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Meters of Horace

Sapphic Meter

Scansion example for Ode I.22 (click to open poem in a new window). The example here is from the first stanza (lines 1 -4).

• The first three lines (Integer ... sagittis) have eleven syllables each, grouped into two pairs of four syllables around three syllables and a dactyl
• The fourth and last syllable may be long or short. This is called an anceps
• The final line has two metrons (feet): the first is a dactyl (- u u) and the second can be either a spondee (- -) or a trochee (- u)
• Usual paradigm of a Sapphic line:
  - u | - - | - u u | - u | - u
  Sometimes there is a diaeresis after the fifth or sixth syllable. When there is a diaeresis, it can produce the following line:
  - u | - - | -|| u u | - u | - u
  (It is possible to have an anapest here (u u -) which is not very common. The diaeresis indictes a pause at the end of a word that coincides with the end of a metrical foot)
• First line of Ode I.22, note the diaeresis:
  

  -	u	|	-	-	|	-	||	u	u	|	-	u	|	-	x
  in	te	|	ger	vi	|	tae	||	sce	ler	|	is	que	|	pur	us

  • The 'i' in in is long because a double consonant immediately follows it
  • The 'vi' in vitae is long by nature
  • The 'tae' in vitae is a dipthong and therefore long
  • The 'is' in scelerisque is long because a double consonant follows ('qu' is treated as one consonant for purposes of scansion, and does not make a prceding syllable long, unless it is joined with another consonant, as is the case here in scelerisque)
  • The first 'u' in purus is long by nature
• Second line of Ode I.22:

  -	u	|	-	-	|	-	||	u	u	|	-	u	|		-     x
  non	e	|	get	mau	|	ris	||	ia	cu	|	lis	ne	|	que	arcu

  • Note the elision in the last foot
  • The initial 'i' in iaculis is consonantal and should not be considered as a serparate syllable (think of it as a 'j')
• Third line:
  

  -	u	|	-	-	|	-	||	u	u	|	-	u	|	-	x
  nec	ven	|	en	at	|	tis	||	gra	vi	|	da	sa	|	git	tis

• Fourth line:
  

  -	u	|	u	-	|	x
  fus	ce	|	pha	re	|	tra

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