_Si vero Viciam seres_--
the Reader would have understood him without going any farther; and it
is easily perceiv'd the Verse would have been very flat to what it is
now. This double Use of the Particles gives Strength to the Verse;
because, as the Excellent _Erythræus_ observes, the copulative
Conjunctions are in Language of the same Use as Nerves in the Body,
they serve to connect the Parts together; so that these Sorts of
Verses which we are speaking of may be very properly called, Nervous
Lines.
This Art _Virgil_ most certainly learnt from _Homer_: for there is
nothing more remarkable in _Homer_'s Versification, nothing to which
the Majesty of it is more owing, than this very thing, and I wonder
none of his Commentators (that I have seen) have taken notice of it.
There are four in the 23 first Lines of the Iliad, of this Kind. I
will put the _Latin_ for the sake of the generality of Readers.
_Atrides_que, _rex virorum,_ et _nobilis Achilles.
Redempturus_que _filiam, ferens_que _infinitum pretium liberationis,
Atridæ_que, et _alii bene ocreati Achivi,
Reverendum_que _esse sacerdotem,_ et _splendidum accipiendum
pretium_.
Clarke's _Translation_.
VI. I come now to the _Collocatio Verborum_, of which there is no
occasion to give any more than one Instance:
"_Vox quoque per lucos vulgo exaudita silentes_
Ingens.--
The Reader cannot but perceive that the Manner of placing _Ingens_ has
a wonderful Effect; it makes him hear the melancholy Voice _groan
through the Grove_.