B. Quantity of Syllables.
Syllables are distinguished as long or short according to the length of time required for their pronunciation.
1. A syllable is long,[[7]]—
a) if it contains a long vowel; as, māter, rēgnum, dīus.
b) if it contains a diphthong; as, causae, foedus.
c) if it contains a short vowel followed by x, z, or any two consonants (except a mute with l or r); as, axis, gaza, restō.
2. A syllable is short, if it contains a short vowel followed by a vowel or by a single consonant; as, mea, amat.
3. Sometimes a syllable varies in quantity, viz. when its vowel is short and is followed by a mute with l or r, i.e. by pl, cl, tl; pr, cr, tr, etc.; as, ăgrī, volŭcris.[[8]] Such syllables are called common. In prose they were regularly short, but in verse they might be treated as long at the option of the poet.
NOTE.—These distinctions of long and short are not arbitrary and artificial, but are purely natural. Thus, a syllable containing a short vowel followed by two consonants, as ng, is long, because such a syllable requires more time for its pronunciation; while a syllable containing a short vowel followed by one consonant is short, because it takes less time to pronounce it. In case of the common syllables, the mute and the liquid blend so easily as to produce a combination which takes no more time than a single consonant. Yet by separating the two elements (as ag-rī) the poets were able to use such syllables as long.
ACCENT.
[6]. 1. Words of two syllables are accented upon the first; as, tégit, mō´rem.
2. Words of more than two syllables are accented upon the penult (next to the last) if that is a long syllable, otherwise upon the antepenult (second from the last); as, amā´vī, amántis, míserum.