Exercise 72

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Continued

THE EPITAPH

Here rests his head upon the lap of earth
A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown;
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth
And Melancholy marked him for her own.

Large was his bounty and his soul sincere;
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
to misery all he had- a tear;

He

gave He gained from Heaven - 'twas all he wished

No further seek his merits to disclose,

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose), The bosom of his Father and his God.

a friend.

HINTS. 1. Here lies a youth in the soil (caespes) of mother earth,

2. His fame lies concealed; alive he possessed no wealth: 3. But the Muses did not despise his unknown birth (genus), 4. And the mournful Hour sought (volo) her son.

5. He was (possessed) of a pure soul which lavishly gave of its own accord,

6. God, more lavish, recognized the free gifts;

7. A poor man, he gave to the poor his gifts (munusculum), a tear,

8. He gained from Heaven friendship according to (ex) wish.

9. But seek (line 10) neither to disclose further these virtues,

10. Nor to draw (dissocio) his faults (sing.) from the shades, 11. Alike in silent hope, alike in fear they rest,

12. In the bosom of his eternal Father and his God (Caelicola).

5. Sapphic and Adonic Verse

The student who has faithfully worked out the exercises in hexameter and elegiac verses will have no difficulty in advancing to the exercises in lyric verse. The reason is that he is now familiar with fundamental differences between Latin and English and he has experience in the handling of Latin quantities, two important assets in versification.

His main problem will be to adapt himself to a change in the form of the metre and to construct his sentences so that they may, if necessary, extend to and end within the four lines of a stanza, instead of enclosing the thought within a couplet as in the elegiac.

This species of verse is considered the easiest since there is not the latitude allowed to hexameter and pentameter verses. Consequently the choice of words is narrowed down to a certain number, making the rejection of words unfit for a line an easy matter.

The rules are few in number, but they presume a knowledge of the general regulations for all Latin verse. It will be well, therefore, to review the general rules on page 7 concerning the caesura, elisions, epithets, rhythmical arrangement of words, and prosody.

I. RULES FOR SAPPHIC VERSE

1. The sapphic and adonic stanza consists of three sapphic and one adonic verses.

2. The sapphic verse consists of a trochee, spondee, dactyl, and two trochees. These are fixed, with the exception of the final syllable, which may be long or short according to the regular rule in Latin verse.

3. The place of the caesura is generally after the fifth syllable. But, however, it is found also after the sixth syllable. Horace in his later odes often places it there, though not as frequently as after the fifth syllable.

4. Although the quantity of the final syllable in a sapphic verse is neglected, still, a long syllable is found there more often than a short one. In a choice, therefore, a long syllable should be preferred.

5. The fifth syllable should be the end of a word (supposing the caesura to be placed there), and consequently there should not be an elision at that point.

6. The last two words of the sapphic verse should not be dissyllables, unless a dissyllabic word precede them.

7. The second word in the line should be by preference a trisyllable.

8. In continued verse, the thought should not, if possible, run on into the following stanza, but should terminate within the four lines.

II. RULES FOR THE ADONIC VERSE

1. This consists of a dactyl followed by a spondee. The spondee, however, often becomes a trochee, owing to the quantity of the last syllable being neglected.

2. Elisions are not common in this verse, so they should be avoided as far as possible.

3. A new thought must never begin with the adonic in continued verse.

4. Sometimes Horace has an extra syllable in the adonic which is elided by the first syllable of the next stanza, but this is not to be imitated.

5. The adonic line may be formed either by a dissyllabic word followed by a trisyllabic or vice versa. Sometimes a word of five syllables makes a strong ending if emphasis is the motive. A monosyllable is allowed to begin the line, especially an interjection. 6. There is no caesura in the adonic line.

The following are the more common models for a sapphic verse: —

1. Iste confessor || Domini colentis. Roman Breviary. 2. Integer vitae || scelerisque | purus.

22, 1.

3. Jam satis terris || nivis | atque | dirae.

2, 1.

For an adonic verse:

1. Gloria mundi.

2. Tempus in | omne.

3. Pluma quiescit.

Horace, Odes, I,

Horace, Odes, I,

6. Exercises in Sapphic and Adonic Verse.

I. EXERCISES IN BROKEN VERSE

Exercise 73

(First and second lines complete in themselves, third and fourth together.)

(b)

Qui toto in ore suas veneres

Prodit refluens fluensque molliter alterno aestu.

Contenta parvulo focum paternum

Et amat lares notos: procellae at

Devia immemor montis vice grata pervagatur.

(d)

(e)

Recursat ante gestarum facies

Sive surgunt inter somnia vigilantis venturae.
Siccati vapores utque fugiunt.

Vultum Phoebo aureum referente

Caeli gratia non secus alma curas tristes fugat.
Ite: sin coletis recte nemorum

Me duce, custodem Pana sagittae

Certae fugerint victrix rapietque campum ungula.

Exercise 74

(All the lines mingled together.)

(a) Deserens frontem pertinax lusu circum sedulo volitare aut vultus cubile roseum oculi abdi in protervis ignibus.

(b) Si animo quis aegrotans vitiosiori spernat decoram Phydylen mea lingua ausa referre gratum munus accipit.

(c) Ut quondam nebulae poli vultum serenum contegunt, ita vitae damna oculos lugentes nubibus abortis saepe umbrant.

(d) Ite, agitate cervam excitam cornu canibusque per montes vastos; vel cavas silvas nervo late resonante rumpite.

II. MODEL EXERCISE IN SAPPHIC AND ADONIC VERSE The exercise to be translated as a model is taken from a translation of Ludwig Uhland's poem The Passage, first stanza.

Many a year is in its grave,

Since I crossed this restless wave:

And the evening fair as ever

Shines on ruin, rock and river.

For hints we have the following paraphrase:

(1) Many a month has passed (pereo) before (2) this restless water again bore me across: (3, 4) and the evening still (adusque) lights up cliffs, ruin (and) river.