XIV.--The Ictus of Iambic Verse in Comedy. 12. The Comic Trimeter in Scansion differs from the Tragic by admitting the - in 5th, and the u - in 3d, 3d, 4th, and 5th. The Dactyl in 5th of the Comic has the same ictus has in 1st and 3d of the Tragic Senarius, thus: as it αν ! Plut. 55. πυθοίμεθ' αν τον χρησμον ήμων, ότι νοει. 1148. επειτ' απολιπων τους θεους ενθάδε μενεις. Whatever be the real nature of that licence which admits the Anapest so freely into Comic verse, no doubt can exist as to the place of its ictus on the last syllable; and the following lines may serve as examples: Nub. 2. ω Ζευ βασιλευ, το χρημα των νυκτων όσον. 24. είθ' εξεκοπὴν προτερον τον οφθαλμον λιθῷ. 20. όποσοις οφείλω, και λογισωμαι τους τόκους. 11. αλλ' ει δοκει, ρεγκωμεν εγκεκαλυμμένοι. 13. The Tetrameter of Comedy admits no feet but those which are found, and with more frequency, in the Trimeter. The ictuation on the feet in each verse is the very same, as the following lines may serve to exemplify: (Porson, xli. = 38.) || Plut. 253. ω πολλα δη τῳ δεσποτῇ ταυτον θυμόν φαγοντες. Ranæ 909. πρωτιστα μεν γαρ ένα γε τινα καθεισεν εγκαλύψας 915. ουχ ήττον η νυν οἱ λαλοῦντες. ηλιθιος γαρ ησθα. Φαίδρας τε Πηνελοπην δε. Thesm. 547. εγενετο Μελανιππας ποιων Φαίδρας In this verse, generally, the Iambic structure so clearly predominates, that little advantage can be gained by submitting it to the Trochaic analysis; as, against the judgment of Bentley, has been lately recommended by Ilgenius, (Vide Maltby, Lex. Gr. Pros. p. xxxvi.) And yet in some cases, perhaps, of resolved feet, and in verses too wanting the regular cæsura, the law of ictuation may be more correctly apprehended by applying the Trochaic scale than other wise. It is worth the while to observe, that of 37 Tetrameters in the Plutus, vv. 253—-289, containing only two resolved feet, one a Tribrach and one a Dactyl, (vid. Elmsley, u. s. p. 83.) the versification is remarkably smooth; and if those lines be read with the proper ictus, the Iambic movement cannot fail to be pleasantly and distinctly felt on the ear. XV.-Note A. On the Concurrences. In ch. ii., where the concurrence of or - before in the Trimeter of Comedy is condemned, a promise is given, that the necessity for that limitation should be made to appear. The true constitution of the Comic Senarius (in all its bearings) was first discerned by Dawes. In his Emendations on the Acharnians (Mis. Crit. 253 463, &c.) at v. 144. = Εν τοισι τοιχοις εγραφον Αθηναιοι καλοι, he condemns as unlawful the concurrence of feet above-mentioned; and claims the credit not only of discovering that canon, but of assigning the true reason also as derived from the laws of Iambic ictuation. As the verse stands at present, he says, Εν τοισι τοιχοις εγραφον Αθηναιοι καλοι, you have, with gross offence to the ear, the interval of four syllables from ictus to ictus, when the lawful extent of that interval can only be three. His emendation, demanded no less by the syntax of the whole passage than by the metre of that line, has since been sanctioned by the authority of the Ravenna MS. Εν τοισι τοιχοις εγραφ, Αθηναιοι καλοι. On the Trochaic scale of Scansion, it is obvious to remark, that the redundance of a syllable in the vulgar text would be instantly detected: άλλα νυν εν | | τοισι τοίχοις | εγραφον Αθηναίοι καλοί. One illustration more, from a false reading in Tragedy, may not be deemed superfluous. In the Orestes 499 505. the text of the old editions stands thus: αὐτὸς κακίων ἐγένετο μητέρα κτανών. H H which in the Iambic - and the -. Scansion presents the concurrence of the ready test; it instantly detects the redundant syllable: The just and simple emendation of Porson need hardly be given : αὐτὸς κακίων μητέρ' ἐγένετο κτανών. XVI.—Note B. On the Pause or Cretic Termination. (Vide ch. iii. §. 2. ch. vi. §. 5.) 1. In the Iambic Trimeter, if the slightest pause or break in the sense cause the word or words which give to the verse a Cretic ending (--) to be separately uttered, then the 5th foot may not be but must be u-, or uυν. The different modes of concluding the line which reject the —— in 5th shall be first exhibited. α. there is the The simplest structure which rejects the -following, when the Cretic consists of a single detached word: Hecub. 