Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

Obs. 7 A short syllable at the end of the first three lines, with a vowel at the beginning of the following line, must be avoided, and there are two instances in Horace of an hypermeter and ecthlipsis at the end of the third line:

Sors éxitūra ēt | nós în äētērn'-um

Exsilium

Cùm | páce | dēlā|bēntis Etrusc'-um

In mare.

Obs. 8 The fourth line should not have a diæresis after both the dactyls, and we should generally avoid a weak cæsura in the second dactyl, though we have such lines as the following in Horace :

O Thali arche, merum diota.
Jupiter | ipse rulens tumultu.
Stesichorique graves camoenas.

Quae caret ora crufore nostro.

Occasional examples are found in which the last line is made up of only two words; as

Divitias operosiores.

Progeniem vitiosiorem.

But these will naturally be of rare occurrence.

The best rhythms

for the last line consist of three words or their natural substitutes; as in the following:

Dedecorum pretiosus emptor.
Missilibus melior sagittis.

Hesperiae mala luctuosae.
Gaudia luminibus remotis.

Pocula praetereunte lympha.

Tempus Amazonia securi.

Or the resolved lines corresponding to these in rhythmical cadence; as

De tenero meditatur ungui.

Ille dies Latio tenebris.
Dura fugae mala dura belli.
Pertulit Ausonias ad urbes.
Ducit opes animumque ferro.
Proelia conjugibus loquenda.

260 (c) Archilochian Verse. This is a dactylic tetrameter followed by an ithyphallicus; as

Solvitur | acris hiemps grā|tā vice || vēr|is | ét Fã|vóni|||.
1

261 (d) Elegiambus. This is composed of a dactylic penthemimer and iambic dimeter; as

Désināt | împări|būs || cērtā|rē sūb|mōtūs | pūdōr.

262 (e) Iambelegus. This is the reverse of the preceding, and consists of an iambic dimeter followed by a dactylic penthemimer; as

Tū vi|nă Tōr|quātō | mové || consulě | préssă mějõ||.

263 (f) Galliambicus. Catullus in his Attis introduces a measure, which is called Galliambic from its use by the Galli, or priests of Cybele, and from the practice of scanning it as an iambic rhythm. It is really a sort of spurious trochaic metre, made up of a trochaic dipodia preceded and followed by a paeon tertius, and finished off by a cretic, or paeon quartus. As the second and fourth elements are equivalent to the first and third only in the assumed relation of the four paeons (248), the verse is really asynartete. It is scanned according to the following scheme:

[blocks in formation]

Pæon tertius. Trochaic dipodia. Pæon tertius. Pæon quartus.

Super alta | vectus Attis | celeri ra|te_maria

Dea magna dea Cybelle | dea domina Dindymi
Itaque ut domum Cybelles | tetigere

Пlassulae

Laevumque pecoris hostem | stimulans ita loquitur.

(ἐπίτριτοι).

264 The Greeks, from whom the Romans derived most of their metres, made great use also of the Antispastic rhythm, ~--~(Gr. Gr. art. 672 sqq.), which is not used by the Latin poets. They also counted by rhythms in the ratio, which they called epitrites (eπiтρITоi). These were the reverse of the paeon, and contained three long syllables and one short; according to the place of the short syllable, the epitrite was called first, second, third or fourth. The fourth epitrite, The fourth epitrite, ---~, which was also termed the antispast of seven times (ἀντισπαστικὴ ἑπτάσημος), οι monogenes (μovoyevns), is alluded to by Cic. (de Orat. 1. 59. 251, according to the excellent emendation of the Baron von Bunau), as a rhetorical rhythm.

5. Comic Metres.

265 The subject of the Latin Comic Metres cannot be discussed without inquiries into the colloquial pronunciation of the language, which are beyond the scope of a practical work like the present.

Besides this, it has not yet been determined by the eminent scholars, who have paid special attention to the subject, how far the accent of the spoken language was allowed to influence the structure of dramatic verse. And it is certain that eventually Latin verses were constructed with a substitution of accent for quantity. In a practical grammar, therefore, it will be sufficient to give a few specimens of the manner in which the Latin Comedians constructed the lines of most frequent occurrence in their dialogues.

The most common metres in the Latin Comedies are the (a) Iambic Trimeter Acatalectic or Senarius; (b) the Iambic Tetrameter Catalectic, called also the Septenarius or Comicus quadratus ; (c) the Iambic Tetrameter Acatalectic, called also Octonarius or Boiscius from its inventor Boiscus; (d) the Trochaic Tetrameter Catalectic, called, like the corresponding iambic verse, Septenarius and quadratus; (e) the Trochaic Tetrameter Acatalectic or Octonarius; and (f) the Bacchiac verse.

(a) Iambic Trimeter Acatalectic.

266 The following is an average specimen of the Iambic Senarius, as employed by the Comedians (Ter. Andr. Iv. 1. 31): PA. Immo etiam, quó | tu minus scis aerumnas meás, | Haec nuptiaé non adpará|bantur ‍mihí: |

Nec postulábat nunc quisquam úxorem daré. Į

CH. Scio: tu coáctus tua volúntate es. PA. mané. |

Nondum etiam scis. | CH. Scio equidem dúcturum esse té. | PA. Cur me enicás? | hoc audi. Númquam destitit |

Instare, ut dicerem me dúcturum patrí; |

Suadere, oráre, usque adeo donec perpulít. |

CH. Quis homo istuc? PA. Dálvos. CH. Davos? quámob\rem? PA. Nesció: |

Nisi [ni] mihi [mi] deos [dyos] fuís se iratos, qui aús|cultaverím. I

(b) Iambic Tetrameter Catalectic.

267 The following is a specimen of the Iambic Septenarius (Ter. Hecyr. v. 2. 24):

L. At haec amicae erunt, ubi quámobrem adveneris | resciscent. PH. At easdem amicas fore tibi | promitto, rem úbi | cognorint:

L.

Num illas errore et te simúl | suspitióne exsolves.

B. Perii, pudét | Philumenaé: | vos sequimini in tro huc ambae.
Quid'st mihi quod máɣlim quam quod hinc | intelligo é venire?
Ut gratiam inelam sine meó | dispendio ét | mihi prosim.
Nam sist ut haec | nunc Pamphilúm | vere ab se segregarit,
Scit se nobilitatem ex eá | re nactam et glóriam esse:
Refert gratiam eíļi unaque nós | sibi opera amí|cos jungit.

(c) Iambic Tetrameter Acatalectic.

268 The following is a specimen of the Iambic Octonarius (Ter. Andr. 1. 3. 1) :

Enimvero, Dálve, nil locist | segnitiae néque | socordide, I
Quantum intellex|i modo senís | sententiám | de nuptiis: |
Quae si non ás tu providéntur, me aut erúm | pessum dabúnt: |
Nec quid agăm certumst: Pamphilúmne adjutem, an aús cultem
sení.

Si illum relinquo, ejus vitae tímeļo; sin opítu|lor, hŭjūs minás;|
Cui verba dáre difficilest: prí|mum jam de amore hoc comperít; |
Me infensus sérvat, ne quam fáciam | in nuptiís | fallaciám, |
Si senserit, perii, aut quam lúbitum fuerit causam ceperit, |
Qua jure quá | me injuriá | praecipitem in pístrinum dabít. |

(d) Trochaic Tetrameter Catalectic.

269 The following is a specimen of the Trochaic Septenarius (Plautus, Captivi, v. 3. 1):

|

PH. Hégio, assum | sí quid me vis | impera. HE. Hic gna túm

meum

Tuó patri ait se | véndidisse | séx minis in | 'Alide. | PH. Quam diu id factum'st? ST. Hic annus | incipit vicési

mus.

PH. Falso memorat. | ST. Aút ego, aut tu. | Nám tibi quad\rímulum |

Túus pater peculiarem | párvolum pueró dedit. |

PH. Quid erat ei nomén? Si vera | dicis, memora | dúm mihi.

ST. Paégnium voci|tátu'st; post vos | índidistis | Týndaro. PH. Cúr ego te non | nóvi? ST. Quia mos | ést oblivisci hóminibus.

Néque novisse | cújus nihili | sít faciunda | grátia.

(e) Trochaic Tetrameter Acatalectic.

270 The following is a specimen of the Trochaic Octonarius (Plautus, Bacchides, IV. 3. 1):

Pétulans, protervo, iracundo | ánimo, indomito, incógitato Sine modo et modéstia sum, | síne bono jure átque honore, 'Incredibilis | imposque animi, | ínamabilis, in|lépidus vivo, Malevolente ingénio natus. | póstremo id mist | quód volo aliis. (f) Bacchiac Verse.

271 The following is a specimen of the Bacchiac Verse, mixed as it often is with Cretics (Plautus, Menaechmi, IV. 2. 1):

Ut hóc ultimúr maxļumé mo|re | móro | molésto|que múltum: (Bacchiac):

'Atque utí | quíque sunt | óptumi, | máxumi: | mórem habent | húncce | (Cretic)

Clientis sibi ómnes | volúnt esse múltos; | (Bacch. with Iambus); Bonine an | malí sint, | id haúd quae|ritánt: (Bacch. with Iambus): Rés magis quaéritur, | quám clientúm fides | quójusmodi | clúeat. | (Cretic).

| 1}

Si quis est paúper atque haúd malus, | néquam habetur;
Sin malus | dives est, is cliens | frúgi habetur. |

(Cretics with Trochaic dipodia).

§ 6. Accentual and rhyming Verses.

272 (a) The substitution of accent for quantity, which took place in the middle of the third century, will be sufficiently exemplified by the following verses on the martyrdom of Marcellinus and Petrus in the reign of Diocletian (Fleetwood, Syll. Inscr. Monum. Christ. p. 449):

Dúae quaedam réferuntur Rómae nataé féminae;
'Una dicta ést Lucilla, Firmininaque áltera;
Véram puris rétinentes Christi fidem córdibus.
Quaé propinqui tér beati Mártyris Tibúrtii,
'Ad illius ássidentes sacrosanctum túmulum,
Déi gratas vígilando dúcebant excúbias.

« PoprzedniaDalej »