There is no doubt that in the Classical period of Greek the accented syllables were marked by a higher pitch or note than the unaccented, and not by more stress, not, that is, with a stronger current of breath and more muscular effort. Therefore, unless the student is capable of giving a musical value to the Greek signs of accent, it is doubtful whether he should attempt to represent them in pronunciation; for in many cases we should make our pronunciation more, not less remote from that of the Greeks themselves if we gave to their accented syllables the same stress as we do to the accented syllables in English; for example, in paroxytone dactyls (κεχρημένος) when the penult is stressed, the quantity of the long antepenult is apt to be shortened and its metrical value destroyed.[210] But where there is no conflict between accent and quantity (ἀγαθός), something may be said for stressing moderately the accented syllable, and so distinguishing e.g. καλῶς and κάλως, Διός and δῖος, ταὐτά and ταῦτα.[211]
Footnotes
[1] Regarded from this point of view, the Chronological Table given on page [50] is full of interest.
[2] Reference may also be made to pages [27]-29, [33], [34], [40]-55, [74]-85, [92]-95, [98] ff., [122]-127, [134]-137, [154]-167, [184]-193, [200]-207, [236]-241, [264]-281. Especially to be noticed is that warm praise of simplicity (pp. [76]-85, [134]-137) which should suffice to prove that Dionysius is not a ‘rhetorician’ in any invidious sense.
[3] See Glossary, s.v. σύνθεσις.
[4] de Isocrate c. 2, δουλεύει γὰρ ἡ διάνοια πολλάκις τῷ ῥυθμῷ τῆς λέξεως, καὶ τοῦ κομψοῦ λείπεται τὸ ἀληθινόν ... βούλεται δὲ ἡ φύσις τοῖς νοήμασιν ἕπεσθαι τὴν λέξιν, οὐ τῇ λέξει τὰ νοήματα.
[5] The Greek word (κεφάλαια, capita) corresponding to ‘chapters’ occurs several times in the C.V. (see Glossary, s.v.); and one (περιοχή) of the words corresponding to ‘paragraph’ is found in the de Thucyd. c. 25. The paramount importance and dignity of the πραγματικὸς τόπος is indicated in the C.V. [66] 9-15, and in the de Demosth. c. 58 fin.
[6] Quintilian (Inst. Or. ix. 4. 23) applies the term naturalis ordo to such collocations as viros ac feminas, diem ac noctem, ortum et occasum. But even here the order, though perhaps natural, is certainly not necessary.
[7] A good example of the severance of χρόνος from its article by an adjectival phrase will be found in the C. V. itself, [222] 22: ἡμιφώνῳ γὰρ ἄφωνον συνάπτεται τῷ ν̄ τὸ τ̄ καὶ διαβέβηκεν ἀξιόλογον διάβασιν ὁ μεταξὺ τοῦ τε προσηγορικοῦ τοῦ “πανδαίδαλον” καὶ τῆς συναλοιφῆς τῆς συναπτομένης αὐτῷ χρόνος. The convenience of this articular bracket is obvious.