[77]
Equal care must
however be taken to avoid any phrase of a definitely
metrical character, such as the following passage
from Sallust: Falso queritur de natura sua.1For
although the language of prose is bound by certain
laws, it should appear to be free. None the less
Plato, despite the care which he devotes to his
rhythm, has not succeeded in avoiding this fault at
[p. 551]
the very opening of the Timaeus,2
1 Jug. I. “The human race complains of its own nature without reason.” Last five feet of iambic trimeter!
2 The phrase is εἷς, δυό, τρεῖς, ὁ δὲ τέταρτος ἡμῶν, ὦ φίλε εἷς, δυό, τρεῖς give the opening of a hexameter, ὁ δὲ δὴ τέταρτος ἡμῶν the Anacreontic, δυό . . . φίλε the Iambic trimeter and εἷς . . . δὴ the πενθημιμερές.
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