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2) Although a spondee can appear in the fifth foot (such periods are called spondaic: cf. Aeneid1.617), this foot is almost always a dactyl (only 1 of 409.5 periods in the Aeneid are spondaic (Duckworth 5) . This results in a very high degree of coincidence of accent and ictus in the fifth and sixth feet of Vergil's periods.(there are only 57 indisputable fifth-foot conflicts in all of Vergil vs.e.g. 63 in the first 444 periods of the Odyssey according to Wilkinson 122). When the fifth foot is a spondee, there is a clash of ictus and accent at the end of the period. In general ictus and accent clash one-and-a-half times as often as they coincide. The clash or coincidence of ictus and accent can produce a wide array of effects beyond those conveyed linguistically, syntactically, etc.
3) Fourth-foot spondees, though not uncomon in Vergil, are rarely constituted by one disyllabic word (e.g. Aeneid 1.26). Similarly, if the first foot is a spondee, it will rarely be a disyllabic word (e.g. Aeneid 1.30) The last syllable of a period will rarely be a monosyllabic word, nor is it common to find two disyllabic words at the end of a period.
4)a. Caesurae are more common than diaereses.
b. Caesurae are more common in the third foot than in the fourth.
c. Masculine caesurae are more common than feminine caesurae (e.g. Aeneid 1.199).
5) Unlike the tendency in Greek hexameter poetry, elision is much more common than hiatus in Vergil; for exceptions cf. Aeneid 1.16, 146, 617. With the exception of iam, se, te, and me, monosyllabic words are rarely elided.
6) It is unusual to find a run of uninterrupted dactyls or spondees (as in Aeneid 1.53, 92, 432, 433, 435, 442, 496, 564) in the first four feet of a period.
A period is a series of feet (which usually appears as a separate line in modern editions) which is followed by a pause. Unless the final vowel belongs to an enclitic such as -que, which if followed by a vowel or h at the beginning of the next period, can be elided across the period break. Otherwise, if a line ending with a vowel is followed by a line whose first letter is a vowel or h, hiatus is observed. ('Line' and 'verse' are also often used synonymously.)
A footis a group of syllables. In dactylic hexameter, each foot constitutes a metron. In most other meters, however, two feet constitute a metron. The dactyl is composed of a long syllable followed by two short syllables (the time quantity of a short syllable is one mora, while a long syllable equals two morae, thus a dactylic foot is equal to four morae). All dactylic hexameter periods contain at least one spondee, which is a foot composed of two long syllables. The sixth foot of a dactylic hexameter period can be either a spondee or a trochee ( a long syllable followed by a short syllable). Thus, the final syllable in the period can be either long or short by nature but it must be treated as long in both cases because the final syllable in dactylic hexameter is a syllaba anceps (a.k.a. brevis in longo). If a there is a trochee in the sixth foot, the final short syllable in the line must be read and scanned as if it were a long so that the final foot is always, in effect, a spondee.
A pyrrhic is a foot composed of two short syllables. A pyrrhic can never constitute a foot in dactylic hexameter.
A cretic is a foot composed of long syllable followed by a short followed by a long. By definition, dactylic hexameter could not admit such a foot.
Accent refers simply to a word's natural accent (which can only fall on the penult or antepenult), whereasictus refers to the element in a foot that is stressed. The ictus, the stressed syllable, of dactyls and spondees is the first syllable. A feature of Vergil's poetry that is often exploited is the degree to which the natural accent of the words in a particular period coincide or clash with the stresses required by the particular feet in a period. (For the former, cf.Aeneid 1.101, for the latter, cf.Aeneid 1.383.)
Caesura refers to a word-ending within a foot. If the caesura falls after the long syllable of a dactylic foot it is known as a strong or masculine caesura; if it falls after the short syllable it is known as a weak, feminine, or trochaic caesura. (The latter is rare in Vergil.) The dominant caesura may fall in the third or fourth foot (The third is more common in Vergil). Less often than a dominant break produced by a caesura, Vergil will allow word-ending and foot-ending to coincide; this phenomenon is known as diaeresis. If the diaeresis is in the fourth foot it is called a bucolic diaeresis because of its frequency in Greek and (to a lesser degree) Latin pastoral poetry.
Elision. Final syllables ending in a vowel, or in a vowel + m are usually elided before a word beginning with a vowel or h. The elided final syllable does not count as a syllable to be scanned. Hiatus is the failure to elide a syllable which could be elided. With the exception of final syllables in periods, and me, te, se, and iam , monosyllables (primarily interjections) are the only syllables which are not regularly elided in Latin poetry. (cf. Aeneid 1.16)
Hypermeteris when a period has an extra syllable ending in a vowel or m which is elided into the first word of the following period. cf. Aeneid 1.448. This phenomenon is most common with -que.
Length by position A vowel which is short by nature may count as long if the vowel is followed by two consonants (e.g., pactus). In this case one of the two consonants is taken with the vowel preceeding it and the other would be part of the following syllable (pac-tus). Hence, the first syllable would then be considered closed, and the vowel long "by position". The exception to this rule is when the consonant pair is a plosive (p, t, c, b, d, g) followed by a liquid (r, l) . When this is the case the syllable can be considered either "closed" and the vowel long (frat-ris), or "open" and short (fra-tris). When a vowel is followed by a plosive-liquid pair it is therefore said to be common.
Diastole This is the making of a usually short syllable long. The second syllables of mihi, tibi, sibi, ubi, and ibi are often lengthened in poetry. Vergil also occasionally (54 times in all) lengthens other syllables not usually lengthened (cf. Aeneid 1.308). There are only 54 "irregular" lengthenings in Vergil. The phenomenon is common in Homer, however, as well as attested--though not common--in earlier Latin authors, e.g., Ennius, and Lucretius; cf. Aeneid 1.651, 668.
Systole is the shortening of a usually long syllable; e.g., sometimes the e in the 3rd plural pefect ind. active ending -erunt is shortened. Rather than being simply arbitrary prosodic devices, diastole and systole are thought to represent earlier pronunciations of the words in question. (diastole being more common in Ennius and Lucretius).
Syncope is when a short vowel between to consonants is dropped, often to fit a word to metrical constraints; cf.Aeneid 1.54.
Synizesis is the union of two successive vowels which do not normally form a dipthong into one long syllable; cf.Aeneid 1.2 Lauiniaque.
Archaic 2nd declension gen. pl. endings The second declension genitive plural ending -orum , which replaced - um, was adopted by analogy to the first declension ending -arum. The monosyllabic archaic ending provided a metrically convenient alternative to the disyllabic ending that was in common use.
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