Abstract

AbstractThe Law of Hermann and Lachmann stipulates that in the iambo-trochaic verses of Roman drama the two shorts of a resolved element must not be the final syllables of a trisyllabic or longer word. The exceptions are covered by the ‘rule for places with licence’ (‘norma delle sedi con licenza’), for which a redefined and extended version is given in this paper. Its purpose is to show that a dactylic word can be placed behind the penthemimeral caesura in the iambic senarius. The paper discusses the transmitted evidence for this licence and argues that the place after the penthemimeral caesura in the iambic senarius corresponds to the place after the median diaeresis in the trochaic septenarius, a well established licence-place which permits dactylic words.

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