A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

irjArfiaSeo)
367.]
THE HEXAMETER. 339
Caesura (ro^rf)
occurs when the pause between two words falls
within a foot, so as to 'cut' it into two parts. The caesura
which separates the arsis from the thesis (so
as to divide the
foot equally) is called the strong or masculine caesura : that
which falls between the two short syllables of the thesis is called
the weak or feminine or trochaic caesura.
The chief points to be observed regarding caesura in the
Homeric hexameter are as follows :
j . There is nearly always a caesura in the third foot. Of the
two caesuras the more frequent in this place is the trochaic (TO/XT/
Kara rpirov Tpoyaiov),
as
avbpa IJLOL f-vvtrre Movva
\
TToXvTpOTrov bs jmaAa iroXXd.
The strong caesura, or ' caesura after the fifth half-foot ' (TO/XT)
),
is rather less common : as
&(.$, $ed,
| 'A^iAr/os.
In the first book of the Iliad, which contains 611 lines, the
trochaic caesura of the third foot occurs in 356, and the corresponding
strong caesura in 247.*
On the other hand, there must be no diaeresis after the third
foot ;
and in the few cases in which the third foot lies
wholly in
one word there is
always a strong caesura in the fourth foot
o? K OO'L$ eTrnret^rat fjidXa T ZK\.VOV CLVTOV
H/37] T rfbt rio(rei5acozJ Kal ITaXAa? 'AOrjvr].
r/
The division between an enclitic and the preceding word is
not sufficient for the caesura in the third foot : hence in Od. 10.
58 we should read
avrap eTret crtroio r' |
e7rao~(rcijue0' 778
not crtroto re iraa-a-dfjitO' (as
La Roche).
The remaining exceptions to these rules are
II. I. 179 otKad' luv avv vrjvai re ays Kal aots
which is an adaptation of the (probably conventional) form avv vrji T' e/*y Kal
e/j.ois erdpoiai (1. 183). We may help the rhythm by taking vrjvai re ays closely
together, so as to avoid the break in the middle of the line.
II. 3. 205 rjSrj yap Kal devpo iror' ij\v9e Sios 'OSvaaevs.
II. 10. 453 OVKGT' firetTO. av irrj^d TTOT' eaaeai 'Apyeioiai.
Where TTOT?, as an enclitic, is in an unusual place in the sentence ( 365, 4),
but it is
perhaps in '
reality an emphatic one day.' Similarly, in
II. 3. 220 (f>airjs Kf ^CLKOTOV re nv' (upevai dtypovd r* avrcus,
nva may be slightly emphatic. Or should we read rbv fj./j.fvai ?
II. 15.
1 8 ^ ov ore fJ.ffJ.vy r' Itf/ae/xo; vtyoOev, etc re iroSouv.
but possibly the peculiar rhythm is intentional,
We may read ore re Kpefjua
:
as being adapted to the sense.
* In this calculation no lines are reckoned twice, short monosyllables being
taken either with the preceding or the following word, according to the sense.
Z 2,