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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 1and 5 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
cūm vēn| tĭ tā| bās quō| pŭ ēl| lă dū| cē băt,
ă mā| tă nō| bīs quān| tu̷m̷‿ă mā| bĭt ūr nūl lă.
ĭ bi̷‿īl| lă mūl| ta tūm| iŏ cō| să fī| ē bānt,
quǣ tū| vŏ lē| bās nēc| pŭ ēl| lă nō| lē bāt.
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