scansion.

[littlewoy]

hey guys, i'm trying to teach myself scansion. I think i've got the hang of it but don't know if i'm getting it right or not. I've had a go at a few random lines from the aeneid:

1.265:

tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit aestas.
- u u/ - uu/- - / - - /- u u/ - -

1:270:
imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini
- u u/ - -/ - - / - - / - u u /- -

not sure about all the elision in this one.

3.380:
scire Helenum farique vetat Saturnia Iuno
- u u/ - u u/ - - / - - /- uu/ - -

again not at all sure about the elision.

3.407:
hostilis facies occurrat et omnia turbet.
- -/- u u/- - / - u u/ - uu/ - -

any errors?

[chrisb]

Hi,

Your second example is:

1:270:
imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini
- u u/ - -/ - - / - - / u - - /- -

I scan the line as:

imperi | o~exple | bit / reg | numque~ab | sede La | vini

-uu | - - | - / - | - - | -uu | --


I have used the tilde sign to mark elision and the forward slash to mark the caesura. Note that the penultimate foot is almost always a dactyl, and that the last foot is either a spondee (- -) or a trochee (- u). I was taught to mark off the last two feet, then mark all the long syllables. This is usually enough to give you the framework of the line.

Your third example is:

3.380:
scire Helenum farique vetat Saturnia Iuno
- u u/ - u u/ - - / - - /- uu/ - -

I scan it as:

scire~Hele | num fa | rique / ve | tat Sa | turnia | Iuno
-uu | - - | -u / u | - - | -uu | - -

Hope this helps. I never found it easy.

chrisb

[littlewoy]

thanks chris, that first one was just a typo i think. in the second one, can u just ignore the H of Helenum? what about the I of Iuno?

[Turpissimus]

The He- syllable joins with the -re of scire. H doesn't seem to count as a consonant for scansion/elision purposes. I think the I of Iuno, because it is in between two vowels, counts as a semi-vowel rather than a vowel.

[chrisb]

Hi again littlewoy,

The Roman letter i can be used as a vowel, as in fides. But, it can also be used with the force of a consonant. A clue can often be found in the English translation or transliteration. Iuno is Juno, and the J tells you that the I is being used as a consonant. So think carefully before trying to elide an I.

The rule that I learned for elision staes that if a word ends in a vowel or with
-am, -em, -im, -om, -um and the next word begins with a vowel or h, then the ending of the first word is elided.

chrisb

[littlewoy]

ok, thanks guys.

[whiteoctave]

re: 'h'.

(hexameter) Tib.1.5.33:
et, tantum uenerata uirum, hunc sedula curet.
(pentameter) Prop.2.8.8:
uinceris aut uincis, haec in amore rota est.
(hex) Prop.2.28.29
et tibi Maeonias inter heroidas omnis
(hex) Cat.66.11
qua rex tempestate nouo auctus hymenaeo (auctus should probably be emended to auctatus which removes the hiatus between nouo and au-, which doesn't occur in Catullus, yet the short-us is still lengthened by h)

as a scansion treat, here is the most elided pentameter written in Latin: Cat.73.6: quam modo qui me unum atque unicum amicum habuit.

~D