Author details/dating: Aristotle 384-322 BCE
Instrument Cited: salpinx, lyre
Citation Reference: Aristotle, Rhetoric 3.6.7
Citation Content:
That the salpinx remained an arpeggial instrument at the time of Aristotle is suggested in his book on rhetoric. At one point in this, he refers to the practice of describing objects by the use of qualities which an object does not possess, when saying :
You may apply this method of treatment by negation either to good or to bad qualities, according to which your subject requires. It is from this source that the poets draw expressions such as the ‘stringless’ or ‘lyreless’ melody, thus forming epithets out of negations. This device is poular in proportional metaphors, as when the salpinx’s note [he uses the Greek word melos] is called a ‘lyreless melody’.
Some other translators use the phrase ‘melody without the lyre’
In this example, Aristotle is referring to a proportional metaphor, i.e., he is not saying that the sound of the salpinx cannot be interpreted as a melody but that it lacks the complexity which can be achieved when using a lyre. He is describing what I would refer to as an arpeggial instrument. *
See image below for Greek text
Recent Reference English: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0060%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D7