In Sentence IV agnă, in VI cervă, in VIII iunctă columbă, in IX Cynthiă are all short and nom. sing.
In Sentence V umbrā unā are long and abl. sing. in agreement.
(2) A help to the poet’s meaning.—The more you know of the principles of scansion, the better able you will be to understand and appreciate the skill with which a great poet varies his metre and chooses his words.
[11.] Help through a Study of the Period in Latin.—One great difference between English and Latin Prose is that, while modern English is to a great extent a language of short, detached sentences, Latin expresses the sense by the passage as a whole, and holds the climax in suspense until the delivery of the last word. ‘This mode of expression is called a PERIOD (a circuĭtus or ambĭtus verborum), because the reader, in order to collect together the words of the Principal Sentence, must make a circuit, so to say, round the inserted clauses,’[2] ‘Latin possesses what English does not, a mode of expression by means of which, round one main idea are grouped all its accessory ideas, and there is thus formed a single harmonious whole, called the PERIOD.’[3]
A PERIOD then is a sentence containing only one main idea (the Principal Sentence) and several Subordinate Clauses. The Periodic style is generally used for History and Description, and is best seen in Cicero and Livy.
The following is a good example of the Period in Latin:—
| [4]VOLSCI exiguam spem in armis, alia undique abscissa, cum tentassent, praeter cetera adversa loco quoque iniquo ad pugnam congressi, iniquiore ad fugam, cum ab omni parte caederentur, ad preces a certamine versi, dedito imperatore traditisque armis, sub iugum missi, cum singulis vestimentis ignominiae cladisque pleni DIMITTUNTUR. | The VOLSCIANS found that now they were severed from every other hope, there was but little in prolonging the conflict. In addition to other disadvantages they had engaged on a spot ill-adapted for fighting and worse for flight. Cut to pieces on every side they abandoned the contest and cried for quarter. After surrendering their commander and delivering up their arms, they passed under the yoke, and with one garment each WERE SENT to their homes covered with disgrace and defeat. |
Notice here that
(1) There is only one main idea, that of the ignominious return of the Volscians to their homes.
(2) The rest describes the attendant circumstances of the surrender and of the causes that led to it.