486 Dr. Latham on the use of the Signs of Accent and Quantity 



after the fashion of Englishmen) err in the way of quantity — 

 at least, not to the ear. A short vowel still gives a long 

 syllable; for the consonant which follows it is supposed to be 

 doubled. 



Let it be admitted, then, that, for practical purposes, Tityre 

 and patula may be pronounced alike, and the necessity of a 

 large class of marks is avoided. Why write, as the first word in 

 the book is written, Pdpilio'nidce ? Whether the initial syllable 

 be sounded papp- or pope- is indifferent. So it is whether the 

 fourth be uttered as -oivn-, or -onn-. As far as the ear is con- 

 cerned, they are both long, because the consonant is doubled. 

 In Greek, TrdTnnWiovviSat is as long as iraTrtWicoviSai,. 



Then comes Machu'on, where the sign of quantity is again 

 useless, the accent alone being sufficient to prevent us saying 

 either Mdkkaon or Makaon. The a is the a in fate. We could 

 not sound it as the a in fat if we would. 



Pleridce. — What does the quantity tell us here ? That the i 

 is pronounced as the i in the Greek iriovo'i, rather than as the i 

 in the Latin pius. But, in English Latin, we pronounce both 

 alike. Surely Pi'eris and Pi^rida tell us all that is needed. 



Cratce'ffl. — Whether long or short, the i is pronounced the 

 same. 



Sind'pis, Rci'pte, and Nd'pi. — The (") here prevents us from 

 saying Rappee and Ndppi. It would certainly be inelegant and 

 unusual to do so. Tested, however, by the ear, the words 

 rdpjjcE and ndj)j)i take just the same place in an English Latin 

 verse as rdpe-ce and ndpe-i. Is any one likely to say sindppis ? 

 Perhaps. There are those who say Dianna for Diana. It is very 

 wrong to do so — wrong, not to say vulgar. For the purposes 

 of metre, however, one is as good as the other ; and herein (as 

 aforesaid) lies the test. The real false quantities would be 

 Diana and sinnapis ; but against these the accent protects us. 

 Nor is the danger of saying sindppis considerable. Those who 

 say Didnna are those who connect it with Anna and would, pro- 

 bably, spell it with two n's. 



Cardaml'nes. — All that the first (") does here is to prevent us 

 saying cardami^nnes. The real false quantity would be cardahn- 

 mines. The accent, however, guards against this. 



The second (~) is useful. It is certainly better to say carda- 

 min-ees than cardamin-ess, because the e is from the Greek rj. 

 And this gives us a rule. Let the (~) be used to distinguish t) 

 from e, and o) from o, and in no other case. I would not say that 

 it is necessary to use it even here. It is better, however, to say 

 Machdon than Machdon. By a parity of reasoning, the ("), re- 

 jected in the work before us, is sometimes useful. Let it be 

 used in those derivatives where e replaces rj, and o replaces m ; 



