I’m very new to Latin poetry and am fairly new to the language. I’m studying Ovid’s poem ‘Amores 3.2’ and am attempting to understand the metrical form of the fourth verse.
ne tibi non notus, quem facis, esset amor.
From what I’ve read I’m expecting to see that the verse is a pentameter but am completely at a loss as to how the verse can be understood to be five metrical feet.
I think the verse starts with a dactyl followed by a spondee and then a dactyl but what then?
Is ‘facis esset amor’ not two short syllables then a long then two short then a long?
I’ve been pondering on this for a while and I’m hoping someone will be so kind as to give me some pointers which might help me progress.
Your scansion is correct as far as it goes,
but the pentameter, unlike the hexameter, is not a continuous string of dactyls,
but is more like two half-lines, —υυ—υυ— | —υυ—υυ—, with a word break between them;
and in the first half (but only in the first half) you can have —— (a spondee) instead of —υυ (a dactyl).
ne tibi non notus scans —υυ——— (equivalent to —υυ—υυ—).
Then the second half: quem facis esset amor —υυ—υυ—.
Compare the first pentameter of this poem, which has no spondees: cui tamen ipsa faves, | vincat ut ille precor.
—υυ—υυ—|—υυ—υυ—.
Your reply however leaves me wondering as to quite why the word ‘quem’ counts as long syllable rather than two short ones. I can’t seem to find the letter combination ‘ue’ listed as a diphthong. Does it indeed count as one in the word ‘quem’?
qu- routinely functions as a single consonant (something like c).
The vowel in quem is e, and it’s short. But since quem is here followed by a consonant, the syllable is long. And it’s the length of the syllables (short or long) that determines the meter.
Similarly with notus. The u is short (unlike the o), but since notus is here followed by a consonant, the syllable is long.
Once you’ve gotten the scheme of the pentameter into your head (as I outlined above), most of the metrical issues will resolve themselves without difficulty, though there may be residual minor questions as to the phonetics.