DOI article:
Allen, Frederic D.: On Greek versification in inscriptions
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8561#0074
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ON GREEK VERSIFICATION IN INSCRIPTIONS.
Ludwich1 has shown that spondiac verses were more avoided in
elegiac poetry than in epic. This explains the comparatively small
number of spondiazontes in the inscriptions, the proportion being
about half what it is in Homer. Just half our sixteen cases occur in
elegiac epigrams, though about two-thirds of the inscriptional hexa-
meters belong in such epigrams.
2. — The Fourth Foot.
The preference of the verse for a dactyl in the fourth foot stands
in close connexion with the bucolic caesura. The relative numbers
of dactyls and spondees before this caesura have been set forth above
(p. 51 fig.). It only remains to point out cases where the form of
a word has been influenced by the effort for dactylic endings.
■ T^AocAees, ovk af36r)To\v], 40 (Att. iii-ii).
£7u/<Ae£s. ov Ttplv eir Av&pwv, 255 (Cypr. iv—iii).
These two verses have a bearing on II 7 and 754.
irtpLKaWta IlaAAaSos dyj/>ys. 850 (Att. iv-iii).
kclt aAo-ea $£[p]o-e[<^)]omas, cxxvn (Sybaris ii).
fiapvirtvOeos apyakcoio, cxxvin (Sybaris ii).
eXi-n-ov <£aos TjeXtoLo, 521 (Thessalonica Mac).
vpoXiTTiov <£ao; atXiow, cxxvn (Sybaris ii).
iov lAaos. oikov ap.' avrov, xxiii (Att. iv).
iOavpatrtv ip. /Jt'coi )J8e, 83 (Att. iv—ii) ;
where the sense would suggest rather i6avp.a£'.
La Roche has discussed, in the Zeilschrift fiir Oesterreichische
Gymnasicn, 1876, p. 413 fig., the Homeric use of ivt and iv in the
fourth foot. His conclusion is that h/i is to be written when the
preposition leans backwards, Iv when it leans forward. There -is
sense in this principle, as the bucolic caesura is felt in the one case
and not in the other.2 The inscriptions follow La Roche's rule three
times, and violate it once :
1 De hexafnetru poetarum Graecorum spondiacit, p. 18 flg.
2 La Roche, however, in applying the second part of the rule, makes an ex-
ception in the case of digammated words following the preposition. Before these
ON GREEK VERSIFICATION IN INSCRIPTIONS.
Ludwich1 has shown that spondiac verses were more avoided in
elegiac poetry than in epic. This explains the comparatively small
number of spondiazontes in the inscriptions, the proportion being
about half what it is in Homer. Just half our sixteen cases occur in
elegiac epigrams, though about two-thirds of the inscriptional hexa-
meters belong in such epigrams.
2. — The Fourth Foot.
The preference of the verse for a dactyl in the fourth foot stands
in close connexion with the bucolic caesura. The relative numbers
of dactyls and spondees before this caesura have been set forth above
(p. 51 fig.). It only remains to point out cases where the form of
a word has been influenced by the effort for dactylic endings.
■ T^AocAees, ovk af36r)To\v], 40 (Att. iii-ii).
£7u/<Ae£s. ov Ttplv eir Av&pwv, 255 (Cypr. iv—iii).
These two verses have a bearing on II 7 and 754.
irtpLKaWta IlaAAaSos dyj/>ys. 850 (Att. iv-iii).
kclt aAo-ea $£[p]o-e[<^)]omas, cxxvn (Sybaris ii).
fiapvirtvOeos apyakcoio, cxxvin (Sybaris ii).
eXi-n-ov <£aos TjeXtoLo, 521 (Thessalonica Mac).
vpoXiTTiov <£ao; atXiow, cxxvn (Sybaris ii).
iov lAaos. oikov ap.' avrov, xxiii (Att. iv).
iOavpatrtv ip. /Jt'coi )J8e, 83 (Att. iv—ii) ;
where the sense would suggest rather i6avp.a£'.
La Roche has discussed, in the Zeilschrift fiir Oesterreichische
Gymnasicn, 1876, p. 413 fig., the Homeric use of ivt and iv in the
fourth foot. His conclusion is that h/i is to be written when the
preposition leans backwards, Iv when it leans forward. There -is
sense in this principle, as the bucolic caesura is felt in the one case
and not in the other.2 The inscriptions follow La Roche's rule three
times, and violate it once :
1 De hexafnetru poetarum Graecorum spondiacit, p. 18 flg.
2 La Roche, however, in applying the second part of the rule, makes an ex-
ception in the case of digammated words following the preposition. Before these