348. κρύπτοντα χεῖρα καὶ πρόσωπον | ἔμπαλιν. Ion 1. Ατλας ὁ νώτοις χαλκέοισιν οὐρανόν. which lines in the old editions stand thus: Κρύπτοντα χεῖρα καὶ πρόσωπον | τοἔμπαλιν. (Vide Porson, xxx. =27.) β. In the next case the Cretic consists of - - and a syllable, thus : Orest. 1079. κήδος δὲ τοὐμὸν καὶ σὸν οὐκέτ ̓ ἐστὶ [ δή. 1081. χαῖρ ̓ οὐ γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐστι τοῦτο, | σοί γε | μήν. or the Cretic consists of an article or preposition (−) attached (in syntax or collocation) to the subsequent word: Hecub. 382. καλῶς μὲν εἶπας, θύγατερ, ἀλλὰ τῷ καλῷ. 379. δεινὸς χαρακτὴρ, κἀπίσημος | ἐν βροτοῖς. Under this head of monosyllables are embraced τίς, πῶς, when interrogative, with ὡς, οὔ, καὶ, and the like. (Vide Porson, xxxi. =27.) 2. Many semblances of the Cretic termination occur to which the Canon bears no application. Those cases, admitting the - in 5th, may be commodiously classed under the following heads: Where a monosyllabic word before the final Iambus belongs by collocation to the preceding word; as in enclitics: Hec. 505. σπεύδωμεν, ἐγκονῶμεν· ἡγοῦ μοι, | γέρον. Prom. V. 669. τί παρθενεύει δαρὸν, ἐξόν σοι | γάμου. Agam. 1019. ἔσω φρενῶν λέγουσα πείθω νιν | λόγῳ. Rhes. 717. βίον δ ̓ ἐπαιτῶν εἱρπ ̓ ἀγύρτης τις λάτρις. Philoct. 801. ἔμπρησον, ᾧ γενναῖε· καγώ τοι | ποτέ. or in such words, not enclitic, as cannot begin a sentence or a verse : Prom. V. 107. οἷόν τε μοι τάσδ' ἐστί· θνητοῖς γὰρ | γέρα. In the numerous instances of ay so posited it deserves remark, that av is always subjoined to its verb, and that with elision as in the line quoted. (Vide Porson, xxxi. = 28.) αν 3. Where words like οὐδεὶς and μηδείς so given ought in Attic orthography to be written thus: οὐδ' εἰς and μηδ' εἷς : Phœn. 759. ἀμφότερον· ἀπολειφθὲν γὰρ οὐδ ̓ ἓν θάτερον. Alc. 687. ἦν δ' ἐγγὺς ἔλθῃ θάνατος, οὐδ ̓ εἰς βούλεται. 4. (Vide Porson, xxxiv. v.≈31.) And where, in the Plays of Sophocles, the dative cases plural of ἐγὼ and σὺ are exhibited as Spondees, thus, ἡμῖν, ὑμὶν, when that Tragedian, however strange it may appear, employed those pronouns in his verse actually as Trochees. In that pronunciation, they are by some Grammarians written, ἡμὶν, ὑμὶν, but ἧμιν, μιν, more generally : Electr. 1328. ἢ νοῦς ἔνεστιν οὔτις ὑμιν ἐγγενής; Ed. Col. 25. πᾶς γάρ τις ηὔδα τοῦτό γ ̓ ἦμιν ἐμπόρων. In which two lines vuîv and uv would vitiate the metre. (Vide Porson, xxxv. = 32.) 5. One particular case seems to have created a very needless perplexity; namely, where the verse is concluded by a trisyllabic word with certain consonants initial which do not permit the short vowel precedent to form a short syllable. (Vide Porson, xxxviii. = 34, 5.) The following verses, as being supposed to labor under the vicious termination, are recommended by the Professor to the sagacity of young Scholars for correction: Hecub. 717. ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν ἐῶμεν, οὐδὲ ψαύομεν. Androm. 347. φεύγει τὸ ταύτης σωφρον· ἀλλὰ ψεύσεται. (In these verses also from Euripides the very same difficulty, if it be one, is involved :) Bacchæ 1284. Ωιμωγμένον γε πρόσθεν ἤ σε γνωρίσαι. Electr. 850. τλήμων ̓Ορέστης· ἀλλὰ μή με κτείνετε.) Here the word preceding the final Cretic must be either a Trochee or a Spondee. If it is a Trochee, all is well: nothing more need be said. If it is not a Trochee, but a Spondee, what causes it to be so? Evidently the final short vowel of each word being touched in utterance by the initial of у, or πл, with which the next word commences. Then, so far from any pause or break of the sense intervening, on which condition alone the Canon operates, there is an absolute continuity of sound and sense together; and the verse ends with a quinquesyllabic termination, as complete as in Phœniss. 32. 53. where ἐξανδρούμενος and συγκοιμωμένη terminate the line: even 50, οὐδέπσαύομεν, ἀλλὰπσεύσεται, καταπσεύδομαι. (This was stated so long ago as 1802. Vide Dalzel, Collect. Græc. Maj. T. II. Nott. p. 164.) 6. Several modifications of the line, according to the connexion of the words by which it is concluded, come next to be considered. Some of these cases, when the words are duly separated, present a dissyllabic, some a quadrisyllabic ending: in others the combination is such as to exhibit a collective termination of five syllables, or more: α. Cd. R. 435. ἡμεῖς τοιοίδ ̓ ἔφυμεν, ὡς μέν σοι δοκεῖ. |