Scansion Question

[vir litterarum]

Τειρεσίας
οὐ γάρ σε μοῖρα πρός γ᾽ ἐμοῦ πεσεῖν, ἐπεὶ
ἱκανὸς Ἀπόλλων, ᾧ τάδ᾽ ἐκπρᾶξαι μέλει.

OT 376-377

I don't understand how the scansion of 377 is working: ἱκανὸς appears to be 3 consecutive short syllables(LSJ does not state that the quantity of the penultimate syllable is variable), and, from what I've gathered, Ἀπόλλων only has variable quantity in the first syllable in Homer. Can anyone explain to me how the meter of this line is working?

[annis]

Resolution of x- to uuu is permitted, especially in a single word. It's more common in the first two metra than in the last, where it is only in the first foot, and that not very often.

[vir litterarum]

wow. I knew resolution to uu- was fairly common, but I didn't know uuu occurred in tragedy at least. Are you saying the first syllable of Apollwn is long then?

[annis]

least. Are you saying the first syllable of Apollwn is long then?

Nope, it's short. Single bar for metron boundary, double bar for caesura:

Code: Select all

u u u  u -| - ||-  u   -|  - -   u -
ἱκανὸς Ἀπόλλων, ᾧ τάδ᾽ ἐκπρᾶξαι μέλει.

In this line the first iambic metron (x-u-) is realized as uuuu-.

[annis]

wow. I knew resolution to uu- was fairly common, but I didn't know uuu occurred in tragedy at least.

From West's abridged Greek metre book —

In the early iambus and in Aeschylus and Sophocles resolution is employed sparingly, not more than once in ten lines on average. In Euripides, after the Hippolytus (428BC), the frequency rises steadily until the Orestes of 408, in which some 34% of trimeters show resolution, some of them two or three resolutions, ... In comedy resolution is still more frequent;