Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (4.1885-1886)

56 ON GREEK VERSIFICATION IN INSCRIPTIONS.

I need hardly say that the caesura in question is void of offence
when preceded by the stronger hephthemimeral pause : as in Se'tai
to'S' aptvcpls ayaA/iia (740), Il£Ao7ros to Ue\a£yiKov "Apyos (846), and

many other cases. Still less is it objectionable when followed by the
to/jlt] /3ovKo\iK7j, provided that the intervening monosyllable leans
backward, not forward. Turns like 'O-rroevra Si 7roAAd/a rdVSe (S55),
a.c6\a yap ol irapa Xipnai (938 a prf.), are quite normal.

4. — Caesura after the Third Foot.

A word-end at this point is permissible only on condition that it
shall not be perceptible. It is commonly obscured by the foregoing
main caesura of the third foot, the poet taking care that the inter-
vening word shall be closer connected with what follows than with
what precedes. Verses like [Kj-rfw/ijcvov evK\e(i)av [8]opt kol xeP<-
roVSe 7rpos d[v8]po's, 24 (Att. iv), are regular, and can be paralleled
from any page of Homer.

It becomes, however, a distinct blemish when the sense requires a
stronger pause after this intervening word than before it. In this way
the verses

cruipa pev IvOaS' €^£t crov, A<.'<£iAe, yata 6avovTOi, 57 (Att. iv—ii) ;
o"oC piv Srj Trarpts Sr'jv, Kepxive. ^o^Yon vu. 488 ( Tanag. v) ;

are slightly cacophonous, unless skilfully read. In Homer, E 580,
I 134, y 34, A 266, are verses of this sort.

The following are simple atrocities :

pv[a]pa [rdS' ear £]tti a-[w]pari Kuptvov dvSpo; apltTTOV, 26 (Att. iv).
p.dAAoV rot Oebv <L\ir 0 pai eppevai, <u AtiKcJcpfye J, CXIX (Delph. iv—iii).
Hoaa&wviov la 61 p.c Kovpov MeVropa Xxov, LXXXIII (Cyme iii-ii).

5. — Other Caesuras.

The hephthemimeres occurs 342 times, and is absent in 347
verses, in which this part is legible. I have noted 91 verses which
have no caesura in or after the fourth foot.

Caesura of the sixth foot is not frequent: Zew's occurs as final
word, cviii and xcvii5 1. 61 ; ZtC, 941 b RM.; vv[v], xxiv ; vov<s, 850 ;
aty, 776; 7ra?s, 779 (cp. also 859). In 48 is the clumsy ending