain the structure of this perfection.
Furthermore, he bases perfection on rather external elements. Once a
person fulfills his ritual duties, he is perfect. Man’s evil nature is
transformed by his participation in rituals. Contrary to Plato’s empha-
sis on form’s objective elements, Xunzi’s notion of perfection is based
both on moral attainment and ritual adherence to the external forms
of rituals. A person trained in rituals is an expert in everything, so
much so that he may even be considered an expert designer:
The overall design, the elegant composition is the achieved result, the
beauty of variation of color, ornamentation and pattern realized in
the fabric, painting, or building as well as in the movement of poetry,
song, or dance. It is made brilliantly manifest and apparent as the
badge of accomplishment of the gentleman who has mastered
ritual.40
Thus, a man who has not mastered rituals would not have been able to
create such a design. This view is in sharp contrast to Plato’s, which
declares that only the rationally educated person—not the person
trained in rituals—would be capable of creating a rationally aesthetic
whole.
Mastering the rituals, for Xunzi, is important. The only way to
achieve this is by following the teacher’s guidance. Hence, the teach-
er’s role in shaping one’s life is crucial. It is the teacher who will help
the individual to achieve a balanced and harmonious personality. He
will help the person to “regulate the qi and cultivate the mind . . . The
proper way to regulate the qi and cultivate the mind is to soften
temperament with balance and harmony.”41 Through the teacher, a
person’s involvement with rituals is rectified. For it is the teacher who
knows which ritual is correct. Xunzi goes so far as to say that the way
to become a sage is by reaching the teacher’s level of understanding.
Such a view is in sharp contrast with the Platonic way of thinking as
regards perfecting oneself and the teacher’s role in life. According to
Xunzi, the teacher and the practice of rituals enabled and molded
moral cultivation. In Plato, as reflected in his Myth of the Cave,
individuals must struggle by themselves to achieve knowledge and the
Good through reasoning only.
Rites, for Xunzi, are the “highest expression of order . . . , the root
of strength in the state, the way by which the majestic sway of author-
ity is created.”42 It follows that Chinese rituals depend on that “majes-
tic authority,” the hierarchical social role of the ancient kings, which is
 the role of music and dance 275

quite different from Plato’s “hierarchical” notion based on reason and

not social status. For Xunzi, a person well acquainted with ritual
principles has “methods and standards.”43 Rites, he says, “trim what is
too long . . . , eliminate excess, remedy deficiency, and extend culti-
vated forms that express love and respect so that they increase and
complete the beauty and conduct according to one’s duty.”44 Hence,
the adoption and exercise of rituals form the basis of a morally
ordered life. By behaving according to rituals, the emotions are at
peace.45 “Ritual is the means by which one’s person is rectified”46 and
that leads to completion and fulfillment.47
Xunzi is also interested in music’s effect on man. What sustains
tranquility in life, he contends, is music (yue, musical instruments/
musicians), happiness and elegant adornment through rituals. While
rituals alter the individual’s character, “music transforms the inward
movements of the mind.”48 Music, he said, is joy. With joy, it produces
“an inner serenity and repose.” Being an “essential part of man’s
emotional nature, the expression of Joy is, by necessity, inescapable.”49
But as with rituals, for Xunzi, it was the ancient kings who created
music to celebrate de (power):

Music provides the means to secure de (Power) and morality, the

means to find a home in it . . . The highest embodiment attained in
ritual is also the perfection of expression attained in music.50

Even though Xunzi wrote about the importance of music in rituals, he

did not develop a theory as Plato did. His understanding of music is
nowhere close to Plato’s rational, systematic analysis. For Xunzi,
music “gives form to natural language of sound and movement. So,
sounds change according to the emotion involved.”51 Music is appre-
ciated for what it accomplishes by accompanying rituals and the
emotion it creates. This is far from Plato’s objective appreciation of
music for its intrinsic value. As Plato points out in his criticism of
Egyptian music, “it is possible to canonize melodies which exhibit an
intrinsic rightness permanently by law.”52 It is interesting to note how
important music’s role is in influencing emotions and how much
emphasis Xunzi and Chinese thought in general place on emotion.
Such emphasis differs considerably from Plato’s highly rational
notion of music. For Xunzi, music affects our “inner states” and alters
our character:

When music affects our mind, it causes us not only to move in a

certain way but to feel that way as well. The Ancient Kings under-
stood this and placed their highest priority on music. . . . Music
creates harmony in a community, state, or nation because it affects all
men the same way, since they share the same nature and have the
same emotions.53
276 aphrodite alexandrakis

The combination of music and rituals creates in the person inner

harmony and outward modesty. He becomes “reverential” as his inner
and outer self is transformed. The cultivation of his inner power (de)
shines in his face, and is seen in his actions and speech. When people
see this inner harmony and outward modesty in an individual, they
are affected directly, so much so that they accept and obey him. “This
is why all the sages made the cultivation of music their first task in
founding a dynasty.”54
While Plato’s teaching of music is used as a tool to promote man’s
rational thinking and elevate his soul, Xunzi’s interest in music is of a
political nature, in that music elevates the few to the highest social
level and position of power. Those who underwent this transforma-
tion were the “sage kings.” “Musical tones, having their origins in the
human mind, ultimately connect humans and the cosmos.”55 As the
kings regulated music in the state, they transformed men and
repressed their evil sentiments, to the extent that Xunzi believed
man’s nature to be evil. “Since human nature is evil, we must elevate
the sages and esteem ritual and rightness.”56 If music’s message is
good, then the response to it and the influence by it will also be good.
Thus, music’s message (content) was crucial in the formation of
human character. Plato dismisses content for the same reasons that
Xunzi adopts them—he accepts the form or formal elements on which
the structure of music depends but not its emotional influence. As a
result, Plato dismisses the Lydian and Frygian music because of its
emotional effect, and welcomed the Dorian music with its simplicity
and seriousness.57
Finally, another example of the difference between Xunzi and Plato
is illustrated by this remark of the former: “Music creates harmony in
a community, state, or nation because it affects all men the same way,
since they share the same nature and have the same emotions.”58 By
“the same nature,” Xunzi means the evil nature of man. Only the
ancient kings are not included in this category. By regulating music,
the ancient kings believed that man’s evil sentiments would be
repressed, and if they were not, anarchy would prevail in society. Plato
does not at all share Xunzi’s belief in man’s evil nature. Man is not
evil, and the realization of his potential depends on the environment
in which he lives, his education and his strivings in life. Man’s freedom
to grow is entirely dependent on him only; his future is not predeter-
mined. For Xunzi, the well-being of man’s life and future depended on
the ancient kings who created the institutions—music and rituals—for
the amelioration of man’s evil nature, even though the end-result of
music is the engendering of great joy, a supreme emotion. Music
creates, he says, “a whole that produces the exhilaration of joy and the
glow of mutual affection in all who experience it.”59
 the role of music and dance 277

To sum up, while both Plato and Xunzi were concerned with rituals
and music in human life, they differed sharply in what their funda-
mental function is. For Plato, it is the rational element of the soul that
underpins the ritual and music, and brings forth the goodness and
beauty of a formal structure. It is the form structure (formal elements
such as harmony, rhythm, and symmetry) of the rituals and music that
appeals to the rational part of the soul. On the other hand, for Xunzi
it is the content (message) in music and ritual that appeals to man; it
affects, induces, and elevates his emotions.

BARRY UNIVERSITY
Miami, Florida

Endnotes

1. William Theodore De Barry, Irene Bloom, and Joseph Adler, eds., Sources of Chinese
Tradition, 2nd ed., vol. I (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 159.
2. Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Roberts, eds.,
Ancient Greece—A Political, Social, and Cultural History (New York: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1999), 32.
3. Laws, 616b. All translations of Plato’s words are from Edith Hamilton and Hunting-
ton Cairns, The Collected Dialogues of Plato (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1973).
4. Philebus, 51c–d.
5. Clive Bell, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, ed. George Dicke, Richard Sclafani, and
Ronald Roblin (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989).
6. Laws, 759b.
7. Ibid., 790e–791a.
8. Ibid., 815c.
9. Ibid., 816.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 814d.
12. Laws, 816.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid., 814e–815b.
15. Ibid., 655d.
16. Ibid., 672.
17. Ibid., 795.
18. See Francis Sparsott, “Why Philosophy Neglects the Dance,” in Aesthetics: A Critical
Anthology, ed. George Dicke, Richard Sclafani, and Ronald Roblin (New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1989).
19. Laws, 659d.
20. Republic, 401d–e.
21. Laws, 654b.
22. Ibid., 670.
23. Rep., 522a–e.
24. Ibid., 401d–402a.
25. Ibid., 400d.
26. Ibid., 658e–659a–c.
27. Ibid., 668b.
28. Ibid., 655d–e.
29. Ibid., 654d.
278 aphrodite alexandrakis

30. John Knoblock, ed., Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works (Stanford,
CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), 54.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid., p. 175.
33. Ibid., p. 49.
34. Ibid., p. 58.
35. Ibid., p. 56.
36. The drinks and foods offered during sacrifices.
37. According to Xunzi, one understands the Way (dao) through the mind. There are
subtle and fearful minds. The enlightened person can know and distinguish the dif-
ference. This person “is skilled in the way, and will consider things together.” See De
Bary and Bloom, Sources, 179.
38. Knoblock, Xunzi, 60.
39. Ibid., p. 57.
40. Ibid., p. 26.
41. De Bary and Bloom, Sources, 165.
42. Ibid., p. 57.
43. Ibid., p. 61.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid., p. 166.
46. Ibid.
47. Knoblock, Xunzi, 54.
48. Ibid., p. 75.
49. Ibid., p. 80.
50. Ibid., p. 75.
51. Ibid., p. 74.
52. Laws, 657.
53. Knoblock, Xunzi, 79.
54. Ibid., p. 78.
55. Ibid., p. 76.
56. De Bary and Bloom, Sources, 182.
57. Laches, 188d.
58. Knoblock, Xunzi, 79.
59. Ibid.