Patulæ tu Tityre, &c.,
and he will be shocked. He will also believe that the shock fell on his ear. Yet his ear was unhurt. No sense was offended. The thing which was shocked was his knowledge of the rules of prosody—nothing more. To English ears there is no such a thing as quantity—not even in hexameters and pentameters. There is no such thing as quantity except so far as it is accentual also. Hence come the following phænomena—no less true than strange,—viz. (1) that any classical metre written according to the rules of quantity gives (within certain narrow limits) a regular recurrence of accents; and (2) that, setting aside such shocks as affect our knowledge of the rules of prosody, verses written according to their accents only give metrical results. English hexameters (such as they are) are thus written.
In the inferences from these remarks there are two assumptions: 1st, that the old-fashioned mode of pronunciation be adhered to; 2nd, that when we pronounce Greek and Latin words as they are pronounced in the recitation of Greek and Latin poetry, we are as accurate as we need be. It is by means of these two assumptions that we pronounce Tityre and patulæ alike; and I argue that we are free to do so. As far as the ear is concerned, the a is as long as the i, on the strength of the double t which is supposed to come after it. It does not indeed so come; but if it did, the sound would be the same, the quantity different (for is not patulæ pronounced pattule?). It would be a quantity, however, to the eye only.
This pronunciation, however, may be said to be exploded; for do not most men under fifty draw the distinction which is here said to be neglected? Do not the majority make, or fancy they make, a distinction between the two words just quoted? They may or they may not. It is only certain that, subject to the test just indicated, it is immaterial what they do. Nine-tenths of the best modern Latin verses were written under the old system—a system based not upon our ear, but on our knowledge of certain rules.
Now it is assumed that the accuracy sufficient for English Latin is all the accuracy required. Ask for more, and you get into complex and difficult questions respecting the pronunciation of a dead language. Do what we will, we cannot, on one side, pronounce the Latin like the ancient Romans. Do what we will, so long as we keep our accents right, we cannot (speaking Latin after the fashion of Englishmen) err in the way of quantity—at least, not to the ear. A short vowel still gives a long syllable; for the consonant which follows it is supposed to be doubled.
Let it be admitted, then, that, for practical purposes, Tityre and patulæ may be pronounced alike, and the necessity of a large class of marks is avoided. Why write, as the first word in the book is written, Papiliō´nidæ? Whether the initial syllable be sounded papp- or pape- is indifferent. So it is whether the fourth be uttered as -own-, or -onn-. As far as the ear is concerned, they are both long, because the consonant is doubled. In Greek, [a]πᾰππιλλιόννιδαι] is as long as [a]πᾱππιλλιόννιδαι].
Then comes Machā´on, where the sign of quantity is again useless, the accent alone being sufficient to prevent us saying either Mákkaon or Makaón. The a is the a in fate. We could not sound it as the a in fat if we would.
Pīeridæ.—What does the quantity tell us here? That the i is pronounced as the i in the Greek [a]πίονος], rather than as the i in the Latin pius. But, in English Latin, we pronounce both alike. Surely Pī´eris and Pie´ridæ tell us all that is needed.
Cratæ´gī.—Whether long or short, the i is pronounced the same.
Sinā´pis, Rā´pæ, and Nā´pi.—The ( ¯ ) here prevents us from saying Ráppæ and Náppi. It would certainly be inelegant and unusual to do so. Tested, however, by the ear, the words ráppæ and náppi take just the same place in an English Latin verse as rápe-æ and nápe-i. Is any one likely to say sináppis? Perhaps. There are those who say Dianna for Diana. It is very wrong to do so—wrong, not to say vulgar. For the purposes of metre, however, one is as good as the other; and herein (as aforesaid) lies the test. The real false quantities would be Diana and sinnapis; but against these the accent protects us. Nor is the danger of saying sináppis considerable. Those who say Diánna are those who connect it with Anna and would, probably, spell it with two n's.