hi all, can’t for the life of me get this to scan!
My attempt:
Μοῦσά μοι ἔννεπε ἔργα πολυχρύσου Ἀφροδίτης
-u u | - u u | - u u | - u u | - - | - x
I can’t scan it without making -ρο long; is the omicron there long by nature? If so, how would one know that?
Many thanks!
Looks like you’re missing that the second upsilon in polychrysou is long by nature.
υ in -χρυσου is long, and there is hiatus between -ου and Ἀφρ- (and so -ου remains long/does not undergo correption).
φρ (muta cum liquida) doesn’t make position, leaving that alpha short.
Thank you both!!
hi all, I’m back with another line that’s giving me a lot of issues
ἔσχεν ἄχος, ἕνεκα βροτοῦ ἀνέρος ἔμπεσον εὐνῇ:
Why is the second syllable of ἄχος long? I can’t find anything about the second syllable being long by nature or anything, and I don’t see why ἕν would make a long position…
Any clues would be most appreciated!
It’s long because it has to be to make the meter work, and very easy to fudge while reading allowed because it’s at the start of a new foot.
You’ll notice that short syllables being read as long far less frequently occur where they could trip up a live reader (off the start of a foot).
Same sort of thing occurs with digamma uncertainties. It’s enough to make me think that this is not quite the record of a perfectly oral tradition that my grade school teachers led me to believe…
Edit: I am leaving the “reading allowed” typo because it’s punny.
Yes, word-final -ς or -ν sometimes has a syllable-lengthening effect. Similarly, ἕνεκα is spelled εἵνεκα when its first syllable needs to be long, and of course ἔσχε would ἔσχεν if it suited the meter. An oral epic poet needs such flexibility and more.
If it were for oral flexibility, he’d frequently use the license off-ictus as well. But that would make it very hard for a 3rd party to scan his lines. Impressive that our oral poet optimized his poetry for the future readers that he knew would come. What a man was Homer!