Institutio Oratoria

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,

the cadence of a verse is not suitable to the cadence of a period: compare the phrase of Cicero, Quo me vertam, nescio, [*](pro Lig. i. 1, pro Cluent. i. 4. ) which is the end of a trimeter. It matters not whether we speak of a trimeter or of a senarius, since the line has six feet and three beats. The end of a hexameter forms a yet worse conclusion; compare the following passage from the letters of Brutus: neque illi malunt halbere tutores aut defensores, quoniam causam sciunt placuiisse Catoni. [*]( They ask for no guardians or defenders since they know that the cause has won the approval of Cato. )

Iambic endings are less noticeable, because that metre is near akin to prose. Consequently such lines often slip from us unawares: they are specially common in Brutus as a result of his passion for severity of style; they are not infrequent in Asinius, and are sometimes even found in Cicero, as for example at the very beginning of his speech against Lucius Piso: Pro di immortales, qui hic nunc illuxit dies? [*]( An iambic trimeter. Immortal gods, what day is this has dawned? )

Equal care must however be taken to avoid any phrase of a definitely metrical character, such as the following passage from Sallust: Falso queritur de natura sua. [*](Jug. I. The human race complains of its own nature without reason. Last five feet of iambic trimeter! ) For although the language of prose is bound by certain laws, it should appear to be free. None the less Plato, despite the care which he devotes to his rhythm, has not succeeded in avoiding this fault at

where we are met at the very outset with the opening of a hexameter, which is followed by a colon which can be scanned as an Anacreontic, or if you like, as a trimeter, while it is also possible to form what the Greeks call a πενθημιμερὲς (that is a portion of the hexameter composed of two feet and a part of a third): and all these instances occur within the space of three lines. Again Thucydides has allowed to slip from his pen a phrase of the most effeminate rhythm in ὑπὲρ ἥμισυ Κᾶρες ἐφάνησαν [*]( I, 8. Quintilian probably treats this as Sotadean or reminiscent of Sotadean rhythm. )