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ON MUSIC BOOK ONE The definition of music is given; and the species and proportion of number-laden movements, things which belong to the consideration of this discipline, are explained. Chapter 1 (1) MASTER. What foot is 'modus'? DISCIPLE. A pyrrhic. M. And it contains how many times?l D. Two. M. What foot is (bonus'? D. The same as (modus.' M. So, what is (bonus' is also (modus.' D. No. M. Why are they, then, the same? D. Because they are the same in sound, but other in signification. M. You say, then, the sound is the same when we say (modus,' and when we say (bonus'. D. I see of course they differ in the sound of the letters, but are otherwise alike. M. Now when we pronouce the verb (pone' and the adverb (pone,' except for the difference in meaning, do you perceive no difference in sound? D. There is quite a difference. I The doctrine of the tempus, or protos chrollos, is more thoroughly examined in 2.2. 169 170 SAINT AUGUSTINE M. Where is the difference, since both consist of the same times and the same letters? D. The difference is they have the acute accent2 in different places. M. Now to what art does it belong to distinguish these things? D. I have always heard them from grammarians, and that is where I learnt them. But whether they are proper to this art or taken from somewhere else, I don't know. M. We shall see later. But for the present I shall ask you this. If I should strike a drum or a string at the same intensity and speed we pronounce
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