Introduction

This chapter explores the tension between two moral paradigms ascribed to Plato and zealously embraced by medieval thinkers, especially Petrarch: virtue is realized when, having perceived cosmic music, humans strive to attune to it; yet, at the same time, virtue is perfected in silence. I start by examining Plato's references to man's musical nature and to cosmic harmony, including his odd description of the role of the Sirens in generating it. Although Plato did not discuss the ideal of quiet reflection in an overt or systematic manner, ‘Platonic silence’, as the expert way to grasp philosophical truth, is already advocated by Cicero. Both concepts were advanced in the Neoplatonic tradition in which Augustine was steeped and through whom the notion of silent contemplation was firmly transplanted in Christian philosophical thought. In the second part of the chapter, I trace the milieu of ‘Platonic silence’ in Petrarch, arguing that he joined a long line of earlier thinkers who, having interpreted the Platonic Sirens in a specific way, believed that their music marked an initial stage of spiritual awakening and that the wise man ultimately ought to overcome the appeal of music in favor of silence.