Exhortation to the Greeks 2.31

The Muses, whom Alcman makes daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and whom the other poets and historians make divine and worship (indeed whole cities now dedicate shrines of the Muses to them), were Mysian slave women, bought by Megaclo, the daughter of Macar. Macar was king of the Lesbians, but he was always quarreling with his wife, and Megaclo was indignant on her mother's behalf; and why should she not be? So she bought these Mysian slave women, the same number as the Muses, and called them Moisai, in the Aeolic dialect. She had them taught to sing and to play the lyre, recounting the deeds of old in melody. By constantly playing and singing beautifully they charmed Macar and stopped his anger. For this reason Megaclo set them up in bronze as a thank offering for her mother's sake and ordered them to be honored in all the temples. Such, then, are the Muses; the story is told by Myrsilus of Lesbos.