Editing Dactylic hexameter (section)

=== Caesura ===

[[caesura|Caesura]] is a word break in the middle of a foot or metron{{r|raven1962|p=25}}. In Greek hexameter there must be a caesura after i) the first syllable of the 3rd foot, a strong or masculine caesura, ii) the second syllable of a dactyl in the 3rd foot, a weak or feminine caesura, or iii) the first syllable of the 4th foot{{r|raven1962|p=44}}; the first two being much more common than the last{{r|clark2004|p=121}}{{r|raven1962|p=44}}{{r|raven1965|p=93}}.
In Latin hexameter the weak caesura is rarer than in Greek hexameter{{r|raven1965|p=94,96}}. On the one hand, in Virgil the strong caesura is found in ca. 85% of the time{{r|butcher1914|p=124}}.

An example of a weak caesura can be found from the first line of Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]''{{r|raven1962|p=44}}:

:{{lang|grc|ἄνδρα μοι / ἔννεπε, / <u>μοῦσα</u>, πο/λύτροπον, / ὃς μάλα / πολλὰ}}
:{{grc-transl|ἄνδρα μοι / ἔννεπε, / <u>μοῦσα</u>, πο/λύτροπον, / ὃς μάλα / πολλὰ}}
:"Tell me, Muse, of the man of many wiles, who very much"

And an example of a strong caesura follows on the next line of Odyssey{{r|raven1962|p=44}}:
:{{lang|grc|πλάγχθη, ἐ/πεὶ Τροί/ης ἱερ/ὸν πτολί/εθρον ἔ/περσεν:}}
:{{grc-transl|λάγχθη, ἐ/πεὶ Τροί/ης ἱερ/ὸν πτολί/εθρον ἔ/περσεν:}}
:"wandered, after having sacked the sacred citadel of Troy."

In Latin (but not in Greek, as the above example shows), a feminine caesura in the 3rd foot is usually accompanied with masculine caesuras in the 2nd and especially in the 4th feet{{r|raven1965|p=96}}:

:{{lang|la|infan/dum, re/<u>gina</u>, iu/bes reno/vare do/lorem}}{{r|aeneid|p=2.3}}
:"You are bidding me, o queen, to renew an unspeakable sorrow"

Sometimes caesuras in the 2nd and 4th feet of a line make do, and there is no caesura in the 3rd foot{{r|raven1965|p=96}}. For example:

:{{lang|la|inde to/ro pater / Aene/as sic / orsus ab / alto}}{{r|aeneid|p=2.2}}
:"then from his high couch Father Aeneas began as follows"