[101]
The effect of
the spondee is less weighty, if it be preceded by a
palimbacchius and pyrrhic, as in iudicii Iuniani.1 Still
worse is the rhythm when the spondee is preceded
by a paean, as in Brute, dubitavi,2 although this
phrase may, if we prefer, be regarded as consisting
[p. 565]
of a dactyl and a bacchius. As a rule, endings composed of two spondees, a termination which causes
comment even in a verse, are to be deprecated,
unless the phrase is composed of three separate
members, as in cur de perfiigis nostris copias comparat
is contra nos?3 where we have a word of two syllables
preceded and followed by a monosyllable.
1 The text is clearly corrupt as it stands, since the first syllable of Iuniani is long. Further, if iudici be read with the best texts of Cicero, there is no pyrrhic (u u) in the phrase, which is identical in rhythm with ausus est confiteri, praised just above. If iudicii is read the final spondee might be said to be preceded by a pyrrhic and a palimbacchius (i. e. iud/ĭcĭ/ī Iūnĭ/ānī). The fact that the termination of both words is the same would account for the disappearance of one of them. The corruption may easily lie deeper still. But as the words quoted come from an actual speech of Cicero, the error is not likely to lie in the quotation, pro Cluent. i. 1.
2 Or. i. I. “I hesitated, Brutus.”
3 “Why does he collect forces against us from our deserters?” L. Crassus quoted in Or. lxvi. 223.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.