or,
Ἡκω´ νεκρων κευθμωνα και σκοτου πυλας.
Παλαι´ κυνηγετουντα και μετρουμενον.
Ειπερ´ δικαιος εσθ' εμος τα πατροθεν.
Τινα´ς ποθ' ἑδρας τασδε μοι θοαζετε.
Second Foot.—In the second place, it is also a matter of indifference whether the foot be sounded as Aúgust or as augúst. In the first of the four lines quoted above we may say either νε´κρων or νεκρω´ν, without violating the rhythm of the verse.
Third Foot.—In this part of the senarius it is no longer a matter of indifference whether the foot be sounded as Aúgust or as augúst; that is, it is no longer a matter of indifference whether the arsis and the quantity coincide. In the circumstance that the last syllable of the third foot must be accented (in the English sense of the word), taken along with a second fact, soon about to be exhibited, lies the doctrine of the penthimimer and hepthimimer cæsuras.
The proof of the coincidence between the arsis and the quantity in the third foot is derived partly from a posteriori, partly from a priori evidence.
1. In the Supplices of Æschylus, the Persæ, and the Bacchæ, three dramas where licences in regard to metre are pre-eminently common, the number of lines wherein the sixth syllable (i. e., the last half of the third foot) is without an arsis, is at the highest sixteen, at the lowest five; whilst in the remainder of the extant dramas the proportion is undoubtedly smaller.
2. In all lines where the sixth syllable is destitute of ictus, the iambic character is violated: as