Ammiani Marcellini Rerum Gestarum Liber XXI. 



Preliminary Note. 



No motive of any significance vinderlies my choice of Book XXI 

 for analysis. Any other portion of the Histories would have yielded 

 similar results, and I took this particular book because it seemed 

 to have a fairly sound text and had not previously been worked 

 over for my collection of sentence-endings. Gardhausen's text is 

 taken as a basis ; variations from it are accounted for in the foot- 

 notes. As my object is not so much to edit the text as to edit 

 the rhythm of it, I have made few changes except in the clausula. 

 Here I have admitted conjectures with considerable freedom, but the 

 reader will note that in most instances they do not rest solely upon 

 metrical grounds. The evidence of the unamended text will be 

 considered later. 



Though in general the text is so arranged as to give each kolon 

 a separate line, I have occasionally printed two or more on one 

 line without any definite system save an inclination to do so in the 

 case of short kola (or kommata) that respond. The numbering of 

 the forms has already been explained : the Greek letters that dis- 

 tinguish the types of the difterent forms are interpreted fully on 

 page 178. The sign 7 marks the end of a cadence which is prob- 

 ably accidental, though the distinction is sometimes difficult to 

 make.^ Where the accent or syllabication of a word is peculiar 

 I have marked it in the usual way, and on the first occurrence of 

 each phenomenon I have referred to the place where it is treated 

 in the chapter dealing with matters of pronunciation. In order to 

 interpret the clausulae readily the reader should note in advance 

 that elision does not occur in Ammianus, while hiatus (within 

 certain bounds) is frequent (p. 222) ; further, that it makes no dif- 

 ference whether a word-break does or does not precede the first 

 accented syllable of the cadence (p. 181). 



* The question of accidental clausulae is treated on p. 205 f. 



