The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

METRES OF HORACE. IjSX)
ed i)y a dimetei'. The strict arrangement, he remarks, would
be into four lines merely, containing each ten feet ; but the size
of the modern page prevents this, of course, from being done.
The scanning of the ode, therefore, according to the division
adopted by Bentley, will be as follows :
Mtserdrum est \ neque dmorl \ ddrS ludum, \ nlqul dulcfl
Mala vino \ lavere, aut ex\animari, \ metuentes
PdtrUce ver\Mrd llnguee.
The arrangement in other editions is as follows :
M'istrarum est \ neque dmorl | ddre lud&m,
Neque dulci | mata vino \ lavere, aut ex-
-dnimarl | metuentes | jidtrii^ vBr\bird UngSSl,
Others, again, have the following scheme :
Miserarum est \ neque amori | dare ludum,
Neque dulci \ mala vino | lavere, aut ex-
-animari \ metuentes | patruie
VSrMrd |
lingua, &c.
Both of these, however, are justly condemned by Bentley.
18. GREATER ALCAIC.
This metre, so called from the poet Alcaeus, consists of two
feet, properly both iambi, and a long catalectic syllable, followed
by a choriambus and an iambus, the csesural pause always fall-
ing after the. catalectic syllable ;
as,
Vides I at dl\td || stet nlve can\didum.
But the first foot of the iambic portion is alterable, of com-se,
to a spondee, and Horace much more frequently has a spondee
than an iambus in this place ;
as,
md\tre pul\chrd \^fiUdpiil\chrior.
The Alcaic verse is sometimes scanned with two iactyls in
the latter njember ; as,
Vides 1 utdl\ta || stet nlve] cdndidiim.
The Alcaic stanza consists of four lines, the first and second
being greater Alcaics, the tliird an iamMc dimeter hypermetef
(No. 8), and the fourth a minor Alcaic (No. 20).
For some remarks on the structure of the Alcaic stanza, con
suit Anthon's Latin Versijication, p. 224, seqq.