Terentianus Maurus. De pentametro versu, qui et elegiacus dicitur. Quidam (quia gemino constat de commate versas) Cludere comma prius non timuere brevi: Tantam nostra nequit mensura absolvere litem, Priscian, p. 768. In Græcis est quando invenimus e productâ finiri ablativum tam primæ quam tertiæ declinationis nominum qui magis dativus est græcus positus pro latino ablativo. Virgilius in primo Æneid. Ipse uno graditur comitatus Achate. Lucanus in octavo. Signaque ab Euphrate2 cum Crassis capta sequentem. Similiter a Demosthene, Aristotele, Hermogene. Vetustissimi tamen etiam in quibusdam Latinis quæ nominativum in es productam terminant, pares cum genitivo habent syllabas in hac declinatione, solebant producere ablativum more quintæ declinationis vel supradictorum Græcorum, ut a mole, fame, tabe, quod adhuc sic profertur. Virgil. in VI. offam objicit, ille fame rabida tria guttura pandens. Lucanus in X. Non mandante fame multas volucresque ferasque Ægypti posuere Deos. Juvenalis in V. Membra aliena fame lacerabant, esse parati Et sua. Lucretius. Imbribus, et tabe nimborum arbusta vacillent. K. Heinsius, in his note upon "Quantus in acide Actorideque fuit," Ep. Pont. lib. 2. et 4. v. 22. observes, "Hic hiatus insolens est Nasoni." 2 We may add from Ovid, Te memorant Gange, totoque Oriente subacto. Fast. 3. l. 729. 105 ON THE SAPPHIC AND ALCAIC METRES. PART II. In the three last Priapean verses I have made some slight alterations in the words, with a view rather to show the nature of the metre than to restore the genuine text, which is evidently in many places corrupt in the books whence the fragments have been selected. In Gaisford's Hephaest. p. 60, a Priapean verse occurs with an initial broken quantity, representing a foot or half dipodia, as Τὸν στύγα | νον Μελανιπ- που φό- νον αἱ And again, Πατρο- φόνων | ἔρι θος, Πέτρης[ἐς που λιὸν κῦμα κολυμβ-|ὤμι θύων ἔρω- τι, Ib. p. 130. If in the line, Εὐ- | μορφο- τέρα Μνασι- δίκα τᾶς ἀ- παλᾶς | Γυρίν νως we omit the second choriamb there remains the following metre: A short and brisk metre has been formed out of the Priapean verse, consisting wholly of the second section, and resembling the Anacreontic, as Instead of apas, Dorice, for paro, from papai, which would be destructive of the metre, if not of the rhythm, and inconsistent with the sort of verse, (a choriambic hepthememer, having an iamb and long syllable for its close) of which it is produced by Hephastion as an example, I would read apão, Dorice for apo, the optative passive, from ἀράομαι. The initial a in ἀράομαι is generally long, but Homer uses it short in apà, preces, and Aristophanes in the compounds xarápatos and xarapa. When I say that the introduction of paro for apwo would be destructive of the metre, if not of the rhythm, it must not be understood that, according to the laws even of rhythm, a dactyl and an amphibrachys may be substituted one for another universally and in all cases. As single feet, they are incapable of reciprocal substitution, and it is only when they enter into a verse as parts of compound and larger feet that such a substitution can happen. To make a dactylic hexameter terminate, for instance, in apo návтws instead of paro Távτws would be barbarous, intolerable, and an equal offence both to rhythm and metre; but the first section of a Priapean verse, which proceeds not by single feet, but by compound feet, may begin indifferently with a diiamb, or a choriamb, and admits, therefore, either apo or paco equally well, as Αρώ- ο νῦν παρθενία Παρθενία οι ρώ- ο νῦν or 'Apoνία, Ηρα- σο νῦν παρθενία Here is no offence to rhythm, but still there may be to metre, as metre is sometimes strict, and by no means allows always the licence of isochronous and equivalent exchanges. This licence, although not entirely confined to the lyric poets, is chiefly used by them, and may be considered as a characteristic feature of the Greek Méλn, or Odes. A nice observation of these isochronous interchanges may be a means of leading us to the true scansion and division of the dominant rhythm; a subject, either not well understood, or imperfectly explained by the Greek scholiasts, and where an unerring guide is still wanted. On account of the peculiar facility with which compound feet admit these interchanges, all feet exceeding three syllables were not, as Cicero tells us, esteemed feet so much as numbers. See Class. Journ. Vol. III. p. 39 and 54. This is confirmed too by Marius Victorinus, who says, "Non gradiuntur Méλŋ pedum mensionibus, sed rhythmis fiunt." Gaisford's Hephæst. p. 224. The same metre occurs with a syllable prefixed, as Δέ δυκε μὲν ὁ | σελάνα, Καὶ | Πληΐ- αδες péra dé. Hephæst. p. 65. Before I quit the subject of choriambics, I will subjoin a scale, and place in it several lines, proceeding from the most simple form of verse to that which is more complicated, from one middle to two, three, and four middle chorianıbs. ος γέ- νος εἴ- αν τὸν ἄρισε τον πεδ' ̓Αχι οὐδέ ποτα μναμο- σύνα σέθεν. [λέα. 12 Kpoví13 Karla Τα βασιλή νοῖσα δὲ κεῖσ'. 