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The Fourth of the Homeric

A. Shewan

The Classical Review / Volume 29 / Issue 06 / September 1915, pp 165 - 169 DOI: 10.1017/S0009840X00048769, Published online: 27 October 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009840X00048769

How to cite this article: A. Shewan (1915). The Fourth Foot of the Homeric Hexameter. The Classical Review, 29, pp 165-169 doi:10.1017/S0009840X00048769

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Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/CAR, IP address: 128.122.253.228 on 24 May 2015 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 165 leaving its mark in the barbarous rhythm pably sound reading of the passage: of the recast line 4. Ovftm of B is a simplification, the more so as the MSS. have corrupted dpdv in XIX. 40: the same sentence into an accusative) rbv B' alyfr' 'Ep/ieia? ipiovvio<; et? might suggest dv/wp wovaa here—cor- 8fi ruption being due to the influence of the Setjd/ievos . . . stereotyped phrase (e.g. Aphr. 102). But a K€ s it must be admitted that the construc- Et? x*P 0y i certainly a strange tion, though it may stand in lyric, is expression, as Messrs- Sikes and Allen harsh for epic writing. remark, for 'took the child into his arms'—stranger still, as we are told XXXI. 13: that he had already ' received' it—and 0 can hardly be sound. Kochly's wild KOXOV 8e irepl XP ^ Xd/nrerai ev (Istkm. v. 43, to accept D's pal- Trinity College, Cambridge.

