Our third question touched the first syllable of χρόνος in the sixth line. It is, as a fact, to be regarded as standing outside the metrical line—a kind of prelude, called “anacrusis”.[876] It is plain that neglect of anacrusis will often throw our scansion out completely. A useful rule can be given: in almost[877] any line, whatever comes before the first long syllable forms an anacrusis. The reason is that the first syllable of a foot must have an “ictus” (see below) or stress-accent, and the foot-ictus normally falls on long syllables. It becomes natural then to pronounce the first short or shorts (if any) quickly, and to give the first long the ictus; in this way the short is felt as a mere preliminary to the line. The anacrusis, however, can be of three forms, ⏑, ⏑⏑, –. Its length must be that of the second part of the characteristic foot, ⏑ for trochees, – or ⏑⏑ for dactyls, and so forth. It is marked off from the first foot by the sign ⁝. The fourth point was the insetting of θάρσος. It happens in the middle of a grammatical sentence, so that there can be no question of an ordinary paragraph. But if it does not point to a break in sense, its only reference can be rhythmical. The whole passage must fall into two distinct rhythmical paragraphs. Let us scan them separately and endeavour to find a reason for this break. Take the first, scanning, marking, and numbering the feet:— – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – τιπτε | μοι τοδ | εμπεδ|ονꞈ‖ 1 2 3 4 – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – δειμα | προστατ|ηρι|ονꞈ‖ 1 2 3 4 – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ ⏗ – καρδι|ας τερ|ασκοπ|ου ποτ|ατ|αιꞈ‖ 1 2 3 4 5 6 – ⏑ ⏑ – ⏑ ⏑ – ⏑ ⏑ – ⏑ ⏑ ⏗ – μαντιπολ|ει δ ακελ|ευστος αμ|ισθος α|οιδ|αꞈ‖ 1 2 3 4 5 6 – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – ουδ απ|οπτυσ|αι δικ|ανꞈ‖ 1 2 3 4 – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – δυσκριτ|ων ον|ειρατ|ωνꞈ‖ 1 2 3 4 If we examine this to find structural unity, it soon appears. The first pair of lines answers to the last, and line three to line four, in the number of their feet 4 + 4, 6, 6, 4 + 4. The correspondence is indicated thus:— ⎰ 4 ⎛ ⎱ 4 ⎜ ⎛ 6 ⎜ ⎝ 6 ⎝ ⎰ 4 ⎱ 4 Each of these masses, it will be noticed, is marked off by the sign ‖. Such a mass is named a “sentence” or “colon” (κῶλον, “limb”), and such a balanced structure of cola is named a “period” (περίοδος, “circuit”). It happens that in the passage just examined the “sentence” division always occurs at the end of a word, but this is not invariably so. We proceed now with the second paragraph[878]—the second period as we shall now call it. – ⏑ ⏗ – ⏑ ⏗ – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – θαρσος | ευπ|ειθες | ιζ‖ει φρεν|ος φιλ|ον φρον|ονꞈ‖ 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4