Αυταρ έπειτ' αυτοϊσι βέλος έχεπευκές εφιείς,
Βάλλ’: αεί δε πυραί κ. τ. λ.

Di, prohibete minas, di, talem avertite casum.
The first feminine caesura is not emphatic, as Hom. Il. I. 365.

Οισθα· τίη τοι ταύτ' ειδυλη πάντ’ αγορεύω.
The diaeresis after the first foot changes the division of series,
but makes no strong impression, as Hom. Il. I. 511.

“Ως φάτο: την δ' ούτι προςέφη νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς. Sometimes the hiatus occurs in it, as Hom. Il. I. 39.

Σμινθες! είποτέ τοι χαρίεντ' επι νηόν έρεψα.
The caesura after the second arsis strongly marks the end
of the series after the first foot, as Hom. II. I. 2. Virg. Aen.
I. 4.

Ουλομένην, ή μυρί” 'Αχαιούς άλγε' έθηκε.

Vi superum, saevae memorem Junonis ob iram. The second feminine caesura does the same, but with less force, as Il. IV. 164.

"Έσσεται ήμαρ, όταν ποτ’ όλώλη Ίλιος ερή. The diaeresis after the fifth dactyl in the Greek writers is only a foot one. In the Roman, it is also found as a principal caesura, and in that case they are fond of closing the hexameter with two monosyllabic words, as Virg. Ecl. VII. 35.

Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus; at tu. The verse is not so good, when the second monosyllable has a stronger accent, compared with the first :

Nosciter ex socio, qui non cognoscitur ex se. By the caesura after the sixth arsis, the monosyllable which closes the hexameter, especially if preceded by a polysyllable, best, if a word of four syllables (choriamb), acquires a particular force, which generally produces a comic effect, as in the well known verses of Horace, Epist. II. 3. 139.

Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus ; Virg. Georg. I. 181.

Tum variae illudant pestes, saepe exiguns mus ; but sometimes also, paints appropriately the great, the monstrous, as Hom. Odyss. VIII. 69. Dionys. Perieg. 759. Virg. Aen. II. 250. I. 105.

a

a

Γαϊαν ομού και πόντον· ορώρει δ' ουρανόθεν νύξ.
Εσχατίας περί δέ σφι δυσήνεμος εκτέταται χθών.
Vertitur interea coelum et ruit oceano nox.

Dat latus, insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons. The hexameter is not always to be divided into two series, but it very often consists even of three. The verse is most complete in its character and most in harmony with the equality of the dactylic rhythm, when each series has a like number of feet:

Luva If, however, the series were divided by diaereses, the result would be a wearisome uniformity: hence in good poets such verses are rare, as Hom. II. I. 78. Horat. Sat. I. 4. 4.

"Η γαρ οίομαι, άνδρα χολωσέμεν, ός μέγα πάντων.

Quod moechus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioquin. The beginning of the second series is better marked by the caesura, which may be either the nevinuiuɛońs, or that κατά τρίτον τροχαίον and the end of the second series by the diaeresis :

۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔

۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔

, as Hom. Il. II. 94. Virg. Ecl. III. 1.

Ότρύνουσ’ ιέναι, Διός άγγελος· οι δ' αγέροντο.

Dic mihi, Damoeta, cujum pecus, an Meliboei. Hom. Il. I. 185. Virg. Ecl. III. 3.

Αυτός ιών κλισίηνδε, το σον γέρας· όφρ' ευ ειδής.

Infelix o semper, oves, pecus ! ipse Neaeram, The division of rhythms is frequently also the following:

The end of the first series is marked by the diaeresis, or more frequently the beginning of the second by the caesura after the second arsis or the second trochee, and the end of the second series by the diaeresis :

۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔

vucu Hom. II. I. 188, 133, 356. “Ως φάτο: Πηλείωνι δ' άχος γένετο εν δε οι ήτορ.

d' "Η εθέλεις· όφρ' αυτός έχης γέρας, αυταρ έμ' αύτως, 'Ητίμησεν· ελών γαρ έχει γέρας, αυτός απούρας. The series are not unfrequently divided also in the following way:

vu, FL as Virg. Aen. I. 2.

Italiam, fato profugus, Lavinia venit. In general, the variety is very great herein and we shall be obliged to confine ourselves to the cases that most frequently

occur.

As caesuras and diaereses do not belong to the essence of rhythm, there are also verses which have only foot caesuras and foot diaereses.

A verse is bad, in which a word ends with every versefoot as in the well known :

Nuper quidam doctus coepit scribere versus. Yet Ennius describes by a similar verse :

Sparsis hastis longis campus splendet et horret, the uniformity of a battle-field covered with lances. So also

а the verse of Ennius:

Disperge hostes, distrahe, diduc, divide, differ, describes the separating and breaking of the hostile lines. Faulty as is the separation of every verse foot, just as censurable is a too solicitous intertwining of the words, especially if the verse has only feminine caesuras, as Voss has strikingly shown in a verse formed by himself:

Sole cadente juvencus aratra reliquit in arvo. The hexameter is more tolerable if it has only masculine caesuras, as Lucret. II. 76.

Augescunt aliae gentes, aliae minuuntur. A good poet interchanges the different caesuras and diaereses, for in their variety consists a principal beauty of the hexameter: hence Nonnus is to be censured, who in the Dionysiaca permits the caesura xarà zpírov 100xaiov to predominate; Moschus less, who in the epitaph of Bion uses it almost everywhere, since the elegiac tone of the whole requires a soft rhythm of this nature.

The hexameter requires a similar alternation also in regard to the feet. In general dactyls are preferred for describing what is rapid and animated, spondees for the representation of what is weighty, slow and solemn. Farfetched art is, however, equally censurable with a heedless carelessness. As a model of the truly artistic use of the variety of measure, and of the diaereses and caesuras, take Hom. Odyss. XI. 593– 600.

Και μην Σίσυφον εισείδον κρατέρ' άλγε' έχοντα,
Λάαν βαστάζοντα πελώριον αμφοτέρησιν.
"Ητοι ο μεν, σκηριπτόμενος χερσίν τε ποσίν τε,
Λάαν άνω ώθεσκε ποτί λόφον· αλλ' ότε μέλλοι
Άκρον υπερβαλέειν, τότ' αποστρέψασκε κραταιάς
Αυτις· έπειτα πέδονδε κυλίνδετο λάας αναιδής.
Αυταρ όγ' άψ ώσασκε τιταινόμενος· κατά δ' ιδρώς

"Έρρεεν εκ μελέων, κονίη δ' εκ κρατός ορώρει. Virg. Aen. I. 81–101.

Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem
Impulit in latus ; ac venti, velut agmine facto,
Qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant.
Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis
Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis
Africus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus.
Insequiter clamorque virum stridorque rudentum.
Eripiunt subito nubes coelumque diemque
Teucrorum ex oculis; ponto nox incubat atra,
Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether
Praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem.
Extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra ;
Ingemit, et, duplices tendens ad sidera palmas,
Talia voce refert: O terque quaterque beati !
Quis ante ora patrum Trojae sub moenibus altis
Contigit oppetere ! O Danaum fortissime gentis

a

Tydide! mene Iliacis occumbere campis
Non potuisse, tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra ?
Saevus ubi Aeacidae telo jacet Hector, ubi ingens
Sarpedon, ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis

Scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit. The fifth foot of the hexameter is commonly a dactyl, but sometimes also a spondee, and a verse which has a spondee in the fifth foot is call a versus spondiacus or spondiazon. By the spondee in this place the hexameter acquires a grave conclusion, and thereby the character of slowness, seriousness and solemnity, as Virg. Ecl. IV. 49.

Cara Deum soboles, magnum Iovis incrementum. The effect of this spondee is still increased, if preceded by one or more spondees, as Virg. Aen. VII. 634.

Aut laeves ocreas lento ducunt argento. There are verses even which consist of spondees alone, as Hom. II. XXIII. 221.

Ψυχήν κικλήσκων Πατροκλήoς δειλοίο, a verse which strikingly delineates the profound grief and ardent longing of Achilles for Patroclus.

If the poet has no definite aim in view, in these verses consisting of spondees alone, they are to be censured, as Cat. CXV. 3. Lucr. VI. 1135. Ennius:

Queis te lenirem nobis, neu conarere.
An coelum nobis naturam introcorruptam.

Olli respondet rex Albai Longai. Among the Greeks, the spondaics are more frequently found, than among the Romans; of the latter, Catullus most delights in such verses. The Romans are fond of closing the spondaics with a word of four syllables, as Catull. LXIV. 3, 11, 15, and in many other places :

Phasidos ad fluctus et fines Aeetaeos.
Illa rudem cursu prima imbuit Amphitriten.

Aequoreae monstrum Nereides admirantes.
Seldom with a longer, as Cat. LXIV. 286.

Tempe, quae silvae cingunt superimpendentes. If a word of three syllables stands at the end of a spondaic, it is commonly preceded by a long word which has two accents, as Virg. Aen. VII. 631. Cat. LXIV. 298.