AN INTRODUCTION TO THE METRES OF HORACE. BY CHARLES BECK, P. D. PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE. 49 INTRODUCTION TO THE METRES OF HORACE. I. OF SEVERAL TECHNICAL TERMS. 1. Foot. A foot is a combination of a certain number of syllables of a certain quantity. 2. Verse. A verse is the regular series of a certain number of feet. 3. Basis. A basis is a foot of two or three syllables preceding a verse. 4. Stanza or Strophe.-A stanza or strophe is the succession of several verses in a certain order, which order is preserved through the poem. If the stanza consists of two verses, the poem is distrophon (díorpopov); if of three, tristrophon (Tpíστpopov); if of four, tetrastrophon (TETρáστpopov); and if of one, monostrophon (μovóστρоpov). If one kind of verse only is employed in the composition of the poem, the latter is called monocōlon (μovókwλov); if two kinds of verse, dicolon (Sikwλον); and if three, tricolon (τρίκωλον). 5. Cœsura. - A cæsura (from the Latin verb cado, to cut, sever) is the interruption or intersection of a foot by the ending of a word. 6. Dipodia.-The feet of two syllables, especially the iambuses and trochees, are not numbered singly, but two by two, and two feet thus united are called a metrum or dipodia (diodía). One dipodia or two feet are called a monometer (μovóμeтpos); two dipodia or four feet, a dimeter (diμetpos); three dipodia or six feet, a trimĕter; four dipodia or eight feet, a tetrameter. But the dactyls, choriambuses, and other feet, are numbered singly, so that two of them are called a dimeter, three a trimeter, four a tetrameter, etc. 7. Versus catalectus or catalecticus (στίχος κατάληκτος οι καταληκτικός) is a verse, the last foot of which wants one or several syllables. If one syllable is remaining, it is called versus catalecticus in syllabam; if two, catalecticus in dissyllabum. 8. Versus brachycatalectus is an iambic or trochaic verse (which are measured by dipodia) the last foot of which is wanting.* 9. Versus acatalectus is a verse which is complete. 10. Versus hypercatalectus is a verse which has one syllable too much. * Sometimes this verse is comprehended under the preceding name, versus catalectus. II. OF FEET. The feet, of which the verses in the various metres of Horace are constructed, are, The first syllable of an iambic dipodia, not being capable of being measured accurately, may be long, and thus a spondee may stand in the place of an iambus, or the solutions of the spondee, the anapæst and dactyl. The same changes may be made in the third, fifth, and seventh places. For the second, fourth, and sixth iambus, a tribrachys alone can be substituted; so that iambic verses admit of these changes: It is to be observed that Horace, very moderate in the use of this liberty, uses sometimes in the even places the tribrachys, and in the odd places the spondee, but seldom the anapæst or dactyl. 1. Versus iambicus dimeter acatalectus, or versus iambicus quaternarius : ༢འ Inar sit ae stuosius. Epod. 3. 18. Forti seque mur pectore. Epod. 1. 14. 2. Versus iambicus trimeter catalectus:· 13 = Satis | beatus unicis | Sabi nis. ii. 18. 14. Regum que pueris, nec | satelles Orci. ii. 18. 34. 3. Versus iambicus trimeter acatalectus, or versus iambicus senarius; with a cæsura after the first syllable of the third foot: Parentibus que abo mina tus Hannibal. Epod. 16. 8. *The Anăpast dee and Iambus. --and the Tribrachys -occur only as solutions of the Spon b. Trochaic Verses. The last syllable of a trochaic dipodia being doubtful, in the second, fourth, and sixth places the spondee, anapast, or dactyl may be substituted for the trochee, and the tribrachys in any place. 4. Versus Ithyphallicus, which is a versus trochaicus dimeter brachycatalec tus: Veris et Favoni. i. 4. 1. This verse is used once by Horace, so as to form the termination of another (see No. 19), and is constructed throughout in its pure and regular form. 5. Versus trochaicus dimeter catalectus: Horace does not use the spondee in the second place. c. Choriambic Verses. Entire verses are not formed of choriambuses, but one or several choriambuses are preceded or succeeded by different feet. 6. Versus Pherecratius, which is a versus choriambicus monometer hypercatalectus, with a basis, which in Horace is always a spondee : 7. Versus Glyconicus, which is a versus choriambicus dimeter catalectus in pyrrhichium aut iambum, with a basis, which in Horace is always a spondec: 8. Versus Asclepiadēus minor, which is a versus choriambicus trimeter catalectus in pyrrhichium aut iambum, with a basis, which in Horace is always a spondee, and a cæsura after the first choriambus: Maecenas atavis || edite regibus. i. 1. 1. Horace neglects the casura in two instances. One occurs in this book: Non incendia Carthaginis impiæ. iv. 8. 17. Mitscherlich very properly questions the genuineness of this verse. In one instance the first choriambus is changed into a pæon primus (~~~~): – Quam si, | quidquid arat | impiger Apulus. iii. 16. 26. 9. Versus Asclepiadēus major, which is a versus choriambicus tetrameter catalectus in pyrrhichium aut iambum, with a basis, which in Horace is always a spondee, and two cæsuras, after the first and second choriambus: Quis post vina gravem || militiam aut || pauperiem crepat? i. 18. 5. |