THE FOURTH FOOT OF THE HOMERIC HEXAMETER. FOR the after the fourth this caesura be considered a rule for , and breaches, in a Westminster , the ' father of the rest,' and Version and in the Ode to Professor the model that composers generally Ridgeway, of the rule forbidding it, emulate ? In other words, are fourth Mr. Gaselee {supra, p. 48) might have many or few in the and referred to the notes by Professor ? Professor Tyrrell (I.e.) went Tyrrell and Dr. Hayman in C.R. XVII. so far as to say that he did not believe 365 and XVIII. 226. Such a caesura not that from the two poems two sound infrequently appears in Greek hexa- verses could be adduced with such a meter and elegiac compositions. In a caesura, except when the verse ends recent epigram1 one hexameter ends, with a polysyllable, and that the Troripov Se TO S&pov apeiov, and to only one in which such a caesura some that is a clear case. may not be avoided by a very simple How far can the veto on verses with correction seemed to be Od. xii. 47, iwl 8" ovar' dXeiyfrai eraipcov. And even 1 ' In Memoriam W. G. C. G.' (The Times, there a determined expurgator might April 17, 1915)- say the elision cures the defect. i66 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW This dictum appears to be too sweep- set, the connection between a short or ing. The discussion of the question, shortly scanned monosyllable, forming with exhaustive enumeration, which is the last syllable of the trochee, and the usually referred to is van Leeuwen's in syllable that follows it is said to be so Mnemos. XVIII. 2656°.,condensed (and close that they must be pronounced altered) in his Enchiridium, 18 ff. From without a pause or ictus-rest between this it appears that there are a number them; and so, it is explained, there is of lines which certainly exhibit this no break in the line. A common case caesura. Attempts have, of course, is one in which Kai is concerned. In been made to ' correct' most of them ; the hemistich oKrpnpov Kai aeiicia irr/priv but some resist, and van Leeuwen, in we are to scan crKrjirrpov \ KOX a-, not his paper in Mnemosyne, avoided, in atcrjiTTpov KOX | d-, and as Kai is gener- several cases, the Charybdis of the ally taken to be TrpoKkniKvyra-rov, this is fourth trochee only to fall into the no doubt correct, though surely the Kai Scylla of Wernicke.1 It must be ad- in such expressions adheres closely also mitted that there are some ineradicable to the word that precedes it.2 So with cases in the poems. certain prepositions in the same position And the enumeration in question in the verse. These, it is said, ad se- shows that there are really more quentia trahuntur in such combinations instances than those included in this as epo)V dv' ofuXov avravrr) or ve&v &v unyielding residuum. These are ex- dya>vi ireaovra. The preposition is plained away, some as inexcusable, treated as practically inseparable from others as only apparent. Thus, in one the word it governs. But Dr. Leaf, class of cases the effect of the final when considering some violations of polysyllable is relied on, and a-repvov he Wernicke's Law {Iliad, vol. ii. 636), Hocrei&davi and e/totcrt Kaa-iyvrJToicri are tells us that the connection of the not objected to. But as it is not sug- Homeric preposition with its case is gested by van Leeuwen or any other loose, and it is not always easy to say authority that the polysyllable helps to whether the preposition is in closer palliate the objectionable element, what- union with the word that follows or ever that may be, in a fourth trochee, with the verb or other word that pre- how can he say that it renders the cedes. But in addition to this a diffi- passages in question ' to some extent culty arises. We have, though more tolerable ?' It has no doubt occurred rarely, the same species of combination to some who have wondered what there in the third foot—irpoirdpotde irvkdav, might be in this polysyllable, that the rrfke veo<>, or even TTOVTW iv. If there is excuse is based on the length of the practically a coalescence of preposition word, which makes it difficult iap- and noun in such phrases in the fio^eiv e^a/ierptp. But as HoaeiSdcovi fourth foot, we must hold the same (-os, -a) and Kaaiyvrfroicrt,, and many about them when they occur in the other words of the same metrical value, third, and give up in the latter case the are found frequently in other positions, most characteristic rhythm of the and are final in only ten cases, the Homeric hexameter. Lines containing difficulty in accommodating them does the common break in the third foot not warrant resort to a scansion that is must be converted into hephthemimerals essentially vicious. Homer uses even or worse. The reply will be, presum- longer words without detriment to the ably, that that result must be accepted, . but it is a question if such a metrical construction of these third trochees has But there are many other lines which ever occurred to any one. may be construed as containing a fourth The same may be said of another trochaic. In regard to these it is argued that there is no caesura at all. In one 2 The fact that the diphthong of Ke<: and yvfivovwell discussed in the Classical Review ; irep iovr', respectively (third). see X. 43 f., XI. 29 ff., and 151 ff. And how far are we to extend this Dr. Leaf sums up in App. N- to his principle ? van Leeuwen would even Iliad, and saves remnants of the condone such cases as eydo ye vecorepos- law by accepting certain modifications elfu and eyw Be Sokovs roKvirevat. These of its terms as usually stated. But his can be paralleled in the third foot, where investigation seems to be open to probably no one has ever thought of remarks of much the same kind as denying a rest at the enclitic. That those passed on van Leeuwen's dis- being so, a rest is possible after the quisition. Thus we are to regard a\\o? enclitic in the fourth foot. He also \a6s ' almost as a single word.' But excuses a case of adverb and verb. But has any one ever suggested that about if the two words oyjre Bvovra arte cohaerent iceivos or OUTO? avr\p or 0**05 08' in the in the fourth foot, the same may be third foot ? Again, if an elided vowel said of I0v<; eXavvere, roaaov exwaaro helps to annul the effect of a pause in and similar combinations in the third. the Bucolic Diaeresis, so it must in a And must we not go on to adjectives combination of words in the third foot and nouns, to verbs and their objects, such as fivpi' 'A%ato«. We shall really and to other similar combinations ? If be compelled, in many instances, to we once go beyond the enclitics and revise our notions regarding the main perhaps be and icai, it will be hard to break in the hexameter. For the say where we should draw the line. /3od>iri<; cases Dr. Leaf seems to have Many third trochees will vanish. Pos- authority on his side, but 7X.au/ew7rt9 sibly those who are bent on abolishing leaves a doubt. It hardly seems suffi- the fourth trochee out of Homer will cient ground for rejecting Bentley's say, let them vanish. But others will Tiraprjo-ov and AlrwXov (II. ii. 751 and protest. It seems to be a question v. 706), that they 'introduce a license between grammar and rhythm. Must which is far less usual than a violation not the former yield ? Greek and of the digamma,' for the opportunities English verse may not be in part materia, for the former are immensely fewer but at least the following lines from than those for the latter. ' The rule of one of Swinburne's odes: will illustrate the ,' to which there are a the point. Are we to read them with number of exceptions that cannot be strict regard to orthoepy based on the explained away,1 can hardly be regarded close grammatical connection appar- ent in every one of them, or with the obviously intended rhythm and 1 Professor Platt (Journ. Phil, xviii. 