In Saturnian verses, a line of verse has seven feet, divided by a central caesura. The basic rhythm is trochaic; the unstressed syllables are weak, and may be dropped, or an extra weak syllable added; the weak syllables are usually are dropped in front of the caesura. A line from Naevius illustrates the form:
/ / / / | / / / Subegit omne Loucana | opsidesque abdoucit
(He conquered all of Lucania and drove away the beseigers.)
The form could be illustrated in English by the line:
/ / / / | / / / There was a man in our town, | wondrous wise and cunning.
The Saturnian metre fell out of use in Latin literature after the introduction of the hexameter and other Greek forms.
Search Encyclopedia
|
Featured Article
|