this, and compare the form of Horace's famous line, Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus, as suggestive of much ado about nothing); 4, 53 (mock-heroic); 4, 87 (cf. 3, 273); 5, 38 (the speaker lingers on the beauty and value of those cups); 6, 80 (sardonic); 6, 246 (mock-heroic ?); 6, 429 (disgust); 6, 462 (cf. 6, 429); 8, 218 (the 'old play'); 9, 111 (mock-heroic); 10, 88 (serious emphasis); 10, 151 (epic); 10, 304 and 332 (declamatory); 13, 191 (emphasis), etc. 153. Agreement. It is an universal rule of artistic poetry that whatever liberties we may take with a verse, the end of it should be well marked and clearly reflect the type. Conflict has a certain tendency to obscure the rhythm ; moreover, the hexameter should be brought to a restful close. The law of conflict, therefore, ceases with the fourth foot, and for the last two feet agreement of verse-ictus and wordaccent is sought. From this point of view the favorite types are: A dissyllable preceded by a trisyllable at least, or, at most, a word which shall not go back of the fourth arsis: I. Aeacus, unde alius furtivae | devehat aurum Hos animos? neque enim loculis comitantibus itur. A trisyllable preceded by a dissyllable at least, or, at most, a word which shall not go back of the fourth arsis: II. Quidquid agunt homines, votum timor | ira voluptas Navigio montem ascendit, sortisque poposcit Crispinus Tyrias umero revolcante lacernas. A frequent sub-variety of II is illustrated by Consilium dedimus Sullae privatus ut altum, i.e. replacement of the trisyllable by a dissyllable preceded by a proclitic monosyllable. Over 90% of all Latin hexameters end in these two forms. Other cadences are exceptional. They involve some conflict, and they are largely confined to the early poets and satire. Of these exceptional cadences the most endurable is represented by III. Nota magis nulli domus est sua | quam mihi lucus. The rule of the monosyllable here-which softens the conflict as much as possible—is never broken by Martial, and by Juvenal only in 3, 135 and 7, 160 (cf., however, 10, 140). IV. Dormiret, stulta est clementia | cum tot ubique is very rare. The only cases in Juvenal are 1, 17, 30; 3, 54; 13, 65. To end the hexameter with a monosyllable was always bad. It involved conflict, as do all other exceptional cadences, and was not sonorous. But if the monosyllable was preceded by another monosyllable, the cadence was endurable, though always exceptional. The most frequent, therefore, of the monosyllabic cadences are: V. Et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus et nos, (rarest in the second satire, most frequent in the eighth) and its sub-varieties (of which Juvenal furnishes an occasional example) : and Argillam atque rotam citius properate, sed ex hoc Quantum grammaticus meruit labor? et tamen ex hoc. The habitat of v and its sub-varieties is Horace (about 5 %), VI. Tam patiens urbis, tam ferreus, ut teneat se, VII. Quid tamen exspectant, Phrygio quos tempus erat iam, The rarity of VI, VII, and VIII may be seen from the fact that only about 900 of them occur in the 207,269 Latin hexameters examined by Manitius. Of these 900, Lucretius has 165 (2% of his verses); Horace, 160 (4%); Juvenal, 139 (3%); Vergil, 48 (%). This was a freedom of satire which goes back to Ennius. Indeed, many of Vergil's examples are undoubted imitations of Ennius, or else intended. to give a touch of the antique. This is especially true of vIII, which through such a famous line as Vergil, Aen. vI, 846: Unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem, must have suggested Ennius and the old poets to many of Juvenal's hearers. In some cases at least the antique and solemn touch, used seriously or satirically according to the author's mood at the time, seems to have been felt. Compare 1, 108, 159; 2, 28, 132; 3, 90, 191, 203; 5, 20, 88, 114; 6, 32, 309; 7, 208; 8, 9, 62, 112; 10, 82, 119, 225, etc. In others, and possibly in some which I have just mentioned, the touch was not so much the antique and solemn (serious or otherwise) as the plain, old-fashioned, and homely. The tetrasyllabic cadence, IX. Cum populum gregibus comitum premit hic spoliator, was, as we saw, a rule of the Catullian versus spondiacus. Otherwise it is extremely rare, and chiefly confined to satire and