120 ff.) gets rid of genitives in -ov by resolving into -00. rest? But see Mr. Drewitt in Amer. Journ. Phil. i68 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW as authority for questioning TiLrjfaaov in ended with a word, to make the last II. ii. 522. Bentley's Krjiaov seemssyllable long by nature, may be ad- to have been accepted by nobody. And mitted ; but apparently that is all that a doubtful distinction is drawn between can be said. A more interesting a final syllable long in itself by position, question is why there should have been and one long by position due to a con- this dislike. As regards the fourth sonant in the following word. There trochee, anyone who has made hexa- are, in short, a number of obstructive meters for himself knows that it consti- instances in the Iliad. The Odyssey tutes an unpleasantness, and one which is in like case, and apparently the a polysyllable at the end of the line, or expurgation of the 'exceptions' in it an iirei ice or a m ef re does not remove has not been attempted. or mitigate. He who writes down a Mr. Agar, it has been said, denies hexameter with such a fourth foot, and that the law applies to Homer. He does not at once perceive that it is believes that the objection to the rhythm faulty, may be said not to have a good in question, which is scrupulously ob- ear. But why does a trochee at that served by, for instance, Apollonius particular point make a verse halt, when Rhodius, was a late invention, and it has not that effect elsewhere? A imposed on Homer in later times by satisfactory answer does not appear to alteration of the text; and, in support have been given. Witte, in his dis- of that view, he shows (C.R. XI. 29 ff.) cussion in Glotta, iv. 9, does not that in a number of cases breaches of attempt one. He only finds the ex- the 'law' which were in the text planation of the rarity of fourth originally can be restored with little trochees in the origin of the hexameter, difficulty. Dr. Leaf dismisses these but is not quite successful. He seems ' conjectural " emendations " ' with a to claim more knowledge of the word, but Professor Platt thought there original compounds of the hexameter was ' a great deal to be said' for many than can be granted him. Dr. Leaf of them (ibid. XI. 15), and Mr. Barnett {I.e. 635, and cf. Mr. Drewitt in C.Q. (ibid. XIII. 208) appears to accept ii. 104) explains both rules in the same them without demur. Many conjectural way; the hearer must not think the emendations have been received into line is closed. But could he think the the Homeric text, and quite a number line had closed when he had heard only of these have been confirmed by the two-thirds of it, when he was only a discovery of new MSS. It is a question foot and a half beyond the middle of of evidence, and Mr. Agar's changes the line as indicated by an almost are generally reasonable. The viola- universal caesura, and at a point where tions of the ' law ' which are thus intro- the line is as it were gathering itself duced, and those which, in spite of for the final effort to the close ? That Dr. Leaf's statement, must be con- seems unlikely, not to say impossible. sidered to be in the poems already, If a marked pause, as contrasted with an together constitute a fairly formidable habitual rest, were frequent after the body of instances. fourth , there might be some ground for the idea. But it is not; on It is surely better to allow such the contrary, such a pause is rare. departures from general practice, and There are in the poems about 2,960 not to seek, by doubtful expedients, to fourth spondaics, and, if one may judge force refinements of the laws of Homeric from a count for Iliad i.-xii., there are rhythm. Attempts have been made to probably not more than 160 of these in clear the Bucolic Diaeresis of another which there is a pause that justifies a irregularity, the non-correption of a punctuation mark of any description. final long vowel or diphthong, but these Still, that there was, as Dr. Leaf says, Dr. Leaf discountenances. That the ' some special influence at work at this poet or poets did not like a trochee in particular point of the line,' seems the fourth foot, and preferred, when it proved by the figures he gives. What that influence was has yet, it would xxxiv. 43 if. And O^/Soioo and M«/*Adoo do not appear, to be discovered. Mr. Barnett, sound happy restorations. THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 169 in trying to explain, has to manipulate just when strict observance became the text a good deal. A final explana- general has not been determined. It tion of these supposed canons will have may be remarked of Theognis and to go deep. Meantime the modern Theocritus—the latter when not /8&>KO- composer who Homerum studet aemulari Xiaa^oixevo';—that, allowing, of course, had better perhaps observe them. If for the much smaller number of their his disregard of them is frequent, his , they seem to be in very title to be considered 'OfirjpiKcoTaTosmuch, the same case as Homer. In will be impugned. this connection Wordsworth's discussion Both rules were more carefully re- already referred to and some of his garded, it is said, ' in later Greek,' but notes a.l. are of interest. A. SHEWAN.

HERODOTUS AND BABYLON. IN my recent volume on Ancient that certain types of semi-civilised cities Town - planning1 I had to consider reach vast sizes. But, as I had already the case of Babylon as the oldest pointed out, the walls of Nanking, the example of anything like town-plan- largest city-site in that empire of large ning within the Greek horizon. I was thus confronted with the con- trast between the actual remains of Babylon and the account given by Herodotus and reinforced by other ancient writers. I was led to a theory which partially recon- ciles the two, and this theory I should like to state anew for the consideration of Herodotean stu- dents. Since I set it forth in my book, it has been mentioned by Koldewey in his recent account of Babylon2; it may have occurred to others, of whom I do not know. Herodotus describes Babylon as a square, nearly 14 miles each way, girt with brick walls go feet thick and 340 feet high, and entered through a hundred gates ConjHtned Una