PROSODY.
§ 441. Latin Verse differs from Prose by a certain regular arrangement of long and short syllables: not as English verse by a regular arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables. There is no rhyme.
§ 442. Metrical quantity is quantity of syllables. Thus the quantity of este is metrically ¯ ˘, for though the first e is short like the second, the time occupied by the two consonants st makes the first syllable long.
It is wrong to say the vowel is long in such cases. See § 9.
General Rules of Metrical Quantity.
§ 443. Syllables containing a vowel or diphthong 'pronounced long are long. Syllables containing a vowel pronounced short are short, unless they are lengthened by Position.
h counts for nothing in determining quantity.
§ 444. Position.—1. Syllables containing a short vowel are long by Position if it is followed in the same word by x or z or any combination of consonants except pr, br, cr, gr, dr, tr, fr : pl, cl, fl. Thus este counts as ¯ ˘.
Before these combinations the syllable may be either short or long (Common), provided the vowel is short. Thus agrōs may count either as ˘ ¯ or as ¯ ¯.
2. Final syllables ending in a short vowel followed by a consonant are long by "Position," if the word ends and the next word begins with any consonant. Thus ab rē counts as ¯ ¯ .
Final syllables ending in a short vowel only, remain short, although the next word begins with two consonants. Thus pete trēs counts as ˘ ˘ ¯.
The poets, however, avoid placing a short vowel before a word beginning with x or z or sc, sq, sp, st.
§ 445. Elision.—When a word ending in a vowel, or diphthong, or a vowel followed by m, stands before another word beginning with a vowel or h, its last syllable is not counted in the verse, as ill(e) agit, ill(um) agit. See § 255.
Non-elision is called Hiatus. Interjections are not elided.
