Æn. 4.—Tulerunt fastidia menses; the Penultima of the Verb short.
Obstupui steteruntque comæ—the same.
So Lucretius, prodiderunt, reciderunt, &c.
G. I. l. 283.—Pampinea gravidus autumno; an Iambick for a Spondee.
Fluviorum rex Eridanus camposque per omnes; an Anapest for a Dactyl, or a Spondee.}}
Æn. 10. l. 29. Nec Clytio genitore minor nec fratre Mnestheo; a Trochee, unless the two Consonants MN of the following Word be allow'd.
G. I. l. 456. Fervere, non illâ quisquam—
The Penultima commonly short with Virgil, so fulgere, stridere, &c.
G. I. l. 456.—Sine me furere ante furorem; a Græcism.
Æn. 12. l. 680. Imponere Pelio Ossam; a Græcism, where there is no Elision, but the long Vowel before another made short.
The Learned and Reverend Dr. Clark has observ'd, (as he tells me) that tho' there be several short Vowels made long in Homer, yet there is no Instance on the contrary, of any long Vowel (such as the first Syllable of τιμὴ ψυχὴ, ⟨νίκὴ⟩, and the like) ever made short, where no Vowel follows. Which shows that there is no such thing as a Poetica licentia, properly so call'd.
