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In the work Della Poetica (Poetics, published in Ferrara in 1586) Frane Petrić (Francesco Patrizi di Cherso) gave a rather detailed discussion of music issues. From the title of the work it is evident that it contains Petrić's theory of poetry, but within this context he also presented a theory of music. Petrić relies on the thesis about mousiké, a unity of poetry, music and physical movements characteristic for ancient Greece, consequently devoting a substantial part of this work to the interpretation of ancient Greek music. Nevertheless, Petrić already referred to music in his early phase, in the work La citt à felice (Happy Town) from 1553. Within his vision of society he dealt with music to a much lesser extent and in a somewhat diff erent manner than in the Poetics. Although in La citt à felice Petrić mentioned music at the very end of the work, from the context in which he introduced it into discussion, as well as from the way he described it, it is apparent that he ascribed great importance to music. Petrić specified three disciplines of educational process - painting, grammar and music - explaining in more detail only the latt er, in a short passage in which he described music as an educational means which leads to virtues. Furthermore, in this passage Petrić also mentioned other functions of music and described octave species - Phrygian, Lydian, Hypolydian and Dorian - thus showing his knowledge of musical terminology and revealing that his thoughts on music were primarily influenced by ancient Greek music theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]