2473. For hiatus within a word, and the means by which it is avoided,
see 114-120.
2474. Hiatus between two words is much more common in old Latin than in
writers of the classical period. The precise extent to which it is
allowed by the early dramatists is matter of dispute. The following
cases may be mentioned in which the Latin poets admit hiatus:
2475. (1.) After interjections: as, #hahahae homo#, T. _Ph._ 411; #ō et
praesidium#, H. 1, 1, 2.
2476. (2.) After proper names, and words of Greek origin: as, #ancillam
ferre Venerī aut Cupīdinī#, Pl. _As._ 804; #Thrēiciō Aquilōne#, H.
_Epod._ 13, 3.
2477. (3.) In the principal caesura of a verse. So especially in Plautus
and Terence after the fourth foot of the iambic septenarius, and in
Plautus in the principal break in the iambic octonarius, trochaic
septenarius and trochaic octonarius.
2478. (4.) Often in the dramatists where there is a change of speakers:
as, #quī potuit vidēre? :: oculīs :: quō pactō? :: hiantibus#, Pl.
_Merc._ 182.
2479. (5.) Probably sometimes in cases of repetition, enumeration, or
sharp antithesis, and where there is an important pause in the sense:
as, #eam volt meretrīcem facere: ea mē dēperit#, Pl. _Cur._ 46; #sī
pereō, hominum manibus periisse iuvābit#, V. 3, 606.
2480. Vergil sometimes admits hiatus when the final syllable ending in a
vowel is preceded or followed (or both) by two short syllables: as,
#lāmentīs gemitūque et fēmĭnĕō ŭlŭlātū#, V. 4, 667.