Spargēns ūmida mella ‖ sopōriferumque papāver (V. 4, 486).
[2559.] The diaeresis (see [2542]) after the fourth foot (often called “bucolic diaeresis” from its use by pastoral writers) sometimes occurs, but is much less common in Latin hexameters than in Greek. An example is
Dīc mihi, Dāmoetā, ‖ cuium pecus? # An Meliboeī? (V. E. 3, 1).
This diaeresis, though common in Juvenal, is rare in most of the Latin poets (even the bucolic), and when it does occur, it is usually accompanied by a penthemimeral caesura. Lucian Mueller and others deny that the bucolic diaeresis ever forms the principal break in a line.
[2560.] When a line has several caesuras, it is often hard to determine which is the principal one. In general, masculine caesuras out-rank feminine; the penthemimeral takes precedence over the hephthemimeral, and the latter over all other caesuras. But if the hephthemimeral, or even one of the minor caesuras, coincides with an important pause in the sentence, it may out-rank the penthemimeral. Thus in the verse
Paulāt(im) adnābam ‖ terrae; ‖ iam tūta tenēbam (V. 6, 358),
the principal caesura is after terrae, not adnābam.
Lines without a principal caesura are rare. An instance is
Nōn quīvīs videt inmodulāta poēmata iūdex (H. AP. 263).
[2561.] The great flexibility of the hexameter makes it an admirable vehicle of poetic expression. Accumulated spondees give the verse a slow and ponderous movement: as in the line