Kitap 9
2.74
etsi vereor, iudices, pro Mil. i. Both quotations give the end of an iambic trimeter. for example and animadverti, iudices. pro cluent. i. 1. Both quotations give the end of an iambic trimeter. But the opening feet of a verse are not suited to the opening phrases of prose: Livy provides an example of this in his preface, which begins with the first half of a hexameter, 'Facturusne operae premium sim:' for these are the words as he wrote them, and they are better so than as they have been corrected. MSS. of Livy read sim operate pretium: there is evidence to show that this may be due to corruption rather than to correction such as Quintilian describes. Again,
2.75
the cadence of a verse is not suitable to the cadence of a period: compare the phrase of Cicero, Quo me vertam, nescio, pro Lig. i. 1, pro Cluent. i. 4. which is the end of a trimeter. It matters not whether we speak of a trimeter or of a senarius, since the line has six feet and three beats. The end of a hexameter forms a yet worse conclusion; compare the following passage from the letters of Brutus: neque illi malunt halbere tutores aut defensores, quoniam causam sciunt placuiisse Catoni. They ask for no guardians or defenders since they know that the cause has won the approval of Cato.
