Scansion Flashcards
Italiam petiere, luant peccata neque illos 32
Weak third foot caesura dominates the strong fourth foot caesura, unusual in Latin epic hexameters and more natural in Greek
est Amathus, est celsa mihi Paphus atque Cythera 51
The a in atque is not elided, which is rare and this gives it a harsh sound
atque solum quo Troia fuit? Xanthum et Simoenta 60
Quadrisyllabic ending as well as the form of the accusative Simoenta gives a Greek form to the phrase
haud iustis adsurgis et inrita iurgia iactas 95
No strong caesura in either third or fourth foot, depicting Juno’s excitement
Diaeresis after each foot from third to fifth
Turnum, qui volucri curru medium secat agmen 440
archaic line ending of two disyllables without a preceding monosyllable
Use of qui is abrupt
solus ego in Pallanta feror, soli mihi Pallas 442
rare triple disyllable at line end
comminus; utque leo, specula cum vidit ab alta 454
dramatic pause after the first dactyl in enjambment, an emphatic stop before a simile.
viribus imparibus, magnumque ita ad aethera fatur 459
Elision of pyrrhic ita here is rare
in Pallanta diu librans iacit atque ita fatur 480
Clear energy of rhythm, word accent conflicting with ictus, conflict echoes in the fifth foot with ita. Second ‘i’ in iacit should be long but is made short
sic ait, atque oculos Rutulorum reicit arvis 473
Rugged unelided atque
Re is long in reicit
una eademque via sanguis animusque sequuntur 487
synizesis of eadem
sanguis in line 487 has a long second syllable even though the -guis would naturally be short because of the lengthening in arsis. Arsis is another word for ictus, which is when the meter forces a stress to occur somewhere where in normal pronunciation it would not. Two syllable words, for example, always in ‘normal’ pronunciation have stress on the first syllable - but Virgil at times chooses to lengthen such a syllable for effect. Such happens in line 487 - the -guis becomes a long syllable despite it being short by nature.
exanimem rapiens immania pondera baltei 496
baltei is a spondee by synizesis
intactum Pallanta, et cum spolia ista diemque 504
Elision of monosyllable cum
oderit. at socii multo gemitu lacrimisque 505
Quadrisyllabic ending is unusual and intended to suggest discordant sounds
haec te prima dies bello dedit, haec eadem aufert, 508
Elision after the fifth foot is rare
cum pedes incedit medii per maxima Nerei 764
synizesis makes this word a spondee, last two syllables pronounced as one
talis se vastis infert Mezentius armis 768
heavily spondaic line with first foot diaeresis emphasising talis
atque oculis spatium emensus quantum satis hastae 772
rare line ending of 3 disyllables
sternitur infelix alieno vulnere, caelumque 781
hypermetric ellision of que
inguine, sed viris haud pertulit. ocius ensem
Bucolic diaeresis (word ending and pause after the fourth dactyl)
morte tua vivens? heu, nunc misero mihi demum 849
Rare pattern of double disyllable at line end preceded by anapaestic word (dactyl but reversed)
viximus. aut hodie victor spolia illa crueti 862
Line ending of three consecutive -a endings in agreement, one softened by ellision
desine, nam venio moriturus et haec tibi porto 881
Two disyllables at the end and there is an unusual pause after the fourth trochee
clamore incendunt caelum troesque Latinique 895
Hypermetric elision of final que
