Summa pedum properè illigat plantaribus alis, 7. Principio, mirantur naturam non reddere mare majus, -quò sit aquarum tantus decursus, Quò veniant omnia flumina ex omni parte. 8. Jamque Titanis, surgens per confinia emeriti Phœbi, -latè subvecta silenti mundo, Tenuaverat gelidum aëra roriferâ bigâ. 9. Equoreæ aquæ miscentur; æther caret ignibus, 10. Movit et eoos recessus fama bellorum, Quà Ganges colitur, qui solus in toto orbe Audet solvere ostia contraria nascenti Phœbo, -et impellit fluctus in adversùm Eurum. 11. Hic purpureum ver; hìc circumfundit flumina varios -humus flores; hìc candida populus imminet antro; et lentæ vites texunt umbracula. Huc ades sine insani fluctus feriant littora. 12. Dixerat: ille concutit pennas madidantes novo nectare, -et maritat glebas fœcundo rore. Quàque volat, vernus color sequitur; turget in herbas omnis humus, medioque patent sereno convexa. ELISION. Elision is the cutting off of the final vowel or the two final letters of a word, and is divided into synalæpha and ecthlipsis. Synalæpha is the elision of a vowel or a diphthong at the end of a word, when the following word begins with a vowel or the aspirate h; as, Humidă solstitia atque hyě mēs ō rātě sĕrēnās, Ecthlipsis is the elision of the consonant m with the vowel preceding it, in the last syllable of a word, when the follow ing word begins with a vowel or the aspirate h; as, Illě dělům vitam accipilēt divisquě ví débit. The preceding definitions of synalæpha and ecthlipsis must be un derstood with some limitations. The final letters are elided or omitted in scanning only, and not in writing, nor in the usual mode of pronouncing a verse. Hence the first two lines here quoted from Virgil, though scanned with the vowels cut off, are always written and generally pronounced thus, Humida solstitia atque hyemes orate serenas, Agricolæ; hyberno lætissima pulvere farra. Two vowels at the end of a word are sometimes cut off, when the next word begins with a vowel; as, Stellio et lūcifu|gis con|gēstă cu|biliă | blāttīs. Synalæpha never takes place in the words O, heu, ah, proh, væ, vah, and hei: it is also occasionally omitted by poetical license in other words; as, O pătěr, ō hominum di|vūmque ælternă pŏļtēstās. A long vowel or diphthong, when preserved from elision by poetical license, becomes common, but it is generally made short; as, Ter sunt cōnā tī īm pōněrě | Pēlĭŏ | Ossām. Imple runt mōn|tēs, fle|rūnt Rhodŏ pēĭæ | ārcēs. A vowel at the end of a verse is not, in general, cut off, when the first word of the following verse begins with a vowel; but if the pause, which intervenes between the lines, is not required by the sense, but is merely that slight pause, which the end of the verse necessarily occasions, the final vowel, as well as the consonant m, is sometimes elided; as, Jactemur, doceas: ignari hominumque locorumque When the final vowel of a word is elided, the effect of the syllable as a cæsura is hardly perceptible, and it ought not, perhaps, to be regarded, in any instance, as a cæsural syllable. The consonant s was often elided by the ancient poets, sometimes with the vowel preceding it, but more frequently alone, and consequently with the final syllable of the word preserved; as, Vicit Olympiă | nunc sění|ō cōn|fectus qui|ēscīt. A verse in which there are more than two elisions is most commonly deficient in harmony; as the following pentameter from Catullus; Quam modo qui me ūnum āt|que unicum ă micum hăbulīt. Elisions may generally be introduced into a verse without diminishing its harmony, when the final vowel of a word is the same as that which begins the next word, and when the elided vowel is either naturally short or followed by a long syllable; as, Ipse ĕgo cană lě gām těně rā lā|nūginė | mālā. Tum căsi á atque aliis in texēns suavibus herbis. An elision has seldom a good effect when it occurs in the first syllable of a verse, in the end of the fifth foot of a hexameter, immediately after the penthemimer is in a pentameter, or in a word ending with a long vowel before a word beginning with a short vowel; as, Nam út fěrů la caldās meritum mājōră sub īrē. The exercises which follow are designed to exemplify the observations in the former chapters on casura and arrangement, as well as the remarks on elision in this chapter: the introduction of syralæpha or ecthlipsis will not therefore be sufficient to form them into verses, without a change in the position of the words. The sentences in English are intended to be translated into Latin verse, by an application of the rules of syntax, as well as of prosody, to the corresponding words in Latin, which follow them: in these exercises, à change in the arrangement of the words is not necessary. EXERCISES. 