Again, in ἅπαντ ̓ ἐπράχθη πλὴν θεοῖσι—κοιρανεῖν. Asch. Prom. 49. θεοισιν οἱ ἐστὶν, for θεοῖσι oι ἐστὶ, would destroy the line. Additional instances occur at lines 69, 89, 198, 203, 206, 208, 212, 217. 18. The same rule holds if the cretic is not composed of one word, but of a monosyllable and dissyllable, as in ἐξ ἐμοῦ in Prom. 221: and in αὐτοῖσι συμμάχοισι, τοιάδ ̓—ἐξ ἐμοῦ· ὅπως τάχιστα τὸν πατρῷον—ἐς θρόνον. καὶ τοῖσιν οὐδεὶς ἀντέβαινε πλὴν ἐμοῦ. #scu. Prom. 228. Ibid. 234. Ibid. 261. 19. Exceptions are, (1) When the word preceding the cretic is closely connected in syntax and sense with the word forming the cretic, or with the first of them, if the cretic is formed of more words than one; as an article with its noun, an adverb with its verb, a preposition with its case, a conjunction with the clause that it introduces. In these cases, the fifth foot may be a spondee; as we see in the Edipus Tyrannus. 44. ὡς τοῖσιν ἐμπείροισι καὶ τὰς ξυμφορὰς, 370. 318. 351. ᾧπερ προεῖπας ἐμμένειν, κἀφ ̓ ἡμέρας, art. and noun. adv. and verb. prep. and case. #scn. Prom. 345. In fact, that the rule may hold, the cretic or its first word must have no closer connexion with the word immediately preceding it than it has with any other in the clause. Any kind of relation or connexion occasioning the antepenultimate syllable of the verse and the syllable before it to be as it were pronounced together in one breath, renders a spondee admissible as the fifth foot. (2) When the first syllable of the cretic is an enclitic, or such a word as cannot begin a sentence (yap, pèv, ovv, yoûv), the fifth foot may be a spondee. Unless the enclitic word be emphatic, as a monosyllabic personal pronoun in which is implied a contrast with any other person, or any other distinction; in this case, the rule, that the fifth foot shall be an iambus, continues in force. With an enclitic for the first syl lable of the cretic, instances are ἡμεῖς τοιοίδ ̓ ἔφυμεν, ὡς μέν σοι δοκεῖ. SOPH. Ed. Tyr. 435. ESCH. Prom. 651. ESCH. Agam. 1022. With a word incapable of beginning a sentence for the first syllable of the cretic, the following lines occur: λέγ', εἰ δὲ πάντ' εἴρηκας, ἡμῖν αὖ χάριν. #scn. Prom. 823. SOPH. Electr. 357. 20. A pause in the sense at the end of the third foot should be avoided as much as possible. It is not without example, but it injures the flow and harmony of the verse. Lines such as βλεπόντα, νῦν μὲν ὄρθ ̓, ἔπειτα δὲ σκότον τὸ γὰρ σὸν, οὐ τὸ τοῦδ ̓ ἐποικτείρω στόμα, are in themselves rough and inelegant, and should be avoided by the beginner; though the ancient tragics have occasionally added force to an emphatic sentiment by a judicious interruption of the usual flow and smoothness. In like manner, lines destitute of cæsura that occur in the ancient tragedies no more authorise a beginner to adopt that structure at his pleasure, than the line Amphion Dircæus in Actæo Aracyntho to close his Latin hexameters with words of four syllables whenever he pleases. PROSODY. 21. We now proceed to Prosody: and it must be distinctly remembered throughout, that the rules laid down extend only to iambic verse, and have no reference to the epic hexameter. The whole scope and bent of the dactylic system is at variance with that of the metre of the tragic dialogue. Scarcely a line can be extracted from the Iliad which does not contain something repugnant to the principles of iambic prosody. Take the first line of the first book: the word Iŋŋïádew followed by 'Axiños, so that a long final vowel falls upon a short initial vowel without eliding it, is quite foreign to iambic practice. Take the second: où for o in ovλoμévnv is not tragic; except that in the choral odes, which are not to be imitated in dialogue, you may find it. Take the third: the in "Aïồɩ lengthened before a mute and liquid p in the next word is repugnant to tragic usage. Take the fourth: the suppressed augment of TEûxe, and the doubled σ in Kúveσot, are neither of them in accordance with the custom of dramatic metre. The lengthening of syllables because the cæsura falls upon them, or because a liquid follows them, the genitive in oto, wo, and ao, the doubling of σ in the futures and aorists, and other less obvious characteristics of epic verse, are unknown in tragedy. Our rules must therefore be confined to the metre to which they belong, and even in the less strikingly contrasted language of the anapæstic metre, and of choral odes, the quantity of a syllable will not always be found that which our rules assign to it. 22. In the prosody of the iambic system of tragedy, every syllable formed with the vowels 7, w, or with a diphthong, is long, even if the vowel or diphthong precede another vowel in the same word καὶ νῦν ἀχρεῖον καὶ παρῆορον δέμας. ÆscH. Prom. 363. except that in a few instances the diphthong or before a vowel appears to be common. Thus in To we find o long in οὗτος, τί ποιεῖς; Æscn. Suppl. 889. and short in ὅδ ̓ οὖν ποιείτω, πάντα προσδόκητά μοι. ÆscH. Prom. 937. Again in TOLOÛTOs, we find o short generally, Ζεὺς τοῖς τοιούτοις οὐχὶ μαλθακίζεται. #scH. Prom. 954. as also in Ag. 579, 1045, 1333; Eum. 185, 188, 402. In many instances of its occurrence, it is so placed in the verse that the quantity of or cannot be inferred, as for instance at the beginning of a line. But in roîos, o will be found long. ἦ τοῖον ἔργον καὶ θεοῖσι προσφιλές; #scn. S. Τ. 562. And this is the regular practice with or before a vowel; and the reverse must not be adopted, except in those identical words in which one has the authority of a tragedian for shortening o.. 23. Every syllable formed with e oro followed by a single consonant is short, Bute or o as also a v are long before (1) A double letter, έζη, έξω, εψήφιζε. (2) Before two mutes, έστη, όκτὼ ὀγδόος. (4) Before a liquid followed by a mute, ēpкos, ēvdov. 24. But e and o, as also a, i, and v, if short in themselves, are not generally lengthened before a smooth or aspirate mute (K, π, T, 0, 0, x) followed by a liquid, nor before a middle mute (8, y, d,) followed by the liquid p. A middle mute standing before any other liquid than p lengthens the preceding vowel*. An instance will be found of a short vowel remaining short before in κ with λ. πάλαι κέκληται, φωτὸς ἰατροῦ χάριν. #scn. Suppl. 258. κ with μ. ὑπηντίαζε, κοὐκέτ ̓ ἦν μέλλειν ἀκμή. Yet Sophocles twice allows Bλ to lengthen a and in Pers. 399. Prom. 681. Ibid. 745. Ibid. 371. EURIP. And. 327. ÆSCH. Prom. 517. preceding short vowel, Elect. 432 ; d. R. 710. * with λ. + with μ. + with ν. τ with p. θ with λ. θ with μ. θ with v. θ with p. τείρουσ ̓ Ατλαντος, ὃς πρὸς ἑσπέρους τόπους. ἄλγος δὲ σιγᾷν, πανταχῆ δὲ δύσποτμα. θώμιγγος ἰοὶ προσπιτνόντες ἄλλυσαν. τρανῶς Ατρείδην εἰδέναι, κυροῦνθ ̓ ὅπως. δτ ̓ οὐ ¦ δὲν ἄἔ | θλον οὔτε τοῖς ἐσθλοῖσιν ἦν. 1 ὠμοί τε δούλοις πάντα, καὶ παρὰ στάθμην. γυναῖκ ̓ ὅθνείαν, ἣν ἐγὼ καὶ μητέρα. γαμψωνύχων τε πτῆσιν οἰωνῶν σκεθρῶς. μή μοι τὸ σῶμά γ ̓ ἐνθάδ' αἰσχυνὴν ὄφλῃ. ἐπίσταμαί τε, κοὐκ ̓ ἄφνω κακὸν τόδε. ὁρῶντα λαμπρὸν ἐν σκότῳ νωμῶντ ̓ ὄφρύν. ἀγορᾷ πολύς σου ταῦτά γ' εἰσήκουσ ̓ ὄχλος. μέσον μ' οχμάζεις, ὡς βάλῃς ἐς Τάρταρον. μελίκρατ ̓ ἄφες γάλακτος, οἰνωπόν τ' ἄχνην. καὶ νῦν ἀχρεῖον καὶ παρήορον δέμας. στεγὰς ἁβρὸν βαίνουσα παλλεύκῳ ποδί. βολαῖς υγρώσσων σπόγγος ὤλεσεν γραφήν. δ with p. λιβάσιν υδρηλαῖς, παρθένου πηγῆς μέτα. φ with λ. φ with v. φ with ρ. x with λ. x with μ. x with v. Χ with B with ρ. ρ. γ with p. #sci. Pr. 347. Ibid. 198. Pers. 453. Ag. 1344. Fragm. Sis. Ag. 1015. EURIP. Alc. 646. Esci. Prom. 486. EUR. Hel. 67. EUR. Alc. 420. #scn. Ch. 283. SOPH. Trach. 424. EUR. Or. 235. Ibid. 115. #scn. Prom. 363. EuR. Med. 1164. #scit. Αg. 1302. Pers. 605. α of 25. But a, i, or v, when intrinsically long, are not shortened by coming before a mute and liquid. Thus the ἄθλιος is never shortened, for it is the a of ἆθλος contracted from ἄεθλος. The mute and liquid do but allow a naturally short syllable to remain short. It may still be lengthened; but the proportion of cases in which the mute and liquid are allowed to lengthen it to those in which it remains short is about a third, in simple words such as τέκνον, πατρός. In compound words the instances are much rarer in which the mute and liquid lengthen the last syllable of the prefixed member of the compound, (as the i in ἀρτίφρων, the v in πολύκλαυτος); or lengthen the augment or reduplication, as in ἔπνει from πνέω, κεκλῆσθαι from καλέω. This shortening of the syllable preceding two consonants is one of the striking differences between the prosody of the dactylic hexameter or usual verse of epic poetry, and that of the iambic trimeter of tragedy. In the Iliad, even rp is rarely allowed to be preceded by a vowel that remains short. The later writers of hexameter verse, Apollonius, Coluthus, Tryphiodorus, and especially Theocritus, approach to the usage of the iambic trimeter in this particular. In Theocritus are found Κύκλωψ, Δάφνις, δραχμή, τρύχνος, and many similar cases. |