112. UC-NRLF CNi O CI o l>- * 1* The Cursus in r fiediaeval and Vulear Latin By Albert G. Clark M,A. (A Paper read to the Oxford Philological Society on February 1 8 , 1 9 1 o) Price Two Shillings ?tet Oxford At the Clarendon Press 1910 GIFT OF JANE Ko^JATHER The Cursus in Mediaeval and Vulgar Latin By Albert C. Clark M.A. (A Paper read to the Oxford Philological Society on February 18,1910) ) > • 5 > ' '■ ' , ^ O > ' , V ,. ' •.< %,; i\^> *i o. ^' Oxford At the Clarendon Press 1910 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. PUBUSnBK TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK TORONTO AND MELBOURNE • ; . ; • • . . • . •v. .*;/.* :Tc- /.. PREFACE The first part of this paper contains an account of the mediaeval cursus drawn from various works, most of which are mentioned in \\^^V>\k:X\ogx2iy^\iy to v^y Pontes Prosae Numerosae (Oxford, 1909). I have also used with profit Rockinger's collection of documents in Quellen z. bayr. it. deutsch. Geschichte (Munchen,i863),and Gabrielli's valuable dissertation, ZV/ij/^/^ di Cola di Rienzo e Tepistolograjia medievale in Archivio della R, Soc. Rom. di Storia patria^ xi (1888). I need hardly say- that this portion of my paper does not claim to be more than a popular account of the results at which others have arrived, and I should not have thought of printing it but for certain suggestions about the influence of accent in earlier prose, which occurred to me when I was writing, and which, so far as I know, are new. As I wish to obtain the opinion of others upon these points, I venture to publish my paper, with a few corrections and additions. I should like to take this opportunity of remedying a very unfortunate omission in the Bibliography previously mentioned, viz. De clausulis Ciceronianis^ by J. Wolff, a pupil of Skutsch (1901). I was well acquainted with this very valuable work, which I have mentioned elsewhere {Classical Review, 1905, p. 165), and the omission was due to accident. I also regret that Bornecque's elaborate and learned work, Les clatisules nietriqnes latines^ was unknown to me. Among other writings which have since come into my hands are Skutsch's important article on Sprache^ Metrik und Rhythmus der Romer in ihren Wechselbeziehtmgen in Zeitschrift f. d. Gymn.- Wesen, 1 909, pp. 67-74, and four works by pupils of his, viz. K. Munscher, Die Rhythmen in Isokrates Panegyrikos (1908), V. Miinch, De Claustdis a Valerio Maximo adhibitis (1909), J. Gladisch, 238.164 • ••••••• • •<••■ De Clausulis Quintilianeis (1909), and the valuable edition of Firmicus Maternus by K. Ziegler (1908). I would also mention Lehnert's exhaustive Bericht iiber die rhetorische Liter atur bis 1906 in Bursian's Jahreshericht 1909 Band CXLII. I have also to correct a serious misprint in the Preface to the same work (p. 6). Zielinski's three Forms, if the molossus base is admitted in 2 and 3, come to 60 per cent., not 40 per cent. ALBERT C. CLARK. THE CURSUS IN MEDIAEVAL AND VULGAR LATIN The sophist Thrasymachus is chiefly known to us from the merciless caricatures of Plato. In the Phaedrus he is depicted as the * Chalce- donian giant who can put a whole company of people into a passion and out of it again by his mighty magic : and is first-rate at inventing or disposing of any sort of calumny on any grounds or none'. In the Republic he appears as a mere child in the hands of Socrates, and resorts to insolence in order to cover his discomfiture. No one could suspect that he was one of the greatest inventors in the field of litera- ture that the world has seen, who laid down the lines upon which prose was to develop for nearly two thousand years. We learn from Cicero, whose information is drawn from Theophras- tus, that Thrasymachus was the first person who deliberately introduced metrical cadences into prose for rhetorical effect. Previous writers