1. Nempe sylva inter varias nutritur columnas, Laudaturque domus, quæ prospicit longos agros. 2. Vivite felices, et vivite memores nostri, Sive erimus, seu fata volent nos fuisse. 3. Addictus jurare in verba nullius magistri, Deferor hospes, quo cunque tempestas rapit me. 4. At nisi pectus purgatum est, quæ prælia nobis ! Tum scindunt hominem cupidinis quantæ acres Curæ sollicitum! quantique timores perinde ! 5. Hæc loca certè deserta et taciturna querenti, Et aura Zephyri possidet vacuum nemus. Hic licet impunè proferre occultos dolores, 7. Aut si fata movent, paratur orbi generique 8. Tune potes audire murmura vesani ponti fortis? Tu fulcire positas pruinas teneris pedibus? 9. Qualis ubi Boreas erupit ab Arctōis antris, It ferus cœlo, et insequitur piceas nubes toto æthere, -dant victa locum et cedunt cava nubila. 10. And now ambassadors came from the city of Latinus, Crowned with branches of olive, and supplicating favour. Jamene orator adsum ex urbs Latinus, Velatus ramus olea, veniaque rogans. 11. Scarcely had the next rising day fringed the tops of the mountains with light, When first from the deep ocean the horses of the sun raise themselves, And breathe forth the light of day from their panting nostrils. Posterus vix summus spargo lumen mons Ortus dies, cùm primùm altus sui gurges tollo SYNÆRESIS, SYNCOPE AND APOCOPE. Synæresis is the contraction of two syllables into one; as, alveo, pronounced as a dissyllable. Synæresis often takes place in the words antehac, dehinc, dein, deinde, dii, diis, ii, üidem, iisdem, proinde, semianimis, semihomo; in Greek genitives in ei; and in several tenses of the verbs anteambulo, anteo, desum and suesco; as, Di měli ōră vě lint, quan quam non | istă pre|cāndā. This figure occasionally takes place in many words which have not been mentioned in the preceding list; but in almost every instance of its occurrence, the first syllable affected by it ends in the vowel e or i. Its occurrence in the datives cui and huic is so uniform, that they are generally considered as monosyllables. To synæresis may be referred the frequent change of the vowels i and u into the consonants j and o; as in the genitives cujus and hujus, which are always used for cuius and huius, and Maja and Dejanira, which are sometimes substituted for Maia and Deianira. Syncope is the omission of a letter or a syllable in the middle of a word; as, amârat, amantûm, for amaverat and amantium. The words which are the most frequently contracted by syncope are the preter tenses of verbs; as, amásti for amavisti; the participles of compound verbs, as, repóstum for repositum; genitives plural; as, deûm for deorum; and words which have a u in the penultima before the consonant l, as, vinclum for vinculum. Apocope is the omission of the final vowel or syllable of a word, before another word beginning with a consonant; as, tuguri for tugurii. The words which are most commonly contracted by apocope are cases in ii, and enclitics affixed to other words; as, peculi for peculii, men' for mene. A vowel was sometimes cut off in the beginning of a word by the figure apheresis, as, st for est; but this contraction was seldom used by the poets of the Augustan age. The contraction of one word, at least, in each of the following exercises, is necessary, in order to form them into verses. The exercises which are not translated require a change in the position of the words, but in the English exercises this alteration of the arrangement will not be found necessary. EXERCISES. 1. Rure levis apis ingerit flores verno alveo, Ut sedula compleat favos dulci melle. 2. Super quæ ipse jacens, more hirsuti leonis, Visceraque, et carnes, ossa oblisisque medullis, Semianimesque artus, condebat in`avidam alvum. |