CHAPTER XV SYLLABLES AND THEIR QUALITIES

Such is the number of the letters, and such are their properties. From them are formed the so-called syllables. Of these syllables, those are long which contain long vowels or variable vowels when pronounced long, and those which end in a long letter or a letter pronounced long, or in one of the semi-vowels and one of the mutes. Those are short which contain a short vowel or one taken as short, and those which end in such vowels. There is

1 ἀποῤῥιπιζομένης RF: ἀπορραπιζομένης E: ἀποραπιζομένης P: ὑποραπιζομένης M: ὑπορραπιζομένης Vs || αὐτῶν κάτω E: κάτω RF: αὐτῶν PM: αὐτῷ Vs   2 ἀποδιδούσης RF: ἀποδιδούσης τὸ τ̄ καὶ τὸ θ̄ καὶ τὸ δ̄ PMVs   4 τριῶν RFM: om. PVs   6 πρὸς REF: κατὰ PMVs || τοῦ φάρυγγος REF: τῆς φάρυγγος PMVs   7 πνεύματι RF: πνεύματι τὸ κ̄ καὶ τὸ χ̄ καὶ τὸ γ̄ EPMVs || οὐδὲν οὐδὲ Us.: οὐδὲν δὲ οὐδὲ R: οὐδὲν δὲ οὐ F: οὐδενὶ PMVs   10 ἀμφοῖν. τούτων κράτιστα μέν ἐστιν F [E]: ἀμφοῖν τούτοιν (τούτων b)· κράτιστα μὲν οὖν ἐστιν R: τούτων. κράτιστα μὲν οὖν ἐστιν PMVs   11 δὲ REPMVs: δ’ F || μέσω EPMV,s: μ[έσωι] cum rasura F: μέσα R || κάκιστα REF: κακίω PMVs || ψιλῷ] ψιλῶι P, EMVs: ψιλῶ F: ψιλῶς Ra: ψιλά Rb   13 ἐγγύς που R: ἐγγὺς τοῦ libri || τελειότερα REF: τελειότερον P: τελειότατα MVs   14 ἐκείνων P: ἐκεῖνα RFMs, V: om. E   19 ἢ εἴς τι] εἴς τι F: ἤ τι EP: ἤτοι MV   20 τε καὶ EF: ἢ PMV   21 ἢ βραχέος V

11. Usener seems to carry his faith in F to excess when, in one and the same line, he prints δ’ ὅσα and δὲ ὅσα. Dionysius can hardly have extended his love for μεταβολή so far as that.

20. Batteaux (p. 208), when comparing French with the ancient languages in relations to long and short syllables, has the following interesting remarks: “Il n’est pas question de prouver ici que nous avons des syllabes brèves: nous sommes presque persuadés que toutes nos syllabes le sont, tant nous sommes pressés quand nous parlons. Nous traitons de même les syllabes latines; nous les faisons presque toutes brèves, quand nous