INTRODUCTION TO LATIN ELEGIAC VERSE.

PART I.

A HEXAMETER verse contains six feet, and consists of dactyls and spondees. A dactyl is a foot of three syllables, the first being long, and the remaining two short, as carmĭnă. A spondee is a foot of two syllables, both of which are long, as silvās.

A syllable is long, either by authority or position. By 'authority' is meant the fact that the syllable is long simply because it is so used by the Latin poets. For example, fidus has the first syllable long, because it is so used by Latin writers. At all events, as far as we are concerned, we need go no further; for us, it is long, because it is always found so wherever it occurs.

A syllable is said to be long by position when, although in itself short, it becomes long from its position in connexion with other words. For instance, in cântăt, the last syllable is short by the common prosodiacal rule; and if the succeeding word begins with a vowel, or with h, it will remain short. On the other hand, if the next word begins with a consonant, the last syllable of cantat becomes long by position, on the ground that a vowel before two consonants is long, whether

B

those consonants are in the same word, or divided between successive words.

The last syllable of a hexameter is common, i.e. it may either long or short.

be

The last foot of a hexameter must be a spondee; the last but one a dactyl. As the last syllable, however, is common, the last foot can be a trochee (-), as well as a spondee.

The last word of a hexameter may evidently be a word of two syllables, or one of three, and virtually must be either one or the other; that is, the end of the verse will be of the form tegmině | fagī, or plūră căn|āmus|; although, of course, the dactyl preceding the final spondee need not, as here, begin with the first syllable of a word. Mājōră căn |āmus | ends a verse just as well as plūră căn |āmus, supposing the first syllable of majora to be required for a previous foot. Similarly, cernit in undis; jāmque per ūndās; lătů | isse sub undis, are all proper endings.

The learner can now form endings out of the following words:

Volūtō ipse; festo carmine; părēntēm monuisse ; vidērēt īstā; aūrēs præbeat; sonantēm plūră; ab ōrīs prīmus; juvābit ǎdesse; timentēm ădirě; nōsse ōmniă; refertur dixisse; sērēnă lūnă; ūmbrīs cōnditur; pēr aūrās ferrě.

It must be observed that the quantities here given are the natural quantities of the syllables, not the quantities they may have by position. For instance, in the fourth example, viderět is so marked because the last syllable is naturally short, and can only become long when followed by a word beginning with a consonant.

It should also be noticed that in the third example, such an ending as părēn tēm monu isse | is excluded by the remark made above, that virtually the ending must be a word of two or three syllables only.

ON ELISIONS.

IF a word ends with a vowel or diphthong, and the next word begins with a vowel, or diphthong, or h, the final vowel or diphthong will be cut off, or rather must be regarded as cut off. For instance, sæpe extĭmui is scanned as though it were sæp' extimui; utque ĕrăt becomes utqu' ĕrăt. Also if a word end with the letter m, preceded by a vowel, this m and its vowel will be cut off if the next word begin with a vowel, or diphthong, or h. For instance, mōnstrum hōrrendum, informě ingēns, is scanned as though it were written mōnstr' hōrrēnd', infōrm' ingēns.

Elisions are to be used sparingly.

If they occur very frequently, they injure the harmony of the verse.

It should be observed that a long vowel or a diphthong is very rarely cut off before a succeeding short vowel. Nor is a diphthong allowed to be followed by the same diphthong in the following word. I believe no instance occurs of such a juxtaposition of words, as would require this elision. Such an arrangement must therefore be entirely avoided.

It has been calculated that an elision occurs on the average about once in twenty lines in the most carefully written portions of Ovid.

A monosyllable, as a rule, should not be cut off; never at the beginning of a verse. To begin a line with qui est, for instance, is unpardonable.

The learner may now make all the possible endings out of the following words :

cœlum cœpit dehiscĕrě regiōně.

pōstěră lux signat hiĕmēm mědio discrimině.

quid non mortaliă cōgis aūrī sacră fămēs.

rēx inclutus ōre loquēlās has dědĭt.
dies nigrāntibus ātră ēst tenebrīs.
Děŭs hæc ōtiă nobis fecit.

territă vocě něfāndā resēdit ipsă.
fertur în ārvă amnis spumĕus.
campos per ōmnēs ārmēntă trăhit.
ōmnibus în terrīs ā Gadĭbus ūsque.

aspice quantā vōcě něgăt, ficti vultus constantĭă.
summām vix ceperat arce angulus.

prīmōs ignes colligit jānuă.

equus ănĭmōsus habēnīs pārět.
fluctus cœpit ventō albescere.

remōtō în fōntě lăvārī sõlēbăt.
fumĭdus amnis spūmīs exuberat.

ǎnimos ǎgrēstūm accendit in armă.
Iūlus ăgităbăt fērās.

It is assumed henceforth that the learner has a knowledge of the main rules of prosody, such as that a vowel before two consonants in the same word is long, and a vowel before another vowel or a diphthong in the same word is short, as bellum, and via, viæ. He will, in fact, be regarded as having mastered the outlines of prosody contained, say, in the Latin Primer.

A hexameter, as before remarked, contains six feet, the fifth of these being (as a rule) necessarily a dactyl (~ ~ ~), and the sixth a spondee ( ̄ ̄). The remaining four may be either dactyls or spondees.

ON THE CÆSURA.

A HEXAMETER must have a casura, or it will not be harmonious. The word casura means 'a cutting' (cædo), and is used to signify the division of a foot between two words. The cæsura divides either the second, third, or fourth foot. In Ovid, Heroid. v. 33, occurs a line containing all these three at once:

Illă di es fa tum miser & mihi | dixit ab illa.

Here the second foot, es fa, is composed of portions of two separate words, dies, fatum. This is called the trihemimeral cæsura, occurring as it does at the third half foot; illă di being a whole foot or two halves, and es being consequently the third half. This cæsura is of little importance unless there be no other in the verse.

Again, the third foot, tum miser, is divided between two words, fatum, miseræ. This is called the penthemimeral cæsura, dividing the third foot (at the fifth half foot). Lastly, the fourth foot, ræ mihi, is divided between miseræ, mihi. This is the hephthemimeral cæsura, dividing the fourth foot (at the seventh half foot). Generally speaking, a hexameter verse must have one of these two last-mentioned cæsuræ.