Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/424

 398 ON THE LANGUAGE, METRES AND PROSODY XIV. — The Ictus of Iambic Verse in Comedy. 12. The Comic Trimeter in Scansion differs from the Tnagic by ad- mitting the — v^^ in the 5th, and the ww— in the 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th. The Dactyl in the 5th of the Comic has the same ictus — ww as it has in the 1st and 3d of the Tragic Senarius, thus: 1, II I } II Plut. 55. TTvOoLjxeO av tov xPV^I^^^ rjixoitv, otl voet. I, It I 11 I II — 1149. CTTCtr' a-TToAtTTCov rov<i Oeov^ evOahe /xevci?. Whatever be the real nature of that licence which admits the Anapest so freely into Comic verse, no doubt can exist as to the place of its ictus on the last syllable v^w— ; and the following lines may serve as examples: I II I II I. " I^ub. 2. <o Zev ySao-iXeu, ro )(pif][xa tojv vvKTOiV oaov., I, II I II I 11 24. €1^' €^€K0Tr7]V TTpOTepOV TOV 0(f)6aXjX0V XiOiO, I II I II I ^1 20. OTTOO-OtS O^etXw, Kttt XoyLCTOiixat tovs tokovs. , I II I II I II 11. aXX' €t SoKei, peyKwfxev eyK^KaXvfxixevoL. 1 3. The Tetrameter of Comedy admits no feet but those which are found, and with more frequency, in the Trimeter. The ictuation on the feet in each verse is the very same, as the following lines may serve to exemplify: (Porson, xli. = 38). I II I II I II I Plut. 253. (o TToXXa Sr] TO) SecnroTr] ravrov $v}Jiov <^ayovT€<;. I II ' I ' 11 I II 1 Ranee 911. Trpwrio-ra fxcv yap kva ye riva Ka^etcrev eyKaXvi/zag. I II 1 II I II I 917. ov^ TjTTOv 7] vvv ol XaXovvT€atSpas re Tir]V€Xoirr]V Se. In this verse, generally, the Iambic structure so clearly predomi- nates, that little advantage can be gained by submitting it to the Trochaic analysis; as, against the judgment of Bentley, has been lately recommended by Ilgenius. (Yide Maltby, Lex. Gr. Pros. p. xxxvi.) And yet in some cases, perhaps, of resolved feet, and in verses too wanting the regular caesura, the law of ictuation may be more correctly apprehended by applying the Trochaic scale than otherwise. It is worth the while to observe, that of 37 Tetrameters in the Plutus, vv. 253 — 289, containing only two resolved feet, one a Tribrach, and one a Dactyl, (vid. Elmsley, u. s. p. 83,) the versification is remark-