[34] Alberic’s _Rationes dictandi_ are printed in Rockinger, I. 9-28, and
are followed by _Albericus de dictamine_, 29-46.
[35] _Liber pontificalis_, 162, vol. II. 311, as translated by Poole (84)
in context. The Chancellor was afterward (1118-1119) Pope Gelasius II.
[36] The key phrases are Clark’s (10), repeated by Poole (90). The
grave accent in the last indicates that at this point there is often a
secondary, lighter stress.
_Tardus_ is called _ecclesiasticus_ in a thirteenth-century work quoted
by Thurot, 482.
A fourth form, _trispondiacus_ (Vacandard, 72, 89), is regarded by Croll
(2) as a modification of _velox_.
For correctness of cadence as a mark of authenticity see the passage from
Pierre de Blois quoted by Langlois, NE 34, part 2: 26.
The best English summary of the technic of _cursus_ is Poole, Chapter
IV, which also reviews Valois, Havet, W. Meyer, and Clark. The best
indication of the significance of _cursus_ is Croll; for though this
essay is directed to a later period, it reviews medieval habit and
through English examples exhibits the influence of _cursus_ in the
development of vernacular prose rhythm.
[37] _Reg._ VI. 105, June 30, 1203, as quoted and pointed by Poole (97),
who thus prints the whole mandate.
[38] _Ep._ VI. 6; Toynbee, 75; pointed by Clark, 20. Both record W.
Meyer’s emendation for _cursus_, _puníta_ (for _Púnica_, a former corrupt
reading). The _cursus_ in John of Salisbury’s _Ep._ 221 are followed
in the translation above, page 209. The text begins as follows: “Fáma
vulgánte (_plan._) didicimus vos et dominum Ottonem sanctæ Romanæ
Ecclesiæ diáconum càrdinálem (_vel._) ad preces illustris domini nostri
regis Anglórum (_plan._) ex mandato dómini pápæ (_plan._) in partes
Aquitániæ dèscendísse (_vel._) ut auctore Deo, si fieri potest, Anglicanæ
Ecclesiæ debitam reddatis libertatem (not conformed) et inter dominum
regem et Cantuariensem archiepiscopum pacem et concórdiam rèformétis
(_vel._). A magnis etiam et a venerabilibus víris audítum est (_tard._)
quod præfatus dominus noster rex adeo de amore véstro confídit (_plan._)
ut consilio vestro in omnibus obtemperáre decréverit” (_tard._).
[39] For this see Vacandard’s historical review.
[40] Pointed by Croll (27), who compares the English versions of this and
of other collects in the Book of Common Prayer.
[41] If the second measure could have ended on _mýsteries of thy bódy_,
it would have conformed.
[42] See above, Chapter IV. C.
[43] See above, pages 111, 184.
[44] _Candelabrum_, describing French interpretation of prose rhythms
by metrical terms, says: “Nor do they consider those feet according
to shortness or length, but according to number of syllables and
word-habit.” The whole passage is quoted by Thurot (484), who notes
its correspondence to Maître Guillaume (quoted at 481): “The feet used
in verse are three, dactyl, spondee, trochee. In _dictamen_, however,
we use two, spondee and dactyl. Nor are the feet to be measured by
length and shortness, but by the run (_cursus_) of the words. For every
dissyllable, whether long or short, is a spondee; and a trisyllable
with a short penult is a dactyl.” Ponce (quoted also at 481) lays down
the same principle. The _cursus_, that is, was determined by the number
of unstressed syllables between word-accents. The old terminology
of quantitative metric was kept, partly because it was conveniently
familiar, partly because the new rhythms were legitimate descendants of
the old. But the abeyance of quantity could not be more clearly indicated
than by the dictators’ habit of calling every dissyllable a spondee.