had used such numeri by accident only : the pleasing result was noticed and certi cursus conclusionesque verhorum (Orat. 178) now became a part of rhetorical technique. We also learn from Suidas that Thrasymachus irpcoros TreptoBov koI kwXov KarcSct^c Koi Tov vvv rrj^ prjTopiKrj^ rpoTTov ilcrTjyrjcraTo. Greek writers use the term Ko/x/xa for a section of the kG^Xov. Cicero translates KOfx/xa by t'na'sum, kwXov by memdrum, and TrcptoSos by ambitus^ comprehension &c. There is a close connexion between this articulation of the sentence and the use of numeri. The theory of the period is that of a rise and a fall. Rough- ness is permissible as the sentence storms its way onward, but har- mony must be restored at the tcXcvtiJ. Later Greek writers use the suggestive term /cporo?, i. e. * beat ', for the end of the clause or sentence. The Latin word is clausula. Wherever the voice halts, a musical efi'ect is required. The numeri coincide with the beats and reveal the secret of ancient punctuation. The invention of Thrasymachus was supplemented by Gorgias, who introduced his well-known a-xnpxiTa, viz. laoKwXa, di/Tt^cra, and 6/aoio- TTTwra. These are considered by Cicero to form a part of the oratorical numerus?- The pvOixoi of Thrasymachus were combined with the arxrjixaTa of Gorgias by Isocrates, of whom Plutarch says that he spent a lifetime on his Panegyric, pasting together antitheses and balanced clauses with similar cadences, smoothing his periods with chisels and saws and making them musical (pv^/xt^wv).^ Demosthenes makes more sparing use of the a-xvf^oLTa than Isocrates, in whose prose they are so constant as to become monotonous, but greatly developed the use of pvOfxoL Thrasymachus had relied for effect upon the paean, a foot which was thought most suitable for prose, since it was little used in verse. DemxOsthenes preferred the cretic, which, as ancient writers point out, is metrically equivalent to the paean (i.e. — ^^ — is equal to — w wo or ww ^ —). The beginning of the De Corona tois ^cots €vxofj.ai Traa-L Kai became proverbial, and Dionysius of Halicar- nassus remarks that the proem in this, his most carefully written speech, is founded on the Kpr/rtKos pvO/xos.^ He also continually uses a cretic followed by a trochee or spondee (the final syllable being regarded as anceps by ancient metrists) and /xrySc to^cvt; is quoted by Quintilian as an example of his severa composition Other favourite endings with him were a double trochee or double spondee. Cicero held him up as an example to those who object to the use of numeric saying that his lightning was so brilliant because it was winged with numbers.' Subsequent writers, especially those connected with Asia, further developed the practice of Demosthenes. The double trochee now became the favourite pv0/x66s, tro^iav ri/xa, a7rdvTU)v dvdptoTruiVy SiaXeyovrat avdpwTroi. In the case of a long word like KjAXoTLfiov/xevo^, there is a minor accent on the third syllable before the last accent. The first two Forms, viz. aTras croc^os, ao^Lov rifia, have no analogies in Latin, since in it the last syllable is not accented : the second, viz. dTravrwv dvOpwiraiv, is identical with the cursus planus {^genus humdnum), and the third, viz. hiaXi- yovrai dvOpniTrot, with the tardus {bona remedid). This last Form, the double dactyl, corresponding to the old double cretic, e. g. ?i r LOAN 4JN CA.^^LJ[kii^ YjjQAf MR. r: < r^ '"? tx W^ V. O^ CALfF.. BERK, WI\Rga^S^Q/' -n 1 3 1976 1 IRVINE APR 15 1988 INTERLIBRARY LOAN Due end of WINTER Q-jar subject to rocQll Q ' -i4 IIBIKJUN 181907 ?f- -J i 72 4ttC& tn nTtn9.'^i'73-lPiSf UCLA IN T ERLIBRARY LOAN'^"'' "" 7 JUL 2 9 1975 REaciR. rra 6 "^8 LD21A-60to-6.'69 (J9096sl0)476-A-32 MAfV-i^SlSfc, fornia Berkeley Cjaulorci ; PAMPHLET BINDER Syracuse, N. Y. Stockton, Calif. u.c BERKELEY YC 0062L UBR^R^ts 600301^1^