Nōn quīvīs videt inmodulāta poēmata iūdex (H. _AP._ 263).
2561. The great flexibility of the hexameter makes it an admirable
vehicle of poetic expression. Accumulated spondees give the verse a slow
and ponderous movement: as in the line
Ill(ī) in|ter sē|sē ‖ ma|gnā vī | bracchia | tollunt
(V. _G._ 4, 174).
The multiplication of dactyls imparts to the verse a comparatively rapid
and impetuous motion, as in the famous verse
Quadrupe|dante pu|trem ‖ soni|tū quatit | ungula | campum
(V. 8, 596).
But even when dactyls are numerous, the Latin hexameter, “the stateliest
measure ever moulded by the lips of man,” should not be read with the
jerky 3/8 movement which is characteristic of the English hexameter.
2562. The following passage may serve to illustrate the movement of the
hexameter, and to show how the use of the different caesuras imparts
variety to the measure:
Ō soci|ī ‖ --nequ(e) e|n(im) īgnā|rī ‖ sumus | ante ma|lōrum--
ō pas|sī gravi|ōra, ‖ da|bit deus | hīs quoque | fīnem.
Vōs et | Scyllae|am ‖ rabi|em ‖ peni|tusque so|nantēs
accē|stis scopu|lōs, ‖ vōs | et Cȳ|clōpea | saxa
exper|tī; ‖ revo|cāt(e) ani|mōs, ‖ mae|stumque ti|mōrem
mittite: | forsan et | haec ‖ ō|lim ‖ memi|nisse iu|vābit.
(V. 1, 198).
Compare in English:
Rolls and rages amain the restless, billowy ocean,
While with a roar that soundeth afar the white-maned breakers
Leap up against the cliffs, like foemen madly rejoicing.