The History of Roman Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus AureliusCruttwell, Charles Thomas
Philosophy
The History of Roman Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius
Cruttwell, Charles Thomas
Latin literature -- History and criticism
vicit_ (i. 95), compared with _labor omnia vicit improbus: invictamque sub
Hectore Troiam_ (i. 766), with _decumum quos distulit Hector in annum_ of
the _Aeneid_; cf. also iv. 122, and _litora litoribus regnis contraria
regna_ (iv. 814); cf. also iv. 28, 37.
NOTE II.--_On the shortening of final o in Latin poetry._
The fact that in Latin the accent was generally thrown back caused a
strong tendency to shorten long final vowels. The one that resisted this
tendency best was _o_, but this gradually became shortened as poetry
advanced, and is one of the very few instances of a departure from the
standard of quantity as determined by Ennius. There is one instance even
in him: _Horrida Romuleum certamina pango duellum_. The words _ego_ and
_modo_, which from their frequent use are often shortened in the
comedians, are generally long in Ennius; Lucretius uses them as common,
but retains _homo_, which after him does not appear. Catullus has one
short _o_, _Virro_ (89, 1), but this is a proper name. Virgil has
_sci0_ (_Aen._ iii. 602), but _ego, homo_, when in the arsis, are
always elided, _e.g. Pulsus ego? aut; Graius homo, infectos. Spondeo_
which used to be read (_Aen._ ix, 294), is now changed to _sponde_.
_Pollio_ is elided by Virgil, shortened by Horace (O. II. i. 14). He also
has _mentio_ and _dixero_ in the _Satires_ (I. iv. 93, 104). A line by
Maecenas, quoted in Suetonius, has _diligo_. Ovid has _cito, puto_ (_Am._
iii. vii. 2), but only in such short words; in nouns, _Naso_ often,
_origo, virgo_, once each. Tibullus and Propertius are stricter in this
respect, though Propertius has _findo_ (iii. or iv. 8 or 9, 35); Manilius
has _leo, Virgo_ (i. 266), Lucan _Virgo_ (ii. 329), _pulmo_ (iii. 644),
and a few others. Gratius first gives the imperative _reponito_ (_Cyn._
56); Calpurnius, in the the time of Nero, the false quantities _quando
ambo_, the latter (ix. 17) perhaps in a spurious eclogue; so _expecto_. In
Statius no new licenses appear. Juvenal, however, gives _vigilando_ (iii.
232), an improper quantity repeated by Seneca (_Tro._ 264) _vincendo_,
Nemesianus (viii. 53) _mulcendo_, (ix. 80), _laudano_. Juvenal gives also
_sumito, octo, ergo_. The dat. and abl. sing. are the only terminations
that were not affected. We see the gradual deterioration of quantity, and
are not surprised that even before the time of Claudian a strict knowledge
of it was confined to the most learned poets.
NOTE III.--_On parallelism in Virgil's poetry._
There is a very frequent feature in Virgil's poetry which we may compare
to the parallelism well known as the chief characteristic of Hebrew verse.
In that language the poet takes a thought and either repeats it, or varies
it, or explains it, or gives its antithesis in a corresponding clause, as
evenly as may be balancing the first. As examples we may take--
(1) A mere iteration:
"Why do the nations so furiously rage together?
And why do the people imagine a vain thing?"
(2) Contrast:
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