1 Samuel 16:17

And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring [him] to me.

Ver. 17. Provide me now a man.] Not a wise man, as they call wizards, or a white witch, - Saul, as bad as he was, was yet an utter enemy to such, 1Sa 28:9 - but a man that can play well. Musica maestae medicina mentis, a Pythagoras cured a frantic young man by music, saith Seneca. b And Xenocrates lymphatos carminum modulis a dementia liberavit, saith another, c Elisha called for a musician to settle his distempers. 2Ki 3:15 And what strange alterations that excellent minstrel Timotheus could work in great Alexander, either to enrage or appease him, is well known out of historians. d

a Movit Amphion lapides canendo.

b Lib. iii. De Ira., cap. 9.

c Martianus Capella.

d Alex., Ab Alex. Genial., lib. ii. cap. 17.