INDICATING VOWEL LENGTH IN LATIN. 97 



rather frequent (thirty-one examples in the M. A. and fourteen in the 

 S. C). 



In metrical inscriptions the long marks frequently coincide with 

 the ictus (or whatever term we may prefer to use), but here, too, 

 there is no uniformity. All the apices seldom coincide with the 

 ictus,-' nor is every ictus marked in any inscription. A typical in- 

 stance of irregularity occurs in IX., 60, where we have eleven hexa- 

 meter lines, of which two have no marks, five have one mark, one 

 has two marks, one three, and two four. The lines with four marks, 

 which are not consecutive lines, read as follows : 



Hie meas deposui curas omnesque labores. 

 Fortuna infracta ter me fessum recreasti. 



In the former line three of the four apices coincide with the ictus. 

 The one over curas does not, but the proper length of the u is impor- 

 tant, perhaps especially important, for the rhythm of the verse. We 

 find a corresponding syllable marked elsewhere ; for example, in the 

 following lines : 



V/va viro placui prima et carissimum coniunx. VI., 6593. 

 Quos pius saepe colit frater coniunxque puellae. VI., 28877. 



Since in the last example the word in question is frater, there is room 

 for doubt, as often happens, as to the reason for the mark. The dis- 

 regard of s for making position in the first and fourth of the above 

 lines and the grammatical error in the third point to a vulgar origin. 

 It is noteworthy that in the second line two of the marks, being over 

 hidden quantities, are superfluous so far as the meter is concerned, 

 although they are important for the correct pronunciation. 



In the inscription IX., 60, twelve apices, in eleven lines, coincide 

 with the ictus, while seven do not. With this inscription we may 

 contrast VI., 9797, of nineteen lines, in which the apices and tall Ts 

 are very numerous, although in no line do the marks coincide through- 

 out with the ictus. In another inscription, XIV., 2553, consisting of 

 two elegiac couplets, nearly all the long quantities are marked, but 

 three long vowels on which an ictus falls are not marked. The in- 



^'^ There is one example in a pentameter (VI., 6593), post obitus satis hac 

 femina laude nitet. 



PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC, VOL. LXI., G, AUG. 30, 1 922. 



