Re: Some help with Latin
| From: | R A Brown <ray@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Monday, September 24, 2007, 15:49 |
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Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
> Could someone please help me mark out the quantities in this
> Latin line?
>
>>
>> Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris. Nescio,
>> sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
>>
>
> I think it should be
>
> O:di: et amo:. Qua:re: id faciam, fortasse requi:ris.
> Nescio:, sed fieri: sentio: et excrucior.
Yep, the vowel lengths are fine. But like that it doesn't scan! Also,
Cattulus keeps the -o at the end of 'Nescio' short ;)
Vowels at the end of words, even if they are long, are elided before
another vowel in verse.
Catullus' little poem is an elegiac couplet. I'll mark the heavy
syllables with - and the light syllables with ^ (Note: tho the mark will
tend to appear over the vowel, *it does not refer to the length of the
vowel but to the _quantity_ of the syllable*). The vertical bar | marks
the end of each 'foot' and bracketed syllables are elided.
- ^ ^|- - | - ^ ^|- - | - ^ ^ | - -
O:(di:) et amo:. Qua:r(e:) id faciam, fortasse requi:ris.
- ^^ | - ^ ^|- ||- ^ ^ |_ ^ ^|-
Nescio, sed fieri: senti(o:) et excrucior.
The double vertical bar in the second line marks a stronger break. An
elegiac couplet consists of:
(a) A dactylic hexameter, i.e. 6 dactyls (-^^) in which any dactyl in
the first four feet may be replaced by a spondee (--), and the last two
feet are virtually always (-^^|--). In the first & the last two feet,
the verse beat normally coincides with word stress; in the intervening
feet more often than not, as here, there is a counterpoint between verse
beat & word stress.
(b) A so-called dactylic pentameter. I say, so-called, because it is in
fact 2.5 + 2.5 dactyls, i.e.( -^^|-^^|-||-^^|-^^|- ). The first two feet
may be replaced by spondees, but the dactyls are nearly always retained
in the second half. Apart from the first foot, the verse beat rarely
coincides with word stress; but in the verse above the coincidence of
verse beat & word stress in the first dactyl of the second half.
--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Entia non sunt multiplicanda
praeter necessitudinem.
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