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| Author | Message | | | Posted on Sun Jan 02, 2005 01:40:06 | |
| | | I'm a newcomer to this interesting site, and apologize if I'm asking a question that has been asked (& maybe answered) before. As a novice in Latin verse, I was overjoyed to find scansions posted for the Carmina. But, just because of novice status, I'm flummoxed about certain points. I understand that Carmen 7 ("Miser Catulle...") is in choliambic meter (.-.-.-.-.---). The first 3 lines scan very easily in that meter. But in line 4, what about the word "ventitabas", with the long ultima (where the meter seems to require a short syllable)? The same question applies to line 7 in the word "volebas". In lines 5 & 6, elision seems to be required-- might not this be indicated somehow? All these remarks may just indicate my own ignorance. But (in case I'm raising a genuine point), couldn't we use some further interpretation of the meter? How do we think Catulluis would have declaimed this work-- would he have shortened the long syllables to fit the meter, or what? Your puzzled correspondent, John Morton. | |
| | | Posted at Tue Sep 27, 2005 08:57:57 | Quote |
| | | The reason that you are having difficulty is that you are trying to scan it in the wrong meter. Poem 7 is written in hendecasyllabic meter. | |
| | | Posted at Sun Nov 04, 2007 14:24:29 | Quote |
| | Hi, J. Morton,
"Miser Catulle" is Carmen 8 and it follows the choliambic meter. Which meter has anceps in the 1ºand 5º feet. This accounts for ventitabas and volebas. As to the elisions indications in the scanned text, note that that there are not accentuation marks on neither (quan)tum nor (ib)i.
Vale. | |
| | | Posted at Sat Nov 13, 2010 00:49:47 | Quote |
| | Choliambic meter allows for a spondee to be substituted in the 1st, 3rd and 6th feet.
Catullus 8, lines 4-7
cÅ«m vÄ“n| tÄ tÄ| bÄs quÅ| pÅ Ä“l| lă dÅ«| cÄ“ băt,
ă mÄ| tă nÅ| bÄ«s quÄn| tuÌ·m̷‿ă mÄ| bÄt Å«r nÅ«l lă.
Ä bi̷‿īl| lă mÅ«l| ta tÅ«m| iÅ cÅ| să fÄ«| Ä“ bÄnt,
quÇ£ tÅ«| vÅ lÄ“| bÄs nÄ“c| pÅ Ä“l| lă nÅ| lÄ“ bÄt.
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