SECTION II. THE COMBINATION OF SIMPLE RHYTHMS IN LARGER RHYTHMICAL PORTIONS. CHAPTER I. COMPOSITION BY THE LINE (STICHIC COMPOSITION). The composition xarà ozizov is the constant repetition of one and the same verse (P. 1. ch. 9. p. 33). It is appropriated to those poems in which composure and equability of feeling prevail, as in the Epos, in the dialogue of the drama (Diverbium) and in certain lower classes of lyric poetry, especially in witty and satirical poems. The verse itself, which is thus repeated, forms a rhythmical whole; it must therefore manifest itself as such by its rhythm. The rhythm is either simple, that is, consisting of equal series, or compounded of different series. Both the simple and compounded can only satisfy the ear as a whole, when they have a fixed beginning, a fixed middle, and a fixed conclusion. The middle forms the principal mass, and to this the beginning and the end must stand in an appropriate relation. In a rhythm which is too small, as the Adonian or ithyphallic, these parts cannot be distinguished; hence such rhythms are less adapted to repetition by the line. Diaereses and caesuras mark the different parts of the verse. The distinguishing marks of the close are the end of a word, the anceps and the hiatus, and in certain verses the catalexis also. In a freer use, many poets have allowed themselves the anceps and the hiatus within a verse, at the end of a series; asynartete verses. As it regards the rhythms themselves, which are used in verses to be repeated by the line, they must be so constituted as to allow variety of measure, because otherwise they would be wearisome by uniformity. The most complete of all such verses, and at the same time the most ancient, is the heroic hexameter, which, with all its unity of rhythm, appears under an infinite variety of forms, which are brought about partly by the different caesuras and diaereses, partly by the alternation of the spondee with the dactyl; hence poems of the greatest compass like the Iliad and Odyssey, were written in the hexameter; every other verse would have wearied the On the other hand, the smaller the compass of the poem, the simpler also may be the verse. ear. In verses composed of different series, one series forms the principal series, the others are attached to it as an introduction or a close. We shall always consider such verses under the head to which the principal series belongs. It is impossible here to cite all the verses which were used by the ancients by the line; we shall, therefore, limit ourselves to the more important, and those of which considerable remains have come down to us. I. VERSES USED BY THE LINE OF THE TROCHAIC-IAMBIC KIND. The verse consists of a dimet. troch. acat. with a dimeter creticus following, in which the first cretic always appears as a first paeon. This verse is used, Arist. Lysistr. 1014— 1035. Οὐδέν ἐστι θηρίον γυναικὸς ἀμαχώτερον, Οὐδὲ πῦρ, οὐδ ̓ ὧδ ̓ ἀναιδὴς οὐδεμία πόρδαλις. The verse has commonly the diaeresis after the trochaic dimeter, but it is seven times neglected; in verses 1014, 1017, 1021, 1022, 1026, 1033, 1035. A dimeter troch. with ithyphallic following. Hephaestion erroneously classes this verse with the asynartete. An example is cited by Hephaestion, probably from Sappho : Ἔστι μοι καλὰ πάϊς χρυσέοισιν ἀνθέμοισιν It was probably used by the line by the Greek lyric poets; Hephaestion mentions an example from Anacreon, in which the diaeresis after the second dipody is neglected: Κλύθί μευ, γέροντος εὐέθειρα χρυσόπεπλε κούρη. The Greek dramatists do not use this verse; but it occurs very frequently in the Roman writers, both in tragedy and in comedy. They allow the known licenses in the uneven places, and resolve even the last arsis. The principal caesura is after the second dipody; but the diaeresis is also sometimes neglected. This rhythm is commonly used in those passages, in which a passionate excitement occurs. Take as an example Terent. Eun. IV. 6. 