Book 3 of Metamorphoses, Line 10

Latin Latin Poetry
1

Could some please help me scan this line?

‘bos tibi’ Phoebus ait 'solis occurret in arvis,

Does the dipthong ‘ai’ in ait make the ‘us’ in Phoebus long by position? If so, then I can scan this line.

2

No, ait idoesn’t scan as a dipthong but as two syllables. Cf. e.g. Verg.Aen.1.142 sic ait et dicto citius …

3

Thank you for that! I should have thought of it. Carl

4

It belatedly occurs to me that ait in that Vergilian line is not demonstrably disyllabic (though there can be no real doubt about it). A better example would be Juvenal 9.63 “improbus es cum poscis” ait …, or Propertius 4.4 cras, ut rumor ait, toto potabitur urbe.

Michael