V.-The Relation of Accent to Elision in Latin Verse, not including the Drama. BY PROF. ALBERT GRANGER HARKNESS, BROWN UNIVERSITY. Ir is the purpose of this paper to consider some of the phenomena of elision in Latin poetry. Though elision occurs most frequently in the drama, yet its use can in some respects be better studied in those forms of verse in which it is employed in a more restricted way and conforms to more definite rules. I shall accordingly consider the subject from this point of view. I desire first to show that the sense-pause occurring in elision should be observed in reading Latin and that there is evidence in the structure of the verse that this was the intention of the poet. I employ the word elision to denote such a union of a final vowel (or vowel with final m), with the initial vowel of a following word as gives the value of one verse-syllable. The term syllable is employed in referring to the second element of elision, though technically this is only one part of the verse-syllable. The term pauseelision is used, for the sake of brevity, to denote those cases of elision in which a sense-pause occurs between the vowels forming the elision. I shall take for granted, without reviewing the arguments, that as a rule both vowels in elision are to be sounded. There seems to be sufficient authority to justify this position,1 and most modern metricians agree in accepting this theory of the pronunciation.2 I desire first to establish the principle which may be briefly stated as follows: The second syllable in pause 1 The most important passages relating to this subject which are to be found in our ancient authors are cited in Corssen, Aussprache, 112, 771 ff. 2 Kühner, Lat. Gramm. II, 96; Schmidt, Rhythmic and Metric, trans. by J. W. White, 5 ff.; L. Müller, Rei Metr. Summarium, § 33, 61; Christ, Metrik der Gr. u. Röm2 § 44, 32; Gleditsch, Metrik der Gr. u. Röm. in I. Müller's Handbuch, II, 33, § 41, 89; Plessis, Métrique Grèque et Latine, § 19, 17. elision does not admit a strong sentence-accent. This principle is not like a physical law, or even like a law of phonetics, working in exactly the same way in all cases. To establish the fact that the poet intended to make a distinction between pause-elision and elision in which the elided words are closely connected in thought, it would be only necessary to prove that he showed a marked tendency to treat the two cases differently. In order to bring out more clearly the general difference in the treatment of the two classes of elision I shall first contrast the usage in the two cases as exemplified by the first book of the Aeneid. I shall then note those cases in the works of Vergil, Horace, and Catullus which seem to be somewhat exceptional in character, and I shall next consider more briefly the usage of other authors. Vergil makes the most varied and effective use of elision, yet Horace in some of his Satires and Catullus in his shorter poems employs it with greater boldness and freedom. Even in Vergil we see a difference in usage between those passages which are conversational in tone and those which are more formal and elevated in style. In taking up the first book of the Aeneid, I shall first refer to those cases of elision in which the elided words are closely connected in thought and which have an accent on the second syllable of the elision. I shall divide these cases into three classes: 1. Those in which the second syllable of the elision is long and is the accented syllable of a noun. 2. Those in which the second syllable is long and is the accented syllable of some other word than a noun. 3. Those in which the second syllable is short. 1. As illustrations of the first class we may cite the following: 43 evertitque aequora, 5 a;1 95 ante ora, 2 a; 123 inimicum imbrem, 3 t; 142 tumida aequora, 5 a; 152 arrectisque 1 The number denotes the foot in which the elision occurs; a denotes that it is in the arsis; t that it is in the first syllable of the thesis; a small number to the right of the letter denotes that it is in the second syllable of the thesis. Arsis is used to denote the strong, or accented, part of the foot. auribus, 5 a; 161 scindit sese unda, 5 a; 175 suscepitque ignem, 2 t; 177 corruptam undis, 3 t; 177 cerealiaque arma, 3 t; 334 and 349 ante aras, 2 t; 349 atque auri, 4 a; 383 convulsae undis, 3 t; 424 molirique arcum, 2 t; 442 iactati undis, 3 t; 506 saepta armis, I t; 531 atque ubere, 5 a; 537 perque undas, It; 625 ipse hostes, I t; 660 atque ossibus, 4 a; 687 atque oscula, 4a; 743 unde imbrem, 5 a. 2. Illustrations of the second class are such combinations as: 32 maria omnia, 5 a; 98 animam hanc, 4 a; 263 bellum ingens, It; 476 curruque haeret, 3 t; 626 seque ortum, I t; 191 nemora inter, 4 a.1 3. Illustrations of the short accented syllable are such as the following: 114 ante oculos, 2 t; 202 revocate animos, 3 t; 385 atque Asia, 2 t; 489 easque acies, 2 t.2 Turning to pause-elisions, the question arises, What are we to consider a sufficient pause to mark the distinction between the two classes of elision? The stronger pauses are marked by punctuation in our editions, and viewing the literature as a whole this might be adopted as our general standard. Punctuation is in many respects arbitrary. Ribbeck's Editio Stereotypa, 1903, which we take as the basis of our discussion of Vergil, differs in this respect not only from other editors, but also from his own earlier editions. In the first book of the Aeneid I have noted upwards of seventy-five pause-elisions in which the second syllable of the elision is long. All but twelve of these are marked by punctuation either in the edition of Ribbeck or Heise, and in all these elisions the pause corresponds to the principal caesura, or to one of the two main caesuras of the line. The following will illustrate the character of these pause-elisions: 13 Karthago, Italiam contra Tiberinaque longe. et quisquam numen Iunonis adorat. 1 Cf. 69, 175, 189, 218, 243, 429, 475, 476, 524, 537, 547, 695, 738. 2 Cf. 57, 65, 125, 347, 464, 511, 567, 705, 743, 744. I have not attempted to enumerate all the instances of these three classes of elision found in this book, but have given the most striking examples. 251 navibus (infandum !) amissis unius ob iram. The second syllable of pause-elisions consists of (1) words not accented on the first syllable, as Italiam, amissis, etc. (2) words which are usually employed as sentence-enclitics, as et, atque, ac, aut, ut, utque, in, O, haut.2 There are three pause-elisions in which the second syllable is short: 514 laetitiaque metuque: avidi coniungere dextras. 753 immo age, et a prima, dic, hospes, origine nobis. In the first of these the second syllable of the elision is accented.3 Contrasting the two types of elision in which the second syllable is long, we see that when the elision occurs with words which are closely connected in thought, the second syllable is very frequently strongly accented, and is in many cases the accented syllable of a noun, and that this does not occur in the case of pause-elision. In fact, so rarely does the long accented syllable occur as the second syllable of pause-elision, that the total number of such instances in all the verse of the Golden Age is very small, smaller even than the number of such cases found in the first book of the Aeneid alone when the words forming the elision are closely connected in thought. This difference of treatment in the two types of elision certainly cannot be accidental. While observation shows that the nature of the second 1 Cf. 28, 30, 35, 41, 49, 63, 90, 101, 117, 119, 134, 151, 158, 180, 186, 193, 207, 238, 244, 246, 248, 258, 276, 295, 298, 301, 323, 344, 380, 387, 389, 396, 406, 414, 424, 425, 434, 445, 447, 458, 478, 486, 519, 520, 526, 540, 542, 554, 564, 566, 577, 591, 614, 622, 627, 647, 653, 655, 658, 660, 662, 666, 669, 672, 684, 704, 714, 727, 739. 2 Cf. Greek ov. "Es war also das Verhältniss der Negation zum verbum finitum dasselbe wie das Verhältniss der Präposition," Delbrück, Syntakt. Forsch. IV, 147. 8 The nature of this accent will be considered on p. 90. 4 In line 16 hic, and in line 405 ille, occur after a vowel with an intervening pause, and in both cases hiatus is used. word in pause-elision is regularly as I have stated, yet some apparent exceptions and irregularities occur which deserve special attention.1 ii, 78 vera' inquit, I t;2 548 genitori. illi, 3 t; 550 morere.' hoc, 2 a; iii, 45 ego. hic (adv.), 3 a; 408 sacrorum, hunc, 4 t; iv, 35 esto, aegram, I t; v, 484 persolvo; hic, 2 a; 535 longaevi hoc, 4 t; 644 Iliadum. hic, 2 a; 681 posuere; udo, 3 t; vi, 43 aditus centum, ostia centum, 5 a; viii, 364 aude, hospes, I t; ix, 333 singultantem; atro 3 t; 427 me me (adsum..., It; 454 Numaque. ingens, 3 t; x, 61 redde, oro,3 It; 703 comitemque, una quem nocte, 3 t; 905 odia; hunc, 3 a; xi, 353 unum, optime regum, 5 a; 664 postremum, aspera virgo, 5 a; xii, 532 solo; hunc, 4 a; Ecl. i, 13 ago: hanc, 3 a; vii, 8 aspicio. ille, 2 a; Georg. ii, 187 dispicere: hoc, 2 a; iii, 101 praecipue, hinc, 2 a. 4 Horace, Sat. i, 3, 20 vitia? immo, 3 a; 5, 12 ingerere: huc appelle, 2 a; ii, 1, 83 iudiciumque. esto, 2 t; 2, 30 petere! esto, 6 a; 3, 236 possideam: aufer, 6 a; 283 magnum? addens, 2 t; 307 vitio. 'accipe, 5 a; 7, 72 ego, hercule, 4 a; Carm. iii, 30, 7 Libitinam usque. Catullus 9, 1 Verani, omnibus; 14, 19 Suffenum, omnia; 75, 4 amare, omnia; 114, 3 aucupium, omne; 8, 9 tu quoque, impotens, noli; 13, 1 Fabelle, apud me; 29, 18 Pontica: inde; 61, 171 aspice, intus; 71, 6 odore, ipse; 77, 2 frustra? immo; 5 eripuisti, eheu; 6 vitae, eheu; 114, 3 prata, arva, 5 a; 115, 5 prata, arva, I t; 62, 5 Hymenaee, Hymen, 3 t. 1 I shall not give further illustrations of the enclitics mentioned on p. 85 (2). 2 Similar elisions of inquit are not infrequent. Cf. Aen. ii, 387; v, 348, 353; viii, 439; Georg. iv, 494. There is not a marked pause before inquit; it is a question whether any pause in the reading is to be made in this case. The sense-pause as well as the principal caesura comes after inquit. Furthermore inquit is an unemphatic word, the weak narrative "s'd he." The second element of pauseelision may be the accented syllable of a word used parenthetically. This usage is very common in the drama. 3 Similar to the use of inquit (cf. footnote above) is the parenthetical use of oro. + I shall not cite further illustrations of ille and hic in pause- elision. I have noted the following cases in Horace and Catullus: Horace, Sat. i, 3, 57 illi; i, 9, 41 ille; Carm. iii, 3, 33 illum; Epod. 9, 6 illis; Sat. i, 4, 136 hoc; ii, 3, 152 hoc; Carm. i, 19, 13 hic; Catullus, 100, 3 ille; 27, 7, hic; 29, 9 and 76, 8 haec; 56, 6 hunc; 91, 2 hoc; 100, 3 hoc; 107, 2 hoc. |