1-8. Crédo equidem illum jam ádfuturum, ut illam a me eripiát; sine Atqui si illam dígito attigerit, óculi illi ilico éffodientur. éxpeto Scin' tu turbam hanc própter te esse factam? et adeo ad te ádtinere hanc Omnem rem?-ad me? quí quaeso, istuc? quía dum tibi sorórem studeo Réddere ac restituere, haec atque huiusmodi sum múlta passa. Plautus sometimes makes the verse asynartete, inasmuch as he allows himself the hiatus in the diaeresis, as Bacch. IV. 3. 1. Pétulans, protervo, iracundo - ánimo indomito, incógitato. Tetrameter trochaicus catalecticus. Versus septenarius or quadratus. This verse was used both by the lyric poets (Iambographers), and by the dramatists; by the latter in those passages of the dialogue, in which a stronger excitement of the feelings is to be marked. The iambographers strictly observed the diaeresis after the second dipody, and among the trisyllabic feet wholly excluded the dactyl, except in proper names. The tragedians observed the diaeresis with equal strictness; it is found neglected only twice, Aesch. Pers. 165. Ταῦτά μοι διπλῆ μέριμν ̓ ἄφραστός ἐστιν ἐν φρεσίν, and Soph. Phil. 1402. Εἰ δοκεῖ, στείχωμεν. — ὦ γενναῖον εἰρηκὼς ἔπος. In the latter passage, it is excused by the change of persons. The comic poets did not always observe the diaeresis, as Arist. Nub. 580. Μηδ' ἑνὶ ξὺν τῷ, τότ' ἢ βροντῶμεν ἢ ψεκάζομεν. n Resolutions of the longs are more frequent in the first foot of the dipodies than in the second. In general, trisyllabic feet are more common in the later tragic writers (after Ol. 89) than in the earlier. The last arsis but one is for the most part only resolved when the preceding foot is a trochee, as Eur. Phoen. 609. ov Ανόσιος πέφυκας. — ἀλλ ̓ οὐ πατρίδος, ὡς σὺ, πολέμιος, comp. also Ion. 1254. - Arist. Equit. 319. Νὴ Δὶ καμὲ τοῦτ' ἔδρασε ταυτὸν, ὥστε κατάγελων, Comp. also Av. 281.-The examples in which the spondee precedes the seventh foot resolved, are very rare: Arist. Vesp. 461. ̓Αλλὰ μὰ Δί' οὐ ῥᾳδίως οὕτως ἂν αὐτοὺς διέφυγες. The tragedians avoid terminating the third dipody in a spondee, if this forms the end of a polysyllabic word. The comic writers do not observe this, Arist. Nub. 577, Πλεῖστα γὰρ θεῶν ἁπάντων ὠφελούσαις τὴν πόλιν. The tragedians, and for the most part the comic writers, excluded the dactyl. Still it was permitted in proper names. Eur. Orest. 1535. Iph. Αul. 355. Σύγγονόν τ' ἐμὴν Πυλάδην τε τὸν τάδε ξυνδρῶντά μοι. Comp. Plut. Polit. praec. p. 811. F. Μητίοχος μὲν γὰρ στρατηγεῖ, Μητίοχος δὲ τὰς ὁδοὺς, As an example of the catalectic tetrameter in the tragedians,, take the passage, Aesch. Pers. 702 sqq. Αλλ' ἐπεὶ δέος παλαιὸν σοὶ φρενῶν ἀνθίσταται, As an example of the tetrameter in the comic writers, Arist. Κίττα, τρυγών, κορυδὸς, ἐλεᾶς, ὑποθυμὶς, περιστερὰ, Καὶ βλέπουσιν εἰς σὲ καμέ. — Τοῦτο μὲν κἀμοὶ δοκεῖ. The Romans also used this verse frequently. As a lyrical verse it occurs in the Pervigilium Veneris, which, at least the greater part of it, belongs to a later time; hence the remarkable irregularities, as the spondee or anapaest in the uneven places, in verses 25, 91, 62, 55. Totus est in armis idem, quando nudus est Amor. |