Verse formsComposite forms
Greek metres in Latin
Greek hexameters, glyconics and Sapphic stanzas adapted by Virgil, Catullus and Horace.
The metrical families one by one: dactylic, iambic, trochaic, aeolic, ionic, anapaestic, dochmiac and the rest.
Greek metres in Latin · 1 of 1
Greek metres in Latin
Greek metrical forms also became Latin forms. Virgil’s hexameter, Catullus’ glyconics and Horace’s Sapphic stanzas can be compared by their patterns of long and short syllables.[1] The examples below use the same quantity signs as the Greek pages. Latin needs no transliteration; the rows divide the verse into spoken syllables. A space inside a syllable cell marks a word boundary: in r in, for example, the r of the preceding word goes with the following vowel.
Hexameter
Stichic verse repeats one pattern line after line. Homer’s epic pattern is the dactylic hexameter.[2] Virgil uses that six-foot pattern in the Aeneid. A foot normally has a long followed by two shorts. A single long can take the place of the two shorts, making a spondee. The fifth foot is normally dactylic, and the final foot has only two syllables.[3]
1 Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
I sing of arms and the man who first, from the shores of Troy …
Virgil, Aeneid 1.1. Feet 3 and 4 have a contracted biceps. The caesura falls after canō, inside foot 3.
Malone · LibriVox
The opening Arma vi- fills the first foot, — ⏑ ⏑. The third foot, -nō Trō-, has two longs. In the terminology used for Greek metre, its biceps is contracted.[4] There is a word-end after canō, but the foot continues into Trōiae. The boundary between words is therefore different from the boundary between feet.[5]
| Pattern | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General hexameter | — ⏔ | — ⏔ | — ⏔ | — ⏔ | — ⏔ | — × |
| Virgil’s first line | — ⏑ ⏑ | — ⏑ ⏑ | — — | — — | — ⏑ ⏑ | — × |
The general row allows alternatives; the second row records the choices in this line. The two contracted feet do not change the number of feet.
Glyconic and pherecratean
A glyconic has a two-syllable base, then the choriamb — ⏑ ⏑ —, then a two-syllable close. A pherecratean is one syllable shorter at the end. These are members of the Greek aeolic family.[6] Catullus arranges three glyconics and one pherecratean into a stanza in his hymn to Diana.[7]
1 Dianae sumus in fide
2 puellae et pueri integri:
3 Dianam pueri integri
4 puellaeque canamus.
We girls and unspoiled boys are in Diana’s keeping. Let us, unspoiled boys and girls, sing of Diana.
Catullus 34.1–4. The first three lines are glyconics; the fourth is a pherecratean. The syllable rows omit the elided vowels in puell(ae) et and puer(ī) integrī, retaining l before et and r before integrī.
∿ Latin, synthetic
The middle group keeps the same — ⏑ ⏑ — pattern in all four lines. In line 1, -nae sumus in occupies that group. In line 4, -laeque canā- does so. The close of line 4 is just -mus, so the stanza ends with seven syllables instead of eight.
The first two lines also show different fillings of the base: Dī-ā- is long–long, while pu-el- is short–long. The quantity marks belong to the syllables as used in the verse.[7]
Elision lets words meet without adding a syllable to the pattern. In line 2, the ending of puellae is elided before et. The ending of puerī is elided before integrī in lines 2 and 3. The elided vowels shown in the caption are omitted in the synthetic reading.[8]
| Stanza line | Colon | Syllables |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | glyconic | 8 |
| 2 | glyconic | 8 |
| 3 | glyconic | 8 |
| 4 | pherecratean | 7 |
Sapphic stanza
Horace’s Sapphic stanza has three eleven-syllable lines and a short adonean, — ⏑ ⏑ — ×.[9] The stanza is named after Sappho. In the Greek form, the third eleven-syllable line and the adonean belong to one long period, although ancient books wrote them on two lines. Horace treats the stanza as four lines.[10]
1 Iam satis terris nivis atque dirae
2 grandinis misit pater et rubente
3 dextera sacras iaculatus arces
4 terruit urbem.
The Father has sent enough snow and dreadful hail upon the earth. Hurling at sacred citadels with his blazing right hand, he has terrified the city.
Horace, Odes 1.2.1–4. Three eleven-syllable Sapphics are followed by the five-syllable adonean.
∿ Latin, synthetic
Each long line has the same quantity sequence. The pair of shorts moves through different words: nivis in line 1, pater in line 2, and the beginning of iaculatus in line 3. The last line is shorter: terruit supplies the long and two shorts of the adonean’s opening; urbem supplies its close.[9]
| Line | Quantity pattern | Syllables |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | — ⏑ — — — ⏑ ⏑ — ⏑ — × | 11 each |
| 4 | — ⏑ ⏑ — × | 5 |
The comparison concerns a shared form. It does not make the pronunciation of Latin words Greek. The sound buttons here use a Latin voice and are marked ∿ for synthetic speech.
Notes
- ^ Allen and Greenough 1903, pp. 411–412, 421, 425.
- ^ West 1987, p. 19.
- ^ Allen and Greenough 1903, pp. 411–412.
- ^ West 1987, p. 6.
- ^ Allen and Greenough 1903, p. 412.
- ^ West 1987, p. 33.
- ^ a b Allen and Greenough 1903, p. 425.
- ^ Allen and Greenough 1903, pp. 410, 425.
- ^ a b Allen and Greenough 1903, pp. 420–421.
- ^ West 1987, pp. 34–35.
