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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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
- -

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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)

9. FYI
Elisions
are not
automatically long!!!

10. “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

11. 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 -

12. 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)

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

14. 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

15. “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

16. 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, __ __ __ __ __ - - - - __ __ __
___ - - - - __ __ __
___

17. 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

18. 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 _

19. 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)

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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)

27. 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

28.  ˘   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

29. 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

30. 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