METRES OF HORACE. As our limits do not admit of any dissertation on metrical peculiarities, the student is referred to the valuable treatise of Mr. Tate. A knowledge of the structure of feet is presupposed, as this may be acquired from the Grammar of King Edward VI., and others, where rules are generally given for the formation of the third and fourth lines of the Alcaic stanza, perhaps the most delicate in construction of any species of classical poetry. Mr. Tate's observations on accentual cadences are very valuable for the writers of verse. The metres are mostly arranged according to the frequency with which they occur, which may have been, in the opinion of Horace, the measure of their facility for lyrical composition. I. Alcaic. 36 Odes (See I. Carm. ix.) The use of the initial iambus in lines 1, 2, 3, is not frequent, nor to be imitated. III. Glyconic and Asclepiadean, commonly called short and long Asclepiads. 11 Odes. (See I. Carm. iii.) IV. Asclepiadean and Glyconic. 9 Odes. (See I. Carm. vi.) V. Iambic Trimeter and Dimeter Acatalectic. Epode i.) Odes. (See There is always a cæsura after the fifth or seventh half foot in the first of these measures. VI. Iambic Trimeter Acatalectic. (See V. 1.) Only in Epode xvii. VII. Asclepiadean, Pherecratian, and Glyconic, commonly called Stanzaic Asclepiads. 7 Odes. (See I. Carm. v.) VIII. Asclepiadean, often called long Asclepiads. 3 Odes. (See I. Carm. i.) IX. Long Alcaic, an extension of the Asclepiadean. (See I. Carm. xi.) 221-00-1-00-|-02-|- X. 1. Dactylic Hexameter with the usual licences, and 2. Iambic Dimeter Acatalectic, as in V. 2. (See Epode xiv.) XI. 1. Dactylic Hexameter, and 2. Dactylic Tetrameter, admitting as before (X. 1) only the dactyl and spondee. (See 1. Carm. vii.) XII. 1. Dactylic Hexameter, as in X. XI. 2. The iambelĕgus. This is an asynartete, a species of verse in which one metrical arrangement is subjoined to another, as the Dactylic in this case to the Iambic : The first part being an Iambic Dimeter Acatalectic; the next, the latter half of a Dactylic Pentameter, Only found in Epode xiii. XIII. 1. Dactylic Hexameter, as in X. XI. XII. 2. Iambic Trimeter, as in V. 1. Only in Epode xvi. XIV. 1. Dactylic Hexameter, as in X. XI. XII. XIII. 2. Dactylic, being the second part of a pentameter. Only in IV. Carm. vii, 1 These metres are severally found in two odes only. XV. 1. Iambic Trimeter Acatalectic, as in VI.; and 2. Elegiambus. This is the reverse of the Iambelegus, and is another asynartete species, consisting of the last half of a dactylic pentameter, not limited in its last syllable by hiatus or quantity, and an Iambic Dimeter, limited as in XII. 2. XVI. 1. An Asynartete, consisting of a Dactylic Tetrameter and a Trochaic Dimeter Brachycatalectic. ད པ ། - པ པ ༐ - པ པ ་ བ པ པ །| - པ ༐ - པ ་ - པ 2. An Iambic Trimeter Catalectic. 2. Iambic Trimeter Catalectic, as in XVI. 2. Only in XIX. Ionic a minore. (Bentley's arrangement.) Only in III. Carm. xii. ERRATA. In the Text. II. Sat. iii. 283., for "Quid tam" read " Quiddam." 1. Epist. ii. 31., for " cessantem read " cessatum." In the Notes. II. Od. vi. Introduction, after "Titius" supply 66 or Titus." QUINTI HORATII FLACCI CARMINUM LIBER PRIMUS. CARMEN I. METRUM VIII. Mæcenas, atavis edite regibus, O et præsidium, et dulce decus meum : 10 20 |