Institutio Oratoria
Quintilian
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.
Ut adeas, tantum dabis would be a bad conclusion, for it forms the last portion of an iambic trimeter: but it is followed by ut cibum vestitumque introferre liceat, tantum: [*](Verr. V. xliv. 118. To see him, you will pay so much, and so much to bring in food and clothing. No one refused. ) the rhythm is still abrupt but is strengthened and supported by the last phrase of all, nemo recusabat.
The appearance of a complete verse in prose has a most uncouth effect, but even a portion of a verse is ugly, especially if the last half of a verse occurs in the cadence of a period or the first half at the beginning. The reverse order may on the other hand often be positively pleasing, since at times the first half of a verse will make an excellent conclusion, provided that it does not cover more than a few syllables.
This is especially the case with the senarnis or octonarius. [*]( senarius= iambic trimeter. octonarius here = trochaic tetrameter, not iambic tetrameter. ) In Aliica fuisse is the opening of a senarius and closes the first clause of the pro Ligario: esse videatur, with which we are now only too familiar as a conclusion, is the beginning of an ocionarius. Similar effects are to be found in Demosthenes, as for example πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις and πᾶσιν ὑμῖν and throughout almost the whole exordium of that speech. [*](De Cor. I. ) The ends of verses are also excellently suited to the beginning of a period:
etsi vereor,