The definition which the ‘Leys d’Amors’ gives of a stanza, or, as it calls it, cobla, is very unsatisfactory, or rather is no definition at all. It is expressed in a long poem of the author’s own manufacturing, the meaning of which is simply that a cobla may consist at least of five, and at most of sixteen verses, not including the shorter lines known under the name of bordos biocatz. Nothing more is said on this important subject. Of a division of stanzas according to their metrical and musical composition the author seemingly knows nothing. Dante, on the other hand, begins his long and careful investigation by stating first that ‘omnis stantia ad quandam odam recipiendam armonizata est.’ The word ‘odam’ in this connection must be understood in a double sense—a musical and a metrical: in the former it means simply melody, in the latter the metrical scheme of the stanza. But this oda is very different in different cases: ‘quia quædam [stantiæ] sunt sub una oda continua, usque ad ultimum progressive, hoc est sine iteratione modulationis cujusquam et sine dieresi;[41] et dieresim dicimus deductionem vergentem de una oda in aliam; hanc voltam vocamus cum vulgus alloquimur.’ In the cases here referred to, therefore, the flow of melody or verse must not be interrupted by a marked rest or pause, but must go on in an equal strain to the end of the stanza. This kind of stanza, Dante continues, was used chiefly by the great Arnaut Daniel, and especially in the sestina invented by that troubadour, and imitated by Dante himself. A stanza of one of Arnaut’s sestine will at once make the meaning of Dante’s words clear: Lo ferm voler qu’el cor m’intra, nom pot ges becs escoissendre ni ongla de lauzengier, sitot de maldir s’arma; e per no l’aus batr’ ab ram ni ab verga sivals a frau, lai on non aurai oncle jauzirai joi en vergier o dins cambra. It would be impossible to find a point where to divide this stanza on any principle. There are no groups of verses marked by rhyme, seeing that there is no rhyme; there is no change between accen agut and accen greu; there is not even a strong grammatical pause. Accordingly it may be concluded that the musical accompaniment of the words was not interrupted by any striking harmonious modulation such as would have made a rest necessary. Exactly the same may be said of Dante’s own sestina, Al poco giorno, ed al gran cerchio d’ombra,[42] which is constructed on the same principle. In many other cases also where there are rhymes a division of the stanza according to Dante’s system is utterly impossible, because the different parts allow of no forming into groups by the recurrence of the same order of rhymes. For instance, the following stanza of Jaufre Rudel must have been sung to a continued oda without any interruption: