6. Cp. Demetr. de Eloc. § 72 ἐν δὲ τῷ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ χαρακτῆρι σύγκρουσις παραλαμβάνοιτ’ ἂν πρέπουσα ἤτοι διὰ μακρῶν, ὡς τὸ “λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε.” καὶ γὰρ ὁ στίχος μῆκός τι ἔσχεν ἐκ τῆς συγκρούσεως, καὶ μεμίμηται τοῦ λίθου τὴν ἀναφορὰν καὶ βίαν. So Eustathius: τὸ δὲ “λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον” ἐπαινεῖται χάριν τῆς συνθήκης. ἐμφαίνει γὰρ τὴν δυσχέρειαν τοῦ τῆς ὠθήσεως ἔργου τῇ τῶν φωνηέντων ἐπαλληλίᾳ, δι’ ὧν ὀγκούντων τὸ στόμα οὐκ ἐᾶται τρέχειν ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ’ ὀκνηρὰ βαίνει συνεξομοιούμενος τῇ ἐργωδίᾳ τοῦ ἄνω ὠθεῖν. The Homeric passage is imitated in Pope’s Essay on Criticism, “When Ajax strives some rock’s vast weight to throw, | The line too labours, and the words move slow.”—For the effect of the long unblended vowels cp. the first of Virgil’s two well-known lines, “ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam | scilicet, atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum” (Georg. i. 282).
15. It is not easy to see how this result is reached. Perhaps in l. 5 the last syllable of ἤτοι is counted long for the purpose of the argument. A perception of the difficulty may have led to the omission of μακραί in F.
18. The meaning is: ‘either by repetition of vowels [ἄλγε’ ἔχοντα, λᾶαν] or by the juxtaposition of semi-vowels and mutes [with the semi-vowels first: μὴν Σίσυφον, εἰσεῖδον κρατερά, λᾶαν βαστάζοντα].’—In [204] 15 the words πέδονδε κυλίνδετο may be taken to express the ‘bumps’ of the stone as it rolls down.
22. Cp. Quintil. ix. 4. 98 “est enim quoddam in ipsa divisione verborum latens tempus, ut in pentametri medio spondeo, qui nisi alterius verbi fine alterius initio constat, versum non efficit.”—The effect of the short syllables in counterfeiting delay may be illustrated by Cic. pro Milone 11. 28 “paulisper, dum se uxor, ut fit, comparat, commoratus est.”
γραμμάτων παράθεσις τὰ διαλείμματα τῆς ἐνεργείας καὶ τὰς
ἐποχὰς καὶ τὸ τοῦ μόχθου μέγεθος· οἱ ῥυθμοὶ δ’ ἐν μήκει
θεωρούμενοι τὴν ἔκτασιν τῶν μελῶν καὶ τὸν διελκυσμὸν τοῦ
κυλίοντος καὶ τὴν τοῦ πέτρου ἔρεισιν. καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα οὐ
φύσεώς ἐστιν αὐτοματιζούσης ἔργα ἀλλὰ τέχνης μιμήσασθαι 5
πειρωμένης τὰ γινόμενα, τὰ τούτοις ἑξῆς λεγόμενα δηλοῖ. τὴν
γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς κορυφῆς ἐπιστρέφουσαν πάλιν καὶ κατακυλιομένην
πέτραν οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν ἡρμήνευκε τρόπον, ἀλλ’ ἐπιταχύνας τε
καὶ συστρέψας τὴν σύνθεσιν· προειπὼν γὰρ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ
σχήματι 10
ἀλλ’ ὅτε μέλλοι
ἄκρον ὑπερβαλέειν
ἐπιτίθησι τοῦτο
τότ’ ἐπιστρέψασκε κραταιίς·
αὖτις ἔπειτα πέδονδε κυλίνδετο λᾶας ἀναιδής. 15