14 Alphene imme- mor atque una 15 Εσσετ' ὕστερον οὐ 16 Jam te οὐδέ ποτ' εἰς γὰρπεδο έχεις βράδων. nil mi- seret, dure, tui dulcis ami- culi. Πιε- ρίας, 17 Τῶν ἐκ 18 Jam me prode- re, jam 19 Αφανής 20 Dubitas ἀλλ ̓. Pherecratian. non δόμοις. Glyconian. 21 Φοιτά falle- re per σεις πέδ ̓ ἀμαυ 22 Nec facta impi-a fall 23 Νεκύων έκπε- ποτα 24 Hominum coeli- colis The last six Greek lines (or rather sections of lines as to the last four) of Sappho I have underlined with others from Catullus, in order to show their mutual correspondence. This fragment of Sappho and the Ode of Catullus illustrate each other, and can now leave little doubt as to the true nature, both of the rhythm and of the artificial division of the strophe. Where on a former occasion (Class. Journ. Vol. IV. p. 299.) I mentioned only a strong resemblance between the two odes, I now upon closer examination discover an identity. The composition of the strophe in Catullus is so singular, that although the ode is short, and consisting only of three strophes, yet the presumption is, that the uniformity found in them is such as cannot be accidental. In general the longer an ode is, with the greater certainty we can pronounce upon the principles of its versification. Had the Ode of Catullus consisted only of one strophe, a doubt might have existed, whether it ought to be divided into four, five, or eight lines, in the manner in which I had divided the same Greek strophe in a former part of the Class. Journ. Vol. IV. p. 298. The first strophe in Catullus may be divided into eight lines, or sections of lines, so as to make each line end with an entire word, and the second strophe even admits of the same division; but when we come to the third strophe we find a difficulty, and the line Si tu oblitus es, at Dî meminerunt, meminit fides, does not admit of a division into a couplet or duad, like Nec facta impi- a fall- acum ho minum The nonconformity of this last strophe in this particular, with the two preceding, may justify a conclusion that it was not intended to be broken into duads. If we consider the strophe as a tetrastich, or as a pentad, we may divide all the strophes into either; but then, instead of being too minute, as in the former case, we become too general, and lose sight of those colous and commas into which the art of the poet has broken and divided the metre. For it may be laid down as a rule, that the more curious and elaborately constructed any metre is, the more a uniform adherence to it affords proof of design, and negatives the supposition of accidental concordance. For instance, in the 8th Ode of Horace, in the first book, the second line, Te Deos oro Sybarin, cur properas amando, is not only divided into two sections, but the termination of the first section is further distinguished by this invariable peculiarity, that it has for its close an entire word, or entire words, equal to a trissyllable, forming an anapest, detached from the preceding part of the section, as at the word Sybarin. Were any one composing an ode, in imitation of this of Horace, to write as equivalent to Te Deos orare juvat, Te Deos oro | Sybarin, he would miss his aim, and would agree with his prototype in rhythm only, but not in metre. From what has been said, I think we may conclude, that the right division of the Ode of Catullus is into strophes of six lines as above; and as the Greek strophe of Sappho agrees with the Latin of Catullus in all its peculiarities, we may conclude further, that both have been fashioned after one common model. In the language of Hephæstion, this metre is not composed, óμolan, but xaτà σxéo. p. 120. Upon the whole, therefore, the Fragment of Sappho and the singular Ode of Catullus admirably illustrate each other. How much is the recovery to be desired of the works of Sappho, Alcæus, Corinna, and the other lyric poets; and what an inestimable treasure should we then enjoy of metrical and rhythmical productions in all their |