the early poets. Manitius gives Lucretius 153 cases; Vergil 51; Horace 34; Juvenal 55. The word is usually a proper name, except in Lucretius, who has none. Juvenal imitates the freedom of Lucretius in this respect. Also he frequently neglects the rule of a preceding monosyllable. To end the line in a word of five syllables is still more uncommon : X. Quandoquidem inter nos sanctissima divitiarum. Rhein. Mus., XLVI, 1891, pp. 622 f. The sphere again is Lucretius and satire. Lucretius, probably after Ennius, neglects the rule of a proper name. On the other hand, most of his examples occur in passages which are not epic, but dogmatic. Here also Juvenal imitates the freedom of Lucretius. Only 6 of his 25 cases are proper names. One line ending in a word of six syllables (7, 218) is found in Juvenal (but see the note). Manitius quotes three others from Lucretius and four or five more only from the later poets. 154. To begin a new sentence or clause at the fifth foot, as in 2, 15, Atque supercilio brevior coma. 1 verius ergo, was usually avoided by the best poets. It occurs in Juvenal with some frequency, generally for effect, as in 1, 149, etc. 155. Elision is the law of the Latin language. If it was desirable to avoid it, the sentence had to be so arranged as to prevent concurrence of vowels. Frequency of elision and freedom in its use was characteristic of the spoken language, and of comedy and satire, the two literary departments most nearly allied to it. Ennius allowed harsh elision, but the influence of Homer, and possibly of the Saturnian, made his use of elision very limited. Lucilius had a great many, but far less than comedy. Lucretius followed Lucilius, Catullus followed Ennius. Vergil avoided harsh elisions, but otherwise is notable for his freedom. Ovid largely reduced elision, and the process of diminution finally reached the vanishing point in some of the later Latin poets. Juvenal shows a freedom which may be generally defined as due to his department, less, than that of earlier satire, far greater, than that of contemporary epic or epigram. Otherwise, with one or two exceptions, the following figures of Eskuche represent about the usual relative proportions: 1 Corssen, II, pp. 771 f.; Müller, l. 7. pp. 340 f. After 1st arsis, 300; 2d, 151; 3d, 123; 4th, 67; 5th, 10. After 1st thesis, 180; 2d, 89; 3d, 83; 4th, 314; 5th, 22; 6th, never. In the last two feet, as will be seen, Juvenal avoids elision. This began with Catullus and was finally settled by Vergil.' He also agrees with all poets after the satires of Horace in avoiding any elision in the first thesis." On the other hand, except in the last two feet, Juvenal shows the freedom of satire in taking no special pains to avoid the elision of a long vowel. Also his frequent elision (83 cases) after the 3d thesis is always harsh because it tends to obscure the caesura. Only about 100 verses, according to Eskuche, contain as many as two elisions. Less than a score have three elisions (cf. 2, 34; 10, 197; 13, 89, 108; 14, 127; 16, 35). One only (11, 161) contains five. 3 156. Hiatus is the occasional exception to the universal rule of elision. The sphere of it in hexameter is largely Ennius, Lucilius, and Vergil. It occurs most readily with a long vowel and before the caesura or some other decided pause. Juvenal follows the rules. His cases are 12, 36; 3, 70; 6, 274, 468; 10, 281; 12, 110; 14, 49; 15, 126; 1, 151; 2, 26; 5, 158; 8, 241 (but see note). 157. Prosody. Synaeresis shows nothing unusual and diaeresis does not occur. The one unusual case of syncope is striglibus (3,263). Systole occurs only in the usual alterius (6, 431; 10, 210; 11, 169; 15, 39) and once, illius (6, 572). Final i in ubi and ibi is always short, in ubique and ibidem, always long; in mihi, tibi, sibi, long in the thesis, short in the arsis. Final o, not dative and ablative, is short in the arsis, long in the thesis. But only verbal and adverbial o is found long 1 G. Eskuche, Die Elisionen in den zwei letzten Füssen des lateinischen Hexameters von Ennius zu Walahfridus Strabo, Rhein. Mus., XLV, 1890, 236–64. 2 Fröhde, Philologus, x1, 533; Müller, l. l. p. 351. 3 Cicero, Orat. 44, 150; Quin. IX, 4, 33; Müller, l. l. pp. 331 f.; Kühner, Lat. Gram., I, p. 88; Christ, l. 7. pp. 200 f; Corssen, II, pp. 770 f. |