Chapter i. Nature of the Clausulae. 



The most casual glances at the pages of the foregoing selection 

 from the Histories cannot but reveal the fact that Ammianus secured 

 a rhythmical effect in his prose through the constant repetition of 

 a limited number of accentual clausulae. It is almost equally obvious 

 that the nature of each clausula is chiefly determined by two 

 factors which must enter into it — the accentual cadence pure and 

 simple, and the caesura. Founding our classification of the clausulae, 

 therefore, upon these two essential features, we shall discuss first 

 the divers accentual cadences or forms that Ammianus uses, and 

 next the various word-groups or types by which each form is 

 rendered. Were Ammianus' clausulae purely accentual, we should 

 not need to carry our investigation any farther; but although accent 

 is always the principal factor in his rhythm, syllable-quantity is not 

 left entirely out of account in it. We must therefore give this 

 element a place in our discussion of the nature of his clausulae, 

 which we shall conclude with a brief inquiry into the matter of 

 their origin. 



rORMS. 



The following table displays the various forms that occur among 

 the clausulae in Book XXI (I) and in the collection of sentence- 

 endings previously described (II), and records the frequency with 

 which they recur. In compiling these statistics I have departed 

 from Gardthausen's text only in two sentence-endings. ^ In the 

 latter collection all direct quotations are left out of account; in 

 Book XXI only two citations from Cicero. 



Table of I'orms. 

 Coll. I 



J I r\j n'^ rsj r^ r\j 648 



II r^n^r^i<jr^^ 385 



Cadences [III r'ij c^ r^ r^ •'^j r<j r^^ 345 



IV n\jr^r\jr^r\jr^r\j(\j 47 



1425 



' Vol. I, p. 48, 1. 14 I read triclini with the Ms. for triclimi ; I. 

 88. 1 I punctuate after princeps and construe ob devotionem with what 

 follows. Sti-ictly speaking I should not have introduced the first of these 

 corrections into my tables, but, once admitted, it was easier to leave it 

 than to remove it. 



