there is no violation of the iambic character, and consequently no reason against similar lines having been written; although from the average proportion of Greek words like [a]επεικασαι] and [a]ασπιδηστροποισιν], there is every reason for their being rare.
After the details just given the recapitulation is brief.
1. It was essential to the character of the senarius that the sixth syllable, or latter half of the third foot, should have an arsis, ictus metricus, or accent in the English sense. To this condition of the iambic rhythm the Greek tragedians, either consciously or unconsciously, adhered.
2. It was the character of the Greek language to admit an arsis on the last syllable of a word only under circumstances comparatively rare.
3. These two facts, taken together, caused the sixth syllable of a line to be anywhere rather than at the end of a word.
4. If followed by a single syllable in the same word, the result was a hephthimimer cæsura.
5. If followed by more syllables than one, some syllable in an earlier part of the line ended the word preceding, and so caused either a penthimìmer, a quasi-cæsura, or the occurrence of the third and fourth foot in the same word.
6. As these two last-mentioned circumstances were rare, the general phenomenon presented in the Greek senarius was the occurrence of either the penthimimer or hephthimimer.
7. Respecting these two sorts of cæsura, the rules, instead of being exhibited in detail, may be replaced by the simple assertion that there should be an arsis on the sixth syllable. From this the rest follows.