Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/436

 410 ON THE LANGUAGE, METRES AND PROSODY 8 . In Homer, on the contrary, even the loose vowel of augment (e) or reduplication, when it precedes ttX, kX, Kp, rp, &c., initial of the verb, not only cum ictu, but even extra ictum, is made to form a long syllable. A. 46. €K-Xay^av 8' ap oio'rol kir cu/xwv )((s)0fX€i/0L0. — 309. 'Es 8' cperas lK-piv€V UiKoaiv^ h 8' kKarofx^rjv. 1,1 S. 176. lic^aixevYjy X^P^' 7rA.OKa/x,ou5 ctt-Xc^c ^actvovs, N. 542. Aatfxov Tvij/, Ittl ol rcT-pafjiixevov, 6$ei Sovpi. 9. In Homer no dissyllabic word like -n-arpos, tIkvov, ocfipa, &c., which can have the first syllable long, is ever found with it otherwise : in Aristophanes those first syllables are constantly shortened. 10. Briefly, then, it may be said, that in Homer, whatever can be long is very seldom (and under very nice circumstances) ever short : in Aristophanes, whatever can be short is never found long. To complete the purpose of this little sketch, the tragic prosody also (of Euripides, for instance), in a few correspondent points, may as well be presented. 11. Ai'istophanes, even in the same word, and where the ictus might be available (§ 5), never makes a long syllable : Euripides, who excludes the prolongation even cum ictu betwixt one word and another, (Orest. 64. TrapOivoVj ifxfj re fxr]Tpl TrapiBwKev rpecftetv, i. e. not 7rapc8(OK€T pe€LVy) within the same word, readily allows it : Med. 4. TfJLrjOeta-a TrevKrj, prq^ ipeT-fiwaai X^P'*^- 17. TrpoSous yap avTOv T€K-i/a, Seo-Trortv r ifiyv. 25. Tov Travra crvvrrjKOvcra SaK-pvoi? )(p6vov. 12. In Euripides, even those dissyllabic words (alluded to § 9), wherever, from its position, the syllable is decisively long or short, exhibit that syllable thrice short to one case of long. Consequently, in certain positions (unictuated) of Iambic or Trochaic verse, which indif- ferently admit either qiBitity, there can be no reasonable ground for supposing that syllable to be lengthened : of course, therefore, the fol- lowing lines are thus read : Med. 226. 7n-Kp6<s TroXtVais icrriv a/xa^tas vtto. Iph. A. 891. iirl TtVos a-TTOv^a-Tiov fxoL /xaXAov, ^ tc-kvov Trepi;