In the fifth chapter of his treatise Dante defines the limits of the length of a verse in this way: ‘Nullum adhuc invenimus carmen in syllabicando endecasyllabum transcendisse nec a trisyllabo descendisse.’[38] By trisyllabus and endecasyllabus he means lines, or carmina, as he calls them, which in reality may consist of no more than two and ten syllables. For in Italian poetry feminine rhymes are so predominant in number that Dante does not think it necessary to take into consideration the small minority of masculine rhymes, and counts the last short syllable of the feminine rhyme even in those few cases where in reality it does not exist. The ‘Leys d’Amors,’ according to its national view, follows a totally different principle of measuring verse. It first states the difference between masculine and feminine rhymes, calling the former accen agut, and the latter accen greu. Then it counts the syllables of each verse really existing, neglecting, however, the last short syllable if the verse ends with a feminine rhyme. An example will best show the difference of the two systems. Of the two following lines, anz li mal trag mi son joi e plazer sol per aiso, car sai q’amors autreja, the first consists actually of ten syllables, the last of which has the metrical accent. This, therefore, the ‘Leys d’Amors’ would call a ‘bordo de x. syllabas con accen agut.’ The second line, though actually containing eleven syllables, it would call a ‘bordo de x. syllabas con accen greu.’ Dante, on the other hand, would call both verses endecasyllabi, not taking any notice of the rime tronco in the first. The ‘Leys d’Amors,’ therefore, differs widely, and even more than might at first appear, from Dante, in saying that the shortest verse possible is that of four, and the longest possible that of twelve, syllables. For what Dante calls a trisyllabus may be, as we have seen, in reality a line of two syllables; and the ‘bordo de quatro syllabas’ of the ‘Leys d’Amors’ may consist actually of five syllables. Verses shorter than four syllables, according to the ‘Leys d’Amors’ are permissible only in the form of bordos empeutatz or biocatz. By bordos empeutatz are meant the different parts of a verse divided by a middle rhyme, such as Perdut ai—e cobrarai. Bordos biocatz are short verses which are mixed with others of greater length, and form, if rhyming, a sort of echo; for instance: El contrari far vol E col. These limits, however, are too narrow, at least in one direction. In one of the poems of Guillem IX. of Poitiers there is a line consisting of no less than fifteen syllables, and therefore by far exceeding the number allowed by Dante or the ‘Leys d’Amors.’ This verse displays, notwithstanding its great length, a certain rhythmical beauty, which, considering the rarity of effects of that sort, makes it all the more remarkable. In the first stanza of the poem it runs thus: q’una domna s’es clamada de sos gardadors a me.[39]