VERSIFICATION. 



7. The tetrameter acataleftic confifts of three daftyls 

 and a pyrric, or iambus ; as, 



Qui fSre-j-re ingSnu-|-ujn volet ( agrum. — Boet. 



8. The Bucolic hexameter has in the fourth place a 

 daftyl ; as, 



Ab Jove principium, Mas^ ; Jovis omnia plena. — Virg. 



Fortunatianus obferves, that Theocritus adhered to this 

 rule in his paftorals, and that Virgil often neglefted it. 



9. The hexameter, which is named miurus or teliambus, 

 having for its laft foot an iambus inftead of a fpondee ; as, 



Dirige odorifequos ad caeca nubilia canes. — Liv. Andron. 



The two alcaics will be noticed hereafter. 



III. Of the Pentameter. 



The pentameter verfe confifts of five feet, of which the 

 firft two may be either daftyls or fpondees, the third niuft 

 always be a fpondee, the fourth and fifth anapxfts. 



It appears from Quinftilian that this was the ancient mode 

 of fcanning the pentameter. (Inft. ix. 4.) But among 

 the moderns it is fcanned otherwife. By dividing the verfe 

 into two hemiftichs or penthemimers, the firft hemiftich 

 muft contain two daftyls or two ^ondees, or one of each 

 indifcriminately, and a long fyUable, or csefura ; in the latter 

 hemiftich, two dadlyls with another caefura ; thus, 



Carmlnl-jbus vl-jves |{ tempiis in | omne me-|-is. — Ovid. 



1. The firft hemiftich ought to end with the entire word, 

 that the caefura belonging to the penthemiraer may take 

 place ; otherwife it will not be a legitimate pentameter, 

 according to Quinftihan, ix. 4. " In medio pentametri fpon- 

 deo, qui nifi alterius verbi fine, alterius initio conftet, verfum 

 non efficit." Therefore Terentianus condemns the following 

 line. 



Inter | noftros | gen-|l-tili8 d-|-berrat ejquus. 



2. An elifion immediately after the penthemimer is harfti ; 

 as. 



Mi mife-]ro eripu-I-£/7J |{ omnia | noftra bo-j-na. 



which verfe is rendered ftill more harfti by the elifion in the 

 preceding foot. 



3. Neither hemiftich (hould end with a monofyllable, 

 except it be preceded by another monofyllable, or an 

 elifion. 



4. The moft eligible conclufion of a pentameter is a 

 diifyllable, or a word of four or five fyllables. But the 

 verfe of Ovid, Propertius, or Tibullus, feldom ends with a 

 trifyllable. 



5. A pentameter fubjoined to an hexameter conftitutes an 

 elegiac diftich ; as, 



Flebilis indignos, elege'fa, folve capiUos. 

 Ah nimis ex vero nunc tibi nomen erit ! 



6. Every diftich (hould terminate \vith a period, or colon. 



7. Rhyming muft be avoided in this and every other kind 

 of Latin verfe ; as, 



Quaerebant fla'uoj per nemus omne fa-roj. 



Such verfes are called Leonine, or monkifti, from Leo- 

 iiius, a Benediftine monk, who is cenfured by VofEus and 

 others fur affecting this mode of verfifying. 



7 



IV. Of the Afclfpiadic, cr Choriambir. 



This verfe, invented by the poet Afclepiades, confifts 

 of four feet, a fpondee, two choriamb!, and a pyrric ; or, 

 confidering the laft fyllable of the verfe as long, an iambus ; 

 thus, 



M5ce]nas atSvis | edite re'gibus. — Hor. 



1 . Sometimes the firft foot was a daftyl ; as, 

 Effiigi-]-um et miferSs | libera mors | vehit. — Seneca. 



2. Sometimes, but feldom, a fpondee was admitted 

 into the fecond and fourth places ; as, 



Tendit in | exter-]-nas ire tenebras. — Boet. 



3. Single feet are elegantly compofed in this verfe of 

 complete words ; as, 



Quaflas | indocilis | pauperiem | pSti. — Hor. 



4. The firft choriambus, or a caefura, falls iixelegaatiy 

 in the middle of a word ; as, 



Non in-|cendia Carth|aginls im]-piae. 



Unlefs there be an efthlipfis, a fynalaepha, or the word be 

 a compound ; but even then the lines lofe not all their harlh- 

 nefs, and are but feldom to be imitated. 



There are, hkewife, the following vaiieties in choriambic 

 verfe. 



1. The Ariftophanian choriambic dimeter acataleftic, 

 confifting of a choriambus and a bacchic, or an amphibrac ; 

 as, 



Lydia die | pSr omnes. — Hor. 



2. The Alcaic pentameter acataleftic, confifting of a 

 fpondee, three choriambi, and a pyrric ; as, 



Seu plujres hifimes | feu tribult | Jupiter ul-|-timam. 



Hor. 



3. The Alcaic epichoriambic tetrameter acataleftic, con- 

 fifting of the fecond epitrite, (a choree and a fpondee,) two 

 choriambi, and a bacchic ; as, 



Te De6s o-]ro Sybarln | ciir properes ] amando. — Hor. 

 V. Of the Glyconic. 



The Glyconic verfe, fo named from the poet Glyco, con- 

 fifts of a fpondee, a choriambus, and an iambus ; as. 



Sic te I diva pdtens | Cypri. — Hor. 



But the firft foot was fometimes varied to an iambus, or 

 a trochee : but Horace, who was partial to the Glyconic, 

 invariably adheres to the fpondaic commencement, except in 

 one folitary inftance ; •viz, ode i. 15. 36. 



VI. DaBytic Dimeter, or yldon'tc. 



The Adonic verfe confifts of two feet, the firft a daftyh 

 the other a fpondee ; as, 



Vif^re I montes. — Hor. 



We feldom find this verfe employed alone. Terentianus 

 Maurus (De Metr. 439.) informs us that Sappho wrote en- 

 tire poems in this ftiort meafure. Terentianus himfe'f has 

 alfo left us a fliort piece of the kind ; and another of thirty- 

 one fuccefiive adonics occurs in Boethius, hb. i. metr. 7. 



VII. Of the Sapphic Pentameter. 



The Sapphic verfe, fo named from the poetcfs Sappho, 

 confifts of five feet ; the firft a trochee, the fecond a 



fpondee, 



