With a focus on Vergil’s Aeneid Latin Meter With a focus on Vergil’s Aeneid

What is meter? Meter is the rhythm of a Latin poem. Determined, in Latin, by the length of the vowels in a line of poetry. [remember the long –ā in the 1st declension ablative singular?] Long vowels are marked with – short vowels are marked with U

There are many different meters/ vowel patterns in Latin poetry The meters have subcomponents called “feet” Arrange the different kinds of “feet” in patterns to make certain kinds of meters

Common “Feet” - - - U U - U - - U Spondee Two long syllables/vowels Dactyl One long, two short vowels - U U Iamb (iambic) One short and one long vowel U - Trochee One long and one short vowel - U Anapest Long, long, short - - U

The Aeneid only uses one meter, called Dactylic hexameter 1st 4 feet are either dactyls - U U or spondees - - 5th foot is a dactyl [almost always] 6th foot is either a spondee 1 2 3 4 5 6 - U U - -

Elisions A vowel at the end of one word will “elide” (or combine…smish together) with a vowel at the beginning of the next word. e.g. …insula autem… the “a” at the end of insula would combine with the “au” at the beginning of autem. They act as one vowel when you’re marking vowel length. You would read it as insulautem.

Elisions Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant intentiquora Conticueromnes Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, it’s not ee-ubes, it’s yubes…that “i” is a “j” eruerint Danai, quaeque ipse miserrima vidi  quaequipse Myrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Ulixi Dolopumvaut

Elisions *An –m at the end of a word is weak. (like the –am in the AccS.) It would elide if followed by a vowel. (insulam autem insulautem) *The same happens with the letter “h” at the beginning of a word. It would elide if preceded by a vowel. (insula hasta insulasta)

FYI Elisions are not automatically long!!!

“Nature” some vowels are long “by nature”… i.e. they are naturally or inherently long… the -ā AblSing of 1st declension, the -ō in the AblSing 2nd or īs/ōs/īs of 2nd declension… or the –āre in the 1st conjugation infinitive some vowels in the interior of a word are long…we know this because the dictionary says so…sometimes we have to look them up You may not remember theses, so just mark the ones you remember

Marking the length of the vowels - NomPl - Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto: Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, NomPl - - AblSing AblSing Infinitive -

Diphthongs are long “by nature” What’s a diphthong, you ask? it’s a vowel combination that is pronounced as one sound ae = y in by; au = ow in now; ei = ey in hey; eu = hey you; oe = oi in oil; ui = uey in gluey)

Diphthongs are made up of 2 vowels, so they’re twice as long as a normal, short vowel logically, they are long

Mark the diphthongs ae au ei eu oe ui Ovid’s “Echo” from Metamorphoses caerula Liriope. Quam quondam flumine curvo implicuit clausaeque suis Cephisus in undis vim tulit. Enixa est utero pulcherrima pleno __ Note: this “i” is part of an ending that could change…to -erunt or something else …therefore it is not a diphthong __ __ X X “-is” is also an ending…not part of a diphthong X they must be in the same word

“Position” vowels are long “by position” when they are followed by 2 or more consonants e.g. The second –e- in “recēns” would be long, not because it is naturally long, but because it comes before two consonants…-ns

Marking the length of the vowels “Position” - - - - - Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto: Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, __ __ __ __ __ - - - - __ __ __ ___ - - - - __ __ __ ___

Oddities/Quirks The digraphs (two-letter combinations) ch, ph, and th count as single consonants. ch is a really a Greek chi …only one letter ph is a phi th is theta another way to look at it is the letter “h” never makes anything long, it’s not really a letter…it’s just a breath

Oddities/Quirks - the letter “x” is a ks sound, and counts as 2 consonants [makes a vowel long by “position”] - vim tulit. Enixa est utero pulcherrima pleno _

Oddities/Quirks The digraphs qu (and sometimes gu and su) count as single consonants (in spite of the fact that there are 2 sounds there… kw, sw, gw)

Oddities/Quirks the u in qu- (and sometimes su- and gu-) does not count as a vowel… think about quos… it’s not cu-os…it’s kwos there’s only 1 vowel sound praecipitat suadentque cadentia sidera somnos. it’s not su-a…it’s swa…only one vowel to mark

Oddities/Quirks A mute (b,c,d,g,p, or t) followed by a liquid (l or r) sometimes counts as a single consonant, as long as they are in the same word. (“pl,” “pr,” “gr,” “bl”) tenebrae – the “br” doesn’t make the “e” long clamor doesn’t make a preceding vowel long

Oddities/Quirks The letter “i” at the beginning of a word, in front of a vowel (like in iam) may be a “j” and therefore not a vowel. This happens a lot in later Latin. You’ll have to be flexible with them. Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, temperet a lacrimis? et iam nox umida caelo Since they are not vowels, you don’t put a long or short mark over them

Vowels that are not… are short… U long by nature [endings, diphthongs, or dictionary] or long by position [followed by 2 consonants or “x”] are short… U there’s no need to grab your dictionary yet, you can use logic to figure out most of the interior vowels However…There’s one more step

How to figure out the length of vowels Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto: Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, Troianas ut opes et lamentabile regnum eruerint Danai, quaeque ipse miserrima vidi               5 et quorum pars magna fui. quis talia fando Myrmidonum Dolopumue aut duri miles Ulixi temperet a lacrimis? et iam nox umida caelo praecipitat suadentque cadentia sidera somnos. sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros          10 Aeneid 2.1-10

The easiest order to tackle it… Step 1: Change the “i” at the beginning of words AND followed by a vowel to “J” or “Y” Step 2: Mark out the “H” at the beginning of words Step 3: Check for elisions [otherwise you’ll have too many vowels] NB Elided vowels don’t have to be long. They follow #2 and #3 below. Step 4: Mark vowels that are LONG by NATURE. (e.g. diphthongs, īs-ōs-īs, etc.) Step 5: Mark vowels that are LONG by POSITION. (in front of 2 consonants, sometimes fl/br etc, not ph/ch etc) Step 6: look at your metrical pattern and start from the end marking feet

ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ  100 quanto saepe magis fulgore expalluit auri, ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ “nt” ”sf” “lg” x=ks “ll” ˉ ˉ diph diph  100 quanto saepe magis fulgore expalluit auri,  Step 1: Check for “I” at beginning to change to “J” Step 2: Cross out “h” at beginning of words Step 3: Check for elisions [what is an elision?] NB Elided vowels don’t have to be long. They follow #2 and #3 below. Step 4: Mark vowels that are LONG by NATURE. (e.g. diphthongs, īs-ōs-īs, etc.) Step 5: Mark vowels that are LONG by POSITION. (in front of 2 consonants, sometimes fl/br etc, not ph/ch etc)

If the ui can be changed, (eg it’s a part of an ending), it’s not a diphthong. uit is pronounced oo-it, not weet There’s no way for it to be a dactyl, it has to be 2 longs.  ˘ ˘    ˘ ˘  ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ  ˉ ˉ ˉ 100 quanto saepe magis fulgore expalluit auri,  Then Start from the END counting off vowels/feet. Count backwards from the final 2 vowels, then the previous dactyl… *Dactylic hexameter 1 2 3 4 5 6 - U U - - - U

 ˘   ˉ ˉ  ˉ ˉ  ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ cum saevum cupiens contra contendere monstrum  We don’t really care whether the –um is long or short, but we happen to know it’s short Step 1: Check for elisions (there are none.) Step 2: Mark long by NATURE. Step 3: Mark long by POSITION. *Dactylic hexameter 1 2 3 4 5 6 - U U - - - U

ˉ  ˘˘ ˉ ˉ ˘˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ 1 [6 vowels left for 2 feet] 4 5 6  X ˉ ˉ   ˘˘ ˉ ˘˘  ˉ ˉ  ˉ ˘ ˘  ˉ aut mortem appeteret Theseus aut praemia laudis!    The –us is an ending and therefore not a diphthong Step 1: Check for elisions. vowel-vowel, m-vowel, vowel-h Step 2: Mark long by NATURE. Step 3: Mark long by POSITION. *Dactylic hexameter 1 2 3 4 5 6 - U U - - - U

REMEMBER Scan for elision Scan for vowels long by nature (dipthongs, is/os/is/a) Dipthongs = ae au ei eu oe ui Scan for vowels long by position (followed by 2 consonants) Ph, Th, Ch, Qu = 1 consonant X= 2 consonants Ignore the letter “H” i (in front of a vowel) = consonant (the letter J) Iam = Jam Iuno = Juno Start from the end and mark the feet Last foot = spondee -- -- 5th foot = dactyl -- U U First 4 feet are either spondee or dactyl