©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia
CLASSICAL VERSIFICATION. 409
Archaic Forms.
Virgil makes a moderate and judicious use of a few archaic
forms, the charm of which to the Roman reader we can assist
ourselves in appreciating by calling to mind similar instances in
our own poets. Such are the forms aBt. quianam, vel quum (Aen.
XI. 406). ni (for ne, Aen. III. 685), olli (for illi), ollia, the genitive
in ai, dii for diei, tbe dative in u, the info pass. in ier. juat, jaxo,
jU8S0, the omission of the vowel in short syllables, as in repostu8,
periclum, aspris, and the conjugation of verbs in accordance with
the forms of the third (as the oldest and original) conjugation, as
lavlre (for laviire) , jervlre (for jervere), ful!llre, stridlre, polltur.
These archaisms are often introduced from the exigences of
the metre.
Note to e III.
Inciaion is the ooincidenoe of the end of the foot with the end of
the word.
Note to * IV.
In many cases the final syllables, whose quantity is ordinarily explained
as "lengthened by the arsis," were ol'iginally lOllg, and are 80
found in tbe older poets, particularly EDnius.