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Virgilian Assonance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Roland G. Austin
Roland G. Austin
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
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Extract

In the Classical Quarterly for April, 1927, I tried to show how Virgil, in his fourth Eclogue, introduced assonance and even rhyme to contribute in part to the ‘Sibylline’ atmosphere of the poem. Since then I have further investigated this question of assonance in Virgil's poetry, with what appear interesting results.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 1929 , pp. 46 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1929

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References

page 46 note 1 Cf. Sedgwick, W. B., The Origin of Rhyme, in Revue Benedictine XXXVI. (1924), pp. 330 sqqCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 46 note 2 Zur Geschichte des Reims, Schriften, Kleinere Bd. IV., 125 sqq. (Gütersloh, 1887)Google Scholar.

page 46 note 3 Der Reim bei den Griechen und Rb'mern (Leipzig, 1892Google Scholar.

page 46 note 4 Rhymes and Assonances in the Aeneid, , C. R., 1896, pp. 9 sqqGoogle Scholar.

page 46 note 5 Antike Kunstprosa, Appendix to Vol. II.: throughout this paper unspecified references to Norden apply to this work.

page 47 note 1 Antiks Kunstprosa, Bd. II., p. 841.

page 47 note 2 Christian Latin Poetry, p. 24.

page 48 note 1 Johnstone, I.c., quotes a number of these, but with no classification.

page 48 note 2 Incidentally the prevalence of the i-sound suggests that in line 92 urbis should be read with gentis, and not urbes.

page 48 note 3 This speech differs entirely in manner both from the purely narrative speeches of the Sibyl in this book, e.g. 125–55, 322–30, where there is little or no assonance, and from the long description in 562 sqq., where there is assonance but not prophecy.

page 49 note 1 This is the ‘que’ type, often too marked to be anything but intentional; cf. Aen. I. 210–16, III. 464–8, V. 671–3, VII. 179–81, XI. 346–9.etc.

page 50 note 1 Virgil could certainly have avoided this amazing sequence had he thought it undesirable; he could at least have transposed inprobus and piscibus. For a similar series of ablatives in this position cf. Ed. V. 31–33; G. II. 110–11, 330–1, IV. 2625, 305–6, etc.

page 50 note 2 Cf. G. IV. 204; Aen. II. 771, V. 583, VI. 518, 657, VIII. 584, XI. 190, XII. 55, 655.

page 52 note 1 It may be of interest if I add here the following leonines: limus ut hie durescit et haec ut cera liquescit (Ed. VIII. 80). ad terrain misere aut ignibus aegra dedere (Aen. II. 566). rite secundarent uisus omenque leuarent (Aen. III. 36). nusquam amittebat, oculosque sub astra tene-bat (Aen. V. 853). [ardua cernebant iuuenes muroque subibant (Aen. VII. 161).] funera; caedebant pariter pariterque ruebant (Aen. X. 756). Mnesthea Sergestumque uocat fortemque Se-restum (Aen. XII. 561).

page 53 note 1 Mon. Germ. Hist., Poet. Kar., III. 724.

page 54 note 1 There is a similar ‘chiming’ couplet in Oppian 1.6–7: νύμϕη άριστοπΣσεια;, λεχὼ δ τε καλλιτΣκεια , σσνρίη’ νθέρεια, κα οὐ λείπονσα Σελήνη … (Norden has a long list of remarkable passages from this writer.)

page 54 note 2 Migne, , Patr. Lat. CLXXI. col. 1652Google Scholar.

page 54 note 3 For collected instances of this type in Ovid seeNorden's, edition of Aen. VI., Appendix II., p. 383Google Scholar

page 55 note 1 E.g. I, 388–91; V. 660–1, 685–6; VI. 438–9; VIII. 677–9, 713–6, etc.

page 55 note 2 Cf. the passages collected inHoppe's, Syntax und Stil des Tertullian, pp. 162Google Scholar sqq.; and see alsoBrock, M. D., Studies in Fronto and his Age, pp. 222Google Scholar sqq.