VERSIFICATION. 



The Greeks never employ the fynalaepha, unlefs they join 

 the apoftrophe ; as, 



Iliad, a 33. 



Synalspha is fometimes omitted. Firft, regularly, as in 

 the intcrjeftioiis O, heu, ah, proh, vx, vah, hei ; as, 



Neu ubi pafta fides, ubi qus jurare folebas — Ovid. 



Secondly, by poetic licence ; as, 



Et ivLCCUi pecori, et lac fubducitur agnis. — Virg. 



Long vowels and diphthongs, when they are not cut off, 

 become common ; as, 



Infuli lonio in magno quas dira Celino Virg. 



Ante tibi Eose Atlantides abfcondantur. — Virg. 



Of Eahlipfts. — Efthlipfis cuts off the final m, and the 

 preceding vowel, wlien the following word begins with a 

 vowel ; as, 



Difce puer, virtut^m ex me, verumque laborem For- 

 tunam ex aliis Virg. 



This figure is not employed in the Greek language. 

 The ancients fometimes retained the m, and its preceding 

 vowel, which they made fliort ; as, 



Corforum officium eft quoniam premere omnia deorfum. 



Lucret. 

 But the urn of officium is elided. 



5 was formerly elidtd, not only before a vowel, with the 

 lofs of a fyllable ; but alfo bel'ore a confonant, without the 

 lofs of a fyllable ; as, 



Vicimus, O focii ! et magnam pugnavimu' pugnam. — Enn. 

 Nam, fi de nihilo fierent, ex omnibu' rebus — Lucret. 



Both fynalxpha and efthlipfis are found in the lafl fyllable 

 of a verfe, when the following verfe begins with a vowel, 

 provided no long paufe intervene to fufpcnd the fenfc ; as, 



Jamque iter emenfi, tunes ac tefta Latinoru/n 

 ^rdua cernebant juvenes murofque fubibant — Virg. 



Sternitur infelix alieno vulnere ccdwmgue 



.^picit, et dulces tnoriens reminifcitur Argos — Virg. 



Of Synierefis Syna»refis is the contraAion of two fyl- 



lables in the fame word into one fyllable ; as inxTi for thxh ; 

 11 for i i, deinde for deinde ; abiete pronounced abyete for 

 abiete, &c. 



And in the following verfes for parietibus, tenuius, vin- 

 demiator, pronounce par-yetibus, ten-wTus, vindem-yator. 



Hacrent parietibus fcalx ; poftefque fub ipfos — Virg. 

 Qila nee mobilius quidquam neque tenmus exftat. — Lucr. 

 Vindemiator et inviAus cui fspe viator. — Hor. 



Of Dlarefu. — Dixrefis is the divifion of one fyllable into 

 two ; as rvTzl'.o for tutT., aura'i for aurse, ftlefco for fuefco, 

 filux for filvae, foluit for folvit, fubiefta for fubjefta, 

 Jupiter for Jupiter,' &c. 



Of Syjlcle Syiiole is the fhortening of a fyllable, other- 

 wife long by nature or pofition ; as -ras Ttp^ia; iyn^tri, 

 Theocr. ; vidfin. for vidcs ne, hodie for h5c die, obicis for 

 objicis, &c. 



Of DiaJIole, — Diallole is the lengthening of a fyllable, 

 otherwife naturally fhort ; as U^uut auras ^ iXu;gi» tf^x' 



xujEo-o-M, Horn. II. a. 4. So are the firft fyllables in Prl- 

 amides, Arabia, occafionally lengthened ; without which 

 licence, thefe and fome fimilar proper names would fcarcely 

 be admiffible in lieroic verfe. 



There are other figures which may affedl a verfe, but 

 thefe belong to etymology. 



Latin Verfification. 



I. An hexameter or heroic verfe confifts of fix feet, of 

 which the fifth is ufually a dattyl, the fixth a fpondee : the 

 reft may be either fpondees or daAyls, at the option of the 

 poet. The following fcale exhibits the conftruftion ; 



I. 2. 3. 4. c. 6. 



At tdba I terribl-j-lem f5ni!tum pr6cul|aEre ca-'-noro 



' Virg. 



Sometimes when the defcription is grave, flow, majeftic, 

 mournful, &c. a fpondee is admitted in the fifth place, and 

 the verfe is called fpondaic. In this cafe, a daftyl ufually 

 occupies the fourth place, and the verfe terminates with a 

 word of three or four fyllables. It is but feldom other- 

 wife ; as, 



. * 

 Conftitit atque oculis Phrygia | agm'ina | circum[- 



fpexit. — Vu-g. 



Hexameters abounding too much in fpondees may appear 

 to drag, as it were, heavily ; and thofe in which dactyls 

 prevail feem fometimes to have a light and fluttering effeft. 

 An equal admixture, therefore, has been thought to afford 

 the juft and moft harmonious medium. 



A proper regard to the caefura, in the ftrufture of an 

 hexameter, is indifpenfably neceffary. The term caefura is 

 ufed by grammarians in two fenfes. In the former, it fig- 

 nifies the divifion of a verfe into two portions, affording a 

 little paufe or reft for the voice, at fome convenient place, 

 wliere the paufe may take place without injury to the fenfe 

 or harmony of the line. This kind of csefura is fometimes 

 called a lome, which term, for diftinftion's fake, we (hall ill 

 this former fenfe exclufively employ. 



Tantae molis erat J^ Romanam condere gentem. — Virg. 



Errabant, afti fatis J^ maria omnia circum. — Virg. 



From thefe examples, it is evident that the tome is not 

 exclufively confined to a particular part of the hexameter, as 

 in the pentameter, which, hke the Englirti and French 

 Alexandrine, is invariably divided into two equal portions. 



But the tome moft approved in heroic verfe was the 

 pcnthemimeral ; as, 



Liiftan-]-tes ven-j-tos, J^ tempeftatefque fonoras. — Virg. 



Inftead, however, of the tome at the exaft penthemi- 

 mcris, a different divifion was admitted after a trochee in 

 the third foot ; as, 



EffigT-|-em ft;1tij-l-ere, J^ nfifas qux trifte piaret. — Virg. 



This, however, is generally cenfured, as the ear feeras to 

 require that there fhould be no pa\ife immediately after a 

 trochee in this place, cfpecially as the voice, which would 

 find an agreeable reft on a long femifoot, is difagreeably 

 fufpended on a Ihort fyllable. 



The 



