You can now read the forms of Latin. This chapter teaches you to read their duration as well. In verse, a syllable is not merely stressed or unstressed: it is short or long, and that quantity builds rhythm.
1. Quantity belongs to the syllable
A syllable is long in three main situations:
- it contains a long vowel: mā-;
- it contains a diphthong: ae, oe, au, eu, ei, ui;
- it closes with a consonant: in nōbilium, the final syllable -um is long by position.
An open syllable with a short vowel is short. A macron therefore tells you about the vowel, but you must still look at where the syllable ends.
A short vowel may form a long syllable when two consonants follow. Vowel length and syllable quantity are not the same thing.
2. Divide before measuring
Begin by separating the syllables. A single consonant between vowels normally joins the second: a-mi-cus. Two consonants are usually divided: mit-to. Some groups which can begin a Latin word — br, cr, gr, tr — may remain together.
Always work in this order:
- divide the syllables;
- identify naturally long vowels and diphthongs;
- mark syllables closed by a consonant;
- only then look for feet.
3. The line links its words
When spoken, a line is not a row of separate blocks. A final consonant joins the following vowel: multus amīcus is read with the s opening the next syllable.
A final vowel often disappears before another vowel or h-; this is elision. The endings -am, -em, -im, -um follow the same rule. Keep every word in writing; only tighten their spoken connection.
4. Four feet to recognise
| foot | pattern | movement |
|---|---|---|
| trochaeus | — ∪ | long, short |
| iambus | ∪ — | short, long |
| dactylus | — ∪ ∪ | long, two shorts |
| spondēus | — — | two longs |
Say them aloud and accompany them with a gesture. The dactyl runs; the spondee walks heavily. This physical contrast is more useful than a memorised definition.
5. The hexameter
The hexameter has six feet. The first four may be dactyls or spondees. The fifth is normally a dactyl; the last is a spondee or trochee.
A useful pattern:
— ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | — ×
In the first four feet, the two shorts of a dactyl may be replaced by one long. The last syllable is free because the end of the line creates a pause of its own.
6. The pentameter
The pentameter divides sharply into two halves:
— ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | — ‖ — ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | —
Each half contains two and a half feet. After the central break, spondees no longer replace dactyls. A hexameter followed by a pentameter forms an elegiac couplet.
7. The hendecasyllable
The hendecasyllable contains eleven syllables. Its common movement is:
— — | — ∪ ∪ | — ∪ | — ∪ | — ×
The first foot sometimes varies, but the central dactyl gives the line its shape. Counting syllables is the first check here: if you do not find eleven after elisions, divide the words again.
8. A reading method
Do not try to perform the line first. Work through four passes:
- read the sentence for meaning;
- mark elisions;
- note the certain long syllables;
- place foot boundaries, then read naturally again.
Scansion is not a code laid over the text: it reveals the poet's choices. A group of spondees slows the line; several dactyls quicken it. You have not merely measured the verse — you have heard its movement.