Page:The New Latin Primer (Postgate).djvu/212

198 2. Vowels followed by i (consonant) are long, as ēia; bĭ-iugus, quadrĭ-igus are exceptions.

3. Syllables in which contraction has taken place are long: as cōgo for cŏăgo.

4. Compounds and derived words usually keep the quantity of theit simples, as cădo, accĭdo, căducus. But there are many exceptions. ǁ

§ 449. Verses are divided into Feet, each containing two or more syllables.

The foot ¯ ˘ ˘ is called a Dactyl ; the foot ¯ ¯a Spondee. The foot may be compared to a bar of music : the Dactyl being the metrical equivalent of the bar 𝄀 𝅗𝅥 𝅘𝅥 𝅘𝅥 𝄀  the Spondee of the bar 𝄀 𝅗𝅥 𝅗𝅥 𝄀

These feet are equal in quantity.

The other feet most usually employed are the Iambus ˘ ¯, the Trochee ¯ ˘ , the Anapaest ˘ ˘ ¯ , the Choriambus ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯.

§ 450. The kinds of verses most used are the Dactylic Hexameter and the Dactylic Pentameter.

The Hexameter consists of Six Feet; of which the last is a Spondee, the fifth a Dactyl (rarely a Spondee). The rest may be either Dactyls or Spondees. Thus:

The Pentameter is constructed thus :

The metrical pause  𝄁  always coincides with the end of a word.

The last syllable of a verse may be short, the pause at the end completing the quantity.

§ 451. Caesura.—When a foot contains the end of one word and the beginning of another, the division is called the Caesura. The division ¯ 𝄀  ˘ ˘ or ¯  𝄀  ¯ is the Strong Caesura, ¯ ˘  𝄀  ˘ the Weak Caesura.

In a Hexameter either the third or the fourth foot must have a strong caesura. The fifth foot of a Hexameter has a weak caesura or none at all, and the last dactyl of a Pentameter must have the weak caesura.

§ 452. The Pentameter is only used alternately with the Hexameter forming the Elegiac metre, appropriate to Reflective poems.

The Hexameter used alone constitutes the Heroic metre, appropriate to Narrative poems.