Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/432

 406 ON THE LANGUAGE, METRES AND PROSODY Clearly this : that it placed a in 4th. What then does crxtvSaXa/xov? place there 1 Either w w — is pronounced as three distinct syllables, in what is called triple time, while the metre itself is in common, or by rapid utterance o-xti^^'Xa/xovs comes to the ear, and so the verse proceeds with its own regular movement. Briefly, we have either crxtvSaX/xovs, a molossus,, which mur- ders the metre entirely; or (TxivSaXa/Aov?, a full-sounded choriambus, —y^—, which con- trary to the law of the verse mingles triple with common time ; or axivS{a)dixov<;, i.e. in effect, the pes Creticus, — v^ —, that very quantum of sound which the metre requires. Obs. It may be necessary to remark, that Clarke's reasoning about the WW— Proprii Nominis in the 4th is just as applicable to the 2nd place also with that foot as to the 4th. And if his argument, as here stated, be sufficient to account for the licence in the 2nd and 4th places, of course, where the same licence occurs in the 3rd and 5th, its admis- sion there also must be considered in the very same light. For examples of the ww— (or — ww— ) Proprii Nominis in all the four places, see ch. i. § 3. 6. Before advancing a step farther, it is but right to avow, that all which we at present propose is to set this question fairly a-going on its apparently reasonable and very probable ground. High probability then favours the idea, that the Anapests (and Choriamb!) of Greek Comedy (under all combinations of words and syllables) were passed lightly over the tongue without trespassing on the time allowed betwixt ictus and ictus in verses not containing those feet, i. e. in metres of common time. Anything like a perfect enumeration of particulars commodiously classed would be found to demand a serious sacrifice of leisure and labour. The classes which are here given in specimen only, while they undoubtedly embrace a very great majority of the facts, may serve to show the nature of that extensive survey which would be necessary to make the induction complete. 7. Instances like crxtvSaXa/xoi;?, it might ct priori be calculated, are not likely to be very numerous; hardly 10 in every 100 of the Comic Trimeters : nor do all the words of similar dimensions with o-xtvSaAa- lxov<s present a choriambus so readily obedient to our organs at least for running four syllables into three. Nuhes 16. dvletpoTToAet | 0* tTTTrotis* cyw 8' aTroXXv/xat, Plutus 25. €vvovs yap wv a-oi TrvvOdvofxaL | ttolvv acfioSpa,