It is of Dactylic Hexameters and Pentameters, or Elegiac Couplets, as they are called, that the following extracts are composed. k. A Hexameter verse is scanned thus: From which scale it appears that each of the first four feet may be either a dactyl or a spondee, while the fifth must be a dactyl, and the sixth must be a spondee; as Dic ǎge frigori|būs qua|rē novus | incipit | ānnūs | Tūm blan di sō lēs, īgnōtăque | prōdit hi|rūndō | Et modo formā tīs ămicitur | frondibus | ārbōs | The last syllable of a verse, whether Hexameter or Pentameter, is reckoned long by position. 7. A Pentameter verse is scanned thus From which it appears that the Pentameter is divided into two halves; the first consisting of two feet, either dactyls or spondees, and a long syllable, which must end a word; the second of two dactyls, and a long syllable. These two long syllables, or half-feet, make up the fifth foot of the Pentameter: as Qui melius per | ver || incipiendus e|rat || Hæc anni novi | tas || jure vo|canda fuit || m. In scanning a verse, when one word ends with a vowel or with a vowel before m, and the next word begins with a vowel or h, the final vowel, or the final vowel with m, is said to suffer Elision: that is, it is cut off, or not counted in the verse: as Mōnstr(um) hōr rēnd(um), in | fōrm(e), in gēns, cuī | lūmen ǎdēmptum | A monster awful, hideous, vast, of eye bereft. n. A Hexameter, to flow easily, must have a Cœsura: a cæsura, or cutting', being the term used to signify that a foot is cut or divided, between two words. Cesuras are counted by half-feet; one long syllable, or two short syllables, making a half-foot. The Hexameter may have several Cesuras, but the Rule is The Hexameter must have a Cesura at the Fifth halffoot as Et modo formatis amicitur frondibus arbos. And should have one at the Seventh half-foot: as Dic age, frigoribus quare novus incipit annus. 5 10 Spring. Dic age, frigoribus quare novus incipit annus, Omnia tunc florent; tunc est nova temporis ætas ; Et modo formatis amicitur frondibus arbos: Tum blandi soles; ignotaque prodit hirundo, Romulus and Remus. Ilia Vestalis cœlestia semina partu Ediderat, patruo regna tenente suo1. 15. Is jubet auferri parvos, et in amne necari. Quid facis? ex istis2 Romulus alter erit. Jussa recusantes peragunt lacrymosa ministri : Flent tamen, et geminos in loca jussa ferunt. Albula, quem Tiberim mersus Tiberinus in unda Reddidit, hibernis forte tumebat aquis. 20 Hic, ubi nunc fora sunt, lintres errare videres, Quaque jacent valles, Maxime Circe, tuæ. 25 At quam sunt similes! at quam formosus uterque! 30 Quæ facta est uno mater et orba die. 40 Sustinet impositos summa cavus alveus unda : Paullatim fluvio deficiente sedet. Venit ad expositos (mirum!) lupa feta gemellos : 45 Marte satos scires; timor abfuit: ubera ducunt, Nec sibi promissi lactis aluntur ope. 50 4 Non ego te, tantæ nutrix Larentia gentis, 60 Omnibus agricolis armentorumque magistris Iliadæ fratres jura petita dabant. Sæpe domum veniunt prædonum sanguine læti, 55 Ut genus audierunt; animos pater editus auget, 70 Sex Remus, hic volucres bis sex videt ordine: pacto Apta dies legitur, qua mœnia signet aratro : Fossa repletur humo, plenæque imponitur ara; 75 Inde premens stivam designat moenia sulco: 80 Longa sit huic ætas dominæque potentia terræ ; S5 Augurio læti jaciunt fundamina cives; 90 Et novus exiguo tempore murus erat. Hoc Celer urget opus, quem Romulus ipse vocarat ; Neve quis aut muros, aut factam vomere fossam Quod Remus ignorans, humiles contemnere muros Cœpit, et, His populus, dicere, tutus erit? Nec mora, transiluit. Rutro Celer occupat ausum : Ille premit duram sanguinolentus humum. 95 Hæc ubi rex didicit, lacrymas introrsus obortas Devorat, et clausum pectore vulnus habet. Flere palam non vult, exemplaque fortia servat: Sicque meos muros transeat hostis, ait. 100 Dat tamen exsequias: nec jam suspendere fletum Osculaque applicuit posito suprema feretro : Atque ait, Invito frater ademte, vale. |