45 nāvita), quaeque diu steterant in montibus altīs,

1

Communemque prius ceu lūmina sōlis et aurās

1

2

4

cautus humum longo signāvit limite mēnsor.

1

2

4

5

6

50 pōscēbātur humus, sed itum est in viscera terrae;

2

4

5

6

By omitting the arsis of the third and sixth feet of the dactylic hexameter, we get the so-called dactylic entameter. In the first half of the verse the spondee

may be substituted for the dactyl in any foot, but in the second half no substitution is allowed. There is a fixed diaeresis in the middle of the verse, and usually a caesura in the second foot.

the forms allowed in this verse:

The following shows

The pentameter alternates with the hexameter to form the elegiac distich, the meter used by Ovid in most of his works.

EXERCISE IN SCANSION

Selection xxiv of this book is here given in full for practice in scanning the elegiac distich :

Forsitan et quaerās | cūr sit locus ille Lupercal,

5 Is iubet auferrī || parvōs || et in amne necārī.

။

3

4

5

6

flent tamen, et geminōs in loca iūssa ferunt.

Hic, ubi nunc fora sunt, lintrīs errāre vidērēs,

quaque iacent vallēs, || Māxime Circe, tuae.

longlas, ex iis qus et alter ait:

15. “At quam sunt similes! At quam föōrmõsus uterque!

20

Plus tamen ex iis iste viggris habet.

5

Si genus arguitur voltų,, nisi fallit imāgō,

3

nésolo quem vobis susploer esse deum.”

3

“At si quis vestrae deus esset originis auctor,

“Ferret opem certe,, si nën ope måter egeret,

1

3

quae fact est ünö, måter et orba die.

Nāta simul, moritura simul, simul îte sub undās

1

3

6

||

6

6

Venit ad expositōs (mirum !) lupa fêta gemellōs.

6

35 Non nocuisse parum est; prodest quoque. Quos lupa

3

5

1

2

nutrit,

Illa loco || nōmen fecit, locus ipse Lupercīs.

1

2

3

4

5

6

"Ferret opem certē,`" sī nōn ope māter egēret,

||

2

3

4

5

6

6

Nāta simul, moritūra simul, simul īte sub undās

1

corpora!"

1

5

6

6

Sēnsisse putārēs.

5

in sua tecta genīs.

3

4

6

Venit ad expositōs (mīrum!) lupa fēta gemellōs.

1

2

4

5

6

1

2

nutrit,