7 The concluding monometer is called an anapastic base, with which the system is sometimes closed. § 5. Of the Choriambic metre there are three kinds— a. The Glyconian (Antispast. dim. acat.), consisting of a spondee, followed by two dactyls or otherwise, of a fourth Epitrite and diiambus: Tandem regia nobilis Antiqui genus Inachi. b. The Asclepiad (Antispast. trim. acat.), is composed of a spondee, two choriambi, and an iambus: Maecenas atavis || edite regibus. The division of the verse falls at the end of the second choriambus. This is sometimes neglected by Horace, with, and even without, elision: Regnavit populo||rum ex humili potens But the last instance is doubtless owing to the ineluctabilis necessitas of a proper name. The cæsura may be neglected in this metre without any diminution of harmony: Quassas indocilis | pauperiem | pati. C. .* The Alcæan, a verse of five feet; the first a spondee, then three choriambi, then an iambus: Insperată tuæ cum veniet | poena superbiæ. § 6. The Adonic is composed of a dactyl and spondee. The writers of the classical ages never used it except to close a sapphic stanza; Boethius and others more recent composed whole poems in it: Discite luctum § 7. Ionic à minore. This verse consists entirely of the foot * This is Antisp. Tetram. Acat. consisting of a fourth epitr., two antisp, and an iamb. syz. from which it takes its name. In Horace it occurs in tetrammeter verses, though in some editions the ode is arranged in stanzas : Miserarum est neque amori | dare ludum | neque dulci Mala vino | lavere, aut ex animari | metuentes. § 8. The Phaleucian, or, according to others, Phalacian verse, was so named from its inventor, and is also called Hendecasyllabic. It has five feet; spondee, dactyl, and three trochees. For the spondee Catullus often substitutes an iambus, or trochee : Istos composuit Phalleucus | olim. Or thus, as Antisp. Trim. cat. Quid tantos ju vat excita re motus. Catullus sometimes neglects cæsura, and his verses do not sound the worse for it : Tecum ludere, sicut ipsa, possum. § 9. In the Galliambic verse there are six feet; in the first place an anapæst; in the second and third an iambus; in the fourth and fifth a dactyl; in the sixth an anapæst. But Catullus, in his sixty-third ode, which is the authority for this metre, admits many other feet beside these; as a spondee or trochee for the incipient anapæst, a spondee for dactyl, &c. But the third place always has an iambus, and the sixth always an anapest: Super alta vectus Altys cele ri rate | maria Phrygium | nemus | citato cupi de pede | tetigit. This will suffice for the carmina monocola. There may be other kinds found among the less classical poets, but none which it would be worth while to study. Thus Claudian has a whole poem in the metre of the first line of an Alcaic stanza, of which we shall speak presently: many of Seneca's chori are continued sapphic, unbroken by the adonic; but these are no models for imitation. We pass on, therefore, to the carmina polycola, i. e. poems composed of different kinds of verse coupled together. Of these, a poem in which the metre of the first line recurs after the second line, is called distrophon; after the third, tristrophon; after the fourth, tetrastrophon. § 10. Elegiac verse is composed of an hexameter verse, followed by a pentameter. The pentameter is never used alone, except once by Ausonius, and subsequently by M. Capella. It has in the two first places a dactyl or spondee at will; then a long syllable, then two dactyls, and lastly, another long syllable. The Elegiac verse derives its name from yos, lamentation, being much employed in funeral hymns, and, in fact, it never appears to greater advantage than in plaintive subjects.* The laws of the hexameter in Elegiac verse are the same as in Heroic, but it does not admit of so much licence; for this plain reason, that the metre is sufficiently varied in itself, without having recourse to licentious deviations from the pure standard. Thus, final elision [ch. ii. § 4] should never be admitted; nor monosyllables or quadrisyllables at the end of the verse; smoothness should be constantly studied, and the hiatus, and lengthening of short syllables by cæsura, or metrical ictus, should be avoided. The laws of the pentameter are very strict. The first to be noticed is that of the division of the verse, which must never be violated even by elision, though Catullus takes this with many other liberties. 66 Speraret nec linguam esse nec auriculas." But he followed the example of the Greeks. As in the heroic, if the sense carried on from the hexameter be concluded in the first word of the pentameter, the first foot of the latter should be either a dactyl or a trochee. Armenias tigres et fulvas ille leænas Vicit, et indomitis mollia corda dedit. Hæc amor et majora valet; sed poscite Bacchi Munera; quem vestrum pocula sicca juvant. Tibul. vi. 15. 18. A monosyllable after a spondee should not close the first penthemimer, as this of Catullus,. Hunc nostrum inter | nos || perpetuumque fore. • Versibus impariter junctis querimonia primùm, Quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor, Grammatici certant, et adhuc sub judice lis est. Hor. A. P. 75. After a Pyrrhic contained in a word it is not inharmonious Ambobus mihi quæ | carior est oculis.—Id. Two monosyllables are likewise allowable Sis felix, et sint || candida fata tua.—Tibul. The second penthemimer must not, by any chance, be finished with a monosyllable : Aut facere hæc a te dictaque factaque sunt.-Calul. But the verb es and est is often elided in that place. Alterius facti culpa silenda mihi est.—Ovid. Two monosyllables may be admitted- Præmia si studio consequar ista sat est.-Id. The final word of a pentameter should be a dissyllable. A quadrisyllabic word may be sometimes allowed, as that of Ovid, Quem legis ac noris accipe, Posteritas. A trisyllable is very objectionable. This concluding word should be, either a noun substantive, a personal or possessive pronoun, or a verb. Adjectives are not often found in this place; still more seldom adverbs; and yet more rarely the present participle active. The sense of each separate couplet should be contained within itself; or, if it should overflow, it must be concluded at the end of the next, and never be carried farther, or stop short of that. Leonine verses are as detestable in pentameter as in hex ameter. Quærebant flavos per nemus omne favos.Ovid. § 11. Horace uses as a lyrical measure, an hexameter verse, followed by the latter penthemimer of a pentameter. See Od. vi. 7; or followed by the four latter feet of another hexameter. See Od. i. 7. 28. In the Epodes the hexameter is followed by an iambic dimeter, Epod. xii, xiii.; by an iambic trimeter, Epod. xiv. § 12. The Archilochian distich is composed of different kinds of verse. The first line is an asynartete of a dactylic tetrammeter, a trochaic dimeter brachycatalectic, or Ithyphallic. The second is an iambic trimeter catalectic. I. Sōlvitur acris hylēms grā tā vice | vēris ét Fălvōni. Observe in the first line, that the two kinds of verse are kept quite distinct; one never runs into the other. The fourth foot of the first line is invariably a dactyl. 13. The Hipponactic couplet is formed by a Trochaic dimeter catalectic, followed by an iambic trimeter catalectic. I. Nōn ebur ně que aureum. II. Měā rěnidět în domō | lăcuna r. 14. By the union of a Glyconian choriambic with an Asclepiad choriambic, the Glyconian couplet is formed. I. Aūdāx | "Iăpěti | gěnŭs. II. "Ignēm | fraūdě mălā | gentibus instulit. So much for the distich. We will now notice the combinations of three, four, and five lines together. 15. Stanzas of three lines are only found in Horace's Epodes; and even the two instances of these are in some editions arranged as couplets, the two last lines being thrown into one: but the objection to this is plain; that there would then be an indefensible hiatus in such a case, as this Fervidiora mero Arcana promôrat loco. And in cases like the following, Levare diris pectora Solicitudinibus. the last syllable in pectora could not be considered common if it occurred in the middle of an asynartete verse. The stanza of Epod. x. is made up of an iambic trimeter, the latter penthemimer of a pentameter verse and an iambic dimeter. That of Epod. xi. consists of an hexameter, an iambic dimeter, and the latter penthemimer of a pentameter. |