The extreme in the other direction is reached by the troubadour Marcabrun, who has verses of one syllable only, such as Ay, and Oc. Between these extremes, verses of all lengths may be found now and then in the poetry of the troubadours; but nevertheless a preference for certain forms is visible. Dante’s views on the subject, which, on the whole, may fairly be applied to Provençal verse, are contained in the following sentence: ‘Pentasyllabum [viz., carmen, _i.e._ line] et eptasyllabum et endecasyllabum in usu frequentiori habentur, et post hæc trisyllabum ante alia: quorum omnium endecasyllabum videtur esse superbius tam temporis occupatione quam capacitate sententiæ, constructionis et vocabulorum.’ This, rendered by Provençal terms, means that verses of four, six, and ten syllables (con accen agut), and next to them those of two syllables, are most in use, but that the finest of all is the decasyllabic line. It may be useful to illustrate this rule by a few examples. The bordo of two syllables, as has been shown, is allowed only in bordos biocatz or empeutatz, and cannot form an independent foundation for a stanza. Of much greater importance is the verse of four syllables. The troubadours appreciated its graceful and easy fall, and used it with predilection. The beautiful poem of Guillem de Cabestanh, ‘Li douz cossire,’ the finest of his, perhaps of all, Provençal canzos, is founded on this verse. Here it occurs with feminine rhyme only, in connection with the verse of six syllables, _e.g._: _En sovinensa_ tenc la car’el dous ris _vostra valensa_ el bel cors blanc e lis. The ‘Leys d’Amors’ quotes a poem, very likely invented for the occasion, where the stanza consists entirely of this verse. Here it occurs in both forms, with accen agut and accen greu. Notwithstanding a certain monotony, it is impossible to deny the merits of harmonious beauty and lyrical pathos to a stanza like the following: Que fers de lansa mays no m’acora; que mi transfora lo cor el cors l’enveios mors e verenos coma poyzos dels vilas motz, quem fan jos votz per maestria. The verse of six syllables has been used by Bernard de Ventadorn for the stanza of one of his best canzos, where it occurs alternately with accen greu and agut: De domnas m’es vejaire que gran falhimen fan; per so quar no son gaire amat li fin aman. However well suited in this case to the sentimental purposes of the troubadour, this verse is hardly fit to be used by itself in longer stanzas. There is a certain ‘entre deux’ about it, which deprives it of the graceful ease of shorter metres, without giving as an equivalent the grandeur of, for instance, the decasyllabic line. Its effect is much finer where it occurs combined with other verses in a stanza, as, for instance, in another poem of Bernard de Ventadorn, where it is found in connection with the verse of eight syllables, both showing accen greu: