Dative Pronouns in Limping Iambic

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cdm2003
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Dative Pronouns in Limping Iambic

Post by cdm2003 »

Salve!

I've recently been looking at Catullus VIII. In lines 3, 8, and 15, "tibi" interrupts the technical flow of the meter. I'm aware that interrupting the flow of the meter is a poetic device in and of itself. However, I wanted to check with all of you to make sure I'm not missing some special poetic circumstance that would lengthen the final "i" of "tibi." In each case "tibi" is followed by a single consonant ("soles" or "manet") and in lines 3 and 8, "tibi" appears in the fifth foot (fourth foot in line 15).

My questions are: 1) Is there some circumstance which would lengthen the final "i" to force "tibi" to fit the meter? 2) If there is not, would one read this poem aloud so as to allow "tibi" to interrupt the limping iambic, or would one allow a small pause to preserve the rigidity of the meter?

In regards to the last question, I've listened to a sample of this poem read aloud online (it's on Latinum now but it was on another site not too long ago) and the reader sounds as if he's allowing "tibi" to be read as an iamb.

Thanks for any help in advance. Below is the text of the poem.
Chris
Catullus wrote:MISER Catulle, desinas ineptire,
et quod uides perisse perditum ducas.
fulsere quondam candidi tibi soles,
cum uentitabas quo puella ducebat
amata nobis quantum amabitur nulla.
ibi illa multa cum iocosa fiebant,
quae tu uolebas nec puella nolebat,
fulsere uere candidi tibi soles.
nunc iam illa non uult: tu quoque impotens noli,
nec quae fugit sectare, nec miser uiue,
sed obstinata mente perfer, obdura.
uale puella, iam Catullus obdurat,
nec te requiret nec rogabit inuitam.
at tu dolebis, cum rogaberis nulla.
scelesta, uae te, quae tibi manet uita?
quis nunc te adibit? cui uideberis bella?
quem nunc amabis? cuius esse diceris?
quem basiabis? cui labella mordebis?
at tu, Catulle, destinatus obdura.
Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae

Twpsyn
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Post by Twpsyn »

The final syllable of tibi can be long or short. Same goes for mihi.

Alatius
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Post by Alatius »

To elaborate, this is due to a phenomenon called iambic shortening, or "brevis brevians" (i.e. brevis [paenultima syllaba ultimam] brevians): in words of two syllables, where the first (stressed) was short, and the final originally had a long vowel, then that one had often been shortened, especially in common words, such as benĕ, malĕ, cit?, du?, eg?; in mihĭ, tibĭ, sibĭ the old forms with existed in paralell with the more common ones ending in .

cdm2003
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Post by cdm2003 »

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that brevis brevians was responsible for the forms (the *only* forms, I thought) of "tibi" and "mihi" with a final, short "i." This explains away all my problems of scanning this poem, which, I may add, is one of my personal favorites.

Thanks!
Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae

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