§9.4.85veritas vero quia patitur aeque brevem esse vel longam vocalem, cum est sola, quam cum eam consonantes una pluresve praecedunt, certe ut dimensione pedum syllaba, quae est brevis, insequente alia vel longa vel brevi, quae tamen duas primas consonantes habeat, fit longa, ut
"
agrestem tenui musam:
"
nam A brevis, §9.4.86gres brevis, faciet tamen longam priorem;
But in reality, since a vowel, when it is alone, allows itself to be equally short or long as when one or more consonants precede it, certainly in the dimension of feet, a syllable which is short, when another follows, whether long or short, which nevertheless has two consonants at its beginning, becomes long, as: "agrestem tenui musam: "for A is short, "gres" is short, yet it makes the preceding syllable long; it therefore gives something of its own time to it.
dat igitur illi aliquid ex suo tempore. quo modo, nisi habet plus quam quae brevissima, qualis ipsa esset detractis consonantibus? nunc unum tempus accommodat priori et unum accipit a sequente;
How so, unless it has more than the shortest syllable, such as it would be if the consonants were removed?
ita duae natura breves positione sunt temporum quattuor.
In fact, it lends one time to the preceding and receives one from the following; thus two syllables, short by nature, become of four times by position.
§9.4.87miror autem ut hac opinione doctissimos homines fuisse, ut alios pedes ita eligerent aliosque damnarent, quasi ullus esset, quem non sit necesse ut oratione deprehendi.
But I cannot help wondering that men of the greatest learning held this opinion, so as to choose some feet and condemn others, as if there were any foot which is not necessarily to be found in prose.
licet igitur paeana sequatur Ephorus, inventum a Thrasymacho, probatum ab Aristotele, dactylumque ut temperatos brevibus ac longis, fugiat spondeum et trochaeum, §9.4.88alterius tarditate nimia, alterius celeritate damnata, herous, qui est idem dactylus, Aristoteli amplior, iambus humilior videatur, trochaeum ut nimis currentem damnet eique cordacis nomen imponat, eademque dicant Theodectes ac Theophrastus, similia post eos Halicarnasseus Dionysius: §9.4.89irrumpent etiam ad invitos, nec semper illis heroo aut paeane suo, quem, quia versum raro facit, maxime laudant, uti licebit.
Therefore, although Ephorus may pursue the paean, discovered by Thrasymachus and approved by Aristotle, and the dactyl, as being tempered with shorts and longs, and may avoid the spondee and the trochee, the former being condemned for its excessive slowness, the latter for its rapidity, and though the heroic foot, which is the same as the dactyl, may seem to Aristotle more majestic, and the iambus more lowly, and though he may condemn the trochee as running too fast and impose upon it the name of "cordax", and though Theodectes and Theophrastus may say the same things, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus similar things after them; yet these feet will break in even against their will, nor will it always be permitted to them to use the heroic foot or their beloved paean, which they praise most highly because it rarely makes a verse.
ut sint tamen allis alii crebriores, non verba facient, quae neque augeri nec minui nec sicuti toni modulatione produci aut corripi possint, sed transmutatio et collocatio.
Even though some feet may be more frequent than others, it is not the words that will produce this—for words can neither be increased nor diminished, nor be lengthened or shortened as if by a modulation of tone—but their transposition and arrangement.
§9.4.90plerique enim ex commissuris eorum vel divisione fiunt pedes; quo fit ut iisdem verbis alii atque alii versus fiant, ut memini quendam non ignobilem poetam talem exarasse:
"
astra tenet caelum, mare classes, area messem.
For most feet are formed from the junctions or divisions of words; whence it happens that from the very same words different verses are made, as I remember a poet of no small repute wrote such a line: "astra tenet caelum, mare classes, area messem.
"
hic retrorsum fit sotadeus; itemque e sotadeo retro trimetros:
"
caput exeruit mobile pinus repetita. "
"This, read backwards, becomes a Sotadean; and likewise, backwards from a Sotadean, it becomes a trimeter: "caput exeruit mobile pinus repetita.
§9.4.91miscendi ergo sunt, curandumque, ut sint plures qui placent, et circumfusi bonis deteriores lateant.
"They must therefore be mixed, and care must be taken that those which please are more numerous, and that the worse, surrounded by the good, lie hidden.
nec vero ut litteris syllabisque natura mutatur, sed refert, quae cum quaque optime coeat.
Nor indeed is their nature changed by letters and syllables, but it matters which one best combines with which.
plurimum igitur auctoritatis, ut dixi, et ponderis habent longae, celeritatis breves; quae si miscentur quibusdam longis, currunt, si continuantur, exultant.
Therefore, as I have said, long syllables have the most authority and weight, short ones have speed; which latter, if mixed with certain long ones, run, but if continued, leap.
§9.4.92acres, quae ex brevibus ad longas insurgunt; leniores, quae a longis ut breves descendunt.
Those which rise from short to long syllables are sharp; those which descend from long to short ones are gentler.
optime incipitur a longis, recte aliquando a brevibus, ut novum crimen; lenius a duabus, ut animadverti indices; sed hoc pro Cluentio recte, quia initium eius partitioni simile est, quae celeritate gaudet.
It is best to begin with long syllables, and sometimes correct to begin with short ones, as "novum crimen"; gentler still with two, as "animadverti iudices"; but this latter is right in the "Pro Cluentio", because its beginning is like a partition, which delights in speed.
§9.4.93clausula quoque e longis firmissima est; sed venit et ut breves, quamvis habeatur indifferens ultima.
The conclusion also is strongest when made of long syllables; but it also occurs as short, although the last syllable is considered indifferent.
neque enim ego ignoro, ut fine pro longa accipi brevem, quia videtur aliquid vacantis temporis ex eo, quod insequitur, accedere; aures tamen consulens meas, intelligo multum referre, verene longa sit, quae cludit, an pro longa.
For I am not ignorant that at the end a short syllable is accepted instead of a long one, because some vacant time seems to be added from what follows; yet, consulting my own ears, I perceive that it makes a great difference whether that which concludes is truly long or only accepted as long.
neque enim tam plenum est dicere incipientem timere, quam illud ausus est confiteri.
For it is not so full to say "incipientem timere" as that famous "ausus est confiteri".
§9.4.94atqui si nihil refert, brevis an longa sit ultima, idem pes erit; verum nescio quo modo sedebit hoc, illud subsistet.
But if it makes no difference whether the last syllable is short or long, the foot will be the same; yet, I know not how, the latter will settle down, while the former will falter.
quo moti quidam longae ultimae tria tempora dederunt, ut illud tempus, quod brevis ex loco accipit, huic quoque accederet.
Moved by this, some have given three times to a final long syllable, so that the time which a short syllable receives from its position might also be added to this one.
nec solum refert, quis pes claudat, sed claudentem quis antecedat.
Nor does it only matter what foot concludes, but what foot precedes the concluding one.
retrorsum autem neque plus tribus,
In going backwards, however, we need not go back more than three feet,