Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/429

 OF THE GREEK DKAMATIST^. 403 Elmsley himself, {ad CEd. Col. 115) on the two following lines, ^. (Ed. Col. 265. oi'o/xa fxovov 6ct'o-aiTe'»' ov yap hq to y€, 77, Electr. -432, rx-fx/Sio Trpocraiioys fxrjSev" ov yap crot Oefii^, justly remarks, that neither line contains any thing -ong : for the words o-oc and 877, the one enclitic, the other by collocation attached to the word precedent, make a slight dissyllabic ending, as far as any separate termination exists. 7. The following line may serve to represent several othei^s of similar consti-uction : Aj. Fl. 1101. l^^dT ayd(T(T€Ly, wv oh^ '//yctr' otKoOev. (Tide Elmsley, JIus. Crit. Vol. i. pp. 476 — 480, et ad Eerad. 371. 530.) " If we suppose the first syllable of otxo^ev to be attracted by the elision to the preceding word, the verse will cease to be an exception to Poi^son's Canon." At the same time, he frankly confesses, that he is not satisfied with this solution of the difiiculty, and goes on with great acuteness to state his objections to it. Xow, on the other hand, we are told of Hegelochus, who acted the part of Orestes in the play so named, that when he came to v. 273, Ik Kvfxa.Tu)v yap av^tg av ya/v' opw, wanting breath to pronounce yaXijv opw with the delicate synalepha requii^ed, he stopped between the words, and uttered these sounds instead, ya/v 6p<2. (Tide Porson, ad Orest. 273.) From this anecdote have we any light to conclude, that in cases like that of np/elT olkoOcv, at the close of the verse, the fii-st syllable of oLKodiv was by the elision attracted to the preceding word TTyet-o ? and in all similar cases may we suppose the two words to have been so closely connected in sound as to leave no perceptible suspension of the .sense whatsoever ? It is enough perhaps to have thrown out the suggestion ; and there let the matter rest for the present ^ XTII. — Xote C. O71 tk-e Anapest Proprii Xominis hi the Tragic Senarius and on other licences of a similar description. Before we engage in the direct discussion of the point here proposed, let a few remarks be premised. ^ It is quite clear that the aspirate at the beginning of a word was not pronounced ill ^ sjrnaloepha unless it could be transferred to the preceding consonant, e.g. ravd' opw. hile^then ya^v bpQ) would be distinctly given as galea koro, the articulation of yoK-ffv 6pQ must have been gale- novo, which would make a verj- perceptible diflfer- ence. — J. W. D. 26—2