204 Austin Morris Harmon, 



el olim licet otiosae sint tribus I 



pacataeque centuriae 11 



et nulla suffragiorum certamina II 



set Pompiliani redierit 7 securitas temporis ; II 



per omnes tamen quotquot sunt partes terrarum I 



ut domina suscipitur et regina, III 



et ubique patrum reverenda cum auctoritate canities II 

 populique Romani nomen circumspectum et verecundum. Ill 



We need not undertake a minute analysis of this passage, for its 

 rhythmical structure is quite apparent. Even in the sentence which 

 opens it and in the two sentences at its close there is more regu- 

 larity displaj'ed in the disposition of the cadences than is character- 

 istic of Ammianus' ordinary style. But their structure is not nearly 

 so studied as that of the four connected periods which embrace 

 the whole history of Rome. The first of these, describing Rome's 

 infancy, is made up of four kola, while the other three, dealing 

 respectively with Rome's youth, manhood and old age, are of three 

 kola each. While all these kola are about of the same length, it 

 is worth while to notice that in the first period we have three 

 long kola of 13 syllables each, followed by a shorter one of 10 syl- 

 lables, in the second, two of 11 syllables followed by one of 8, and 

 in the third and fourth a long central kolon of 13 syllables (which 

 in the fourth is broken into two responding kommata) between 

 shorter kola of al)out 10 syllables. Equally artificial is the responsion 

 of the clausulae, all in I until we come to the last kolon of the 

 third period, which is in III (/aureas et triumphos), the change in 

 rhythm adding emphasis to the kolon, which contains the climax of 

 the whole thought. From this climax through the medium of a ca- 

 dence in II we are brought back to the old rh3thm again, in the 

 two responding kommata and in the close of the sentence. It 

 should be noted, too, that the responsion extends even to the types. 



This is certainl}' a remarkable piece of composition : artifice could 

 hardly be carried further. But it stands quite by itself in Ammianus, 

 of whose general style one can get a satisfactory idea from Book XXI. 



Though resi^onsion is not regular in Ammianus, it is conspicuous. 

 The three more favored clausulae occur so freely that in their case 

 it would be difficult to show this in any way except by referring 

 to the text itself. Form IV, however, being much less frequent, 

 furnishes us with interesting results. Its occurrences in Book XXI 

 are as follows: p. 125, 9; 126, 29; 127, 13, 23; 130, 13, 18; 131, 6, 

 21,30,32; 133,2; 135,33; 136,1; 137,11,12,14,19; 138,7,27; 



