A General History of Music; From the Earliest Ages to the Present Periode - To Which Is Prefixed, a Dissertation on the Music of the Ancients Volume 2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1782 edition. Excerpt: ...in the time of the emperor Dioclelian; and that in order to entertain this prince and his people he frequently ridiculed the Christians upon the stage, where he undertook to represent the ceremonies of baptism, and performed himself the part of-the person that was to be baptised: counterfeiting sickness, of which he was to be cured by becoming a Christian. But when the priest and exorcist appeared to perform the ceremony, he was admonished in a vision to renounce the errors of Paganism, and seriously assume the character of Christian; upon which, he instantly declared that he would no longer worship idols but receive the divine grace that was offered to him, which the other actors and the audience imagined was done in order to render the scene more natural and amusing; he was therefore baptised according to all the Christian rites, and dressed in a white robe. After this, soldiers appeared as it sent by the emperor to drag him before the judge, where he was to worship a statue of Venus which was placed cai the stage for that purpose: Genet, however, loudly protested that he was a Christian and would adore the true God, and not images of woo or stone. The emperor himself at first believed that this was only done to heighten his part; but at length finding that he continued to speak like a hristian and not an actor, he commanded him to be chastised before the people, and afterwards sent to a praefect of the name of Plautian, who finding it impostiblc to subdue his constancy by torture, ordered him to be beheaded. This event happened the twenty-fifth of August, 303. strument in France; and that the Minstrels, in the highest estimation with the public, were at all times the best Violists of their age. Musicians who accompanied such bards..