Hi all, I’ve got a bit of a blind spot about line 15 of the second satire of book 2 of Horace’s satires. I can’t seem to make it scan. Can anyone advise? The line is:
15 sperne cibum vilem; nisi Hymetia mella Falerno
16 ne biberis diluta
I hope I’ve given enough information.
Thanks.
sperne cibum vilem takes us up to the caesura, as I expect you realize. Then nisi elides before Hymetia (the aspirate doesn’t inhibit elision), which scans short-long-short-short. Mt. Hymettus was famed for its honey.
Hope this solves your problem.
Thank you so much. I was going round in circles and completely missed the elision of the H in Hymetia. Thanks very much for your help - really appreciated!