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[p. 41] He added besides that the preposition ad was commonly accented when it indicated ἐπίτασις, or as we say, “emphasis,” as in ádfabre, ádmodum, and ádprobe.

In all else, indeed, Annianus spoke aptly enough. But if he supposed that this particle was always accented when it denoted emphasis, that rule is obviously not without exceptions; for when we say adpotus, adprimus, and adprime, emphasis is evident in all those words, yet it is not at all proper to pronounce the particle ad with the acute accent. I must admit, however, that adprobus, which means “highly approved,” ought to be accented on the first syllable. Caecilius uses that word in his comedy entitled The Triumph: 1

Hierocles, my friend, is a most worthy (ádprobus) youth.
In those words, then, which we say do not have the acute accent, is not this the reason—that the following syllable is longer by nature, and a long penult does not as a rule 2 permit the accenting of the preceding syllable in words of more than two syllables? But Lucius Livius in his Odyssey uses ádprimus in the sense of “by far the first” in the following line: 3

And then the mighty hero, foremost of all (ádprimus), Patroclus.
Livius in his Odyssey too pronounces praemodum like admodum; he says 4 parcentes praemodum, which means “beyond measure merciful,” and praemodum is equivalent to praeter modum. And in this word, of course, the first syllable will have to have the acute accent.

1 228, Ribbeck.3

2 Gellius is perhaps thinking of such exceptions as éxinde and súbinde, in which however the penult is not long by nature, but by position.

3 Fr. 11, Bährens.

4 Fr. 29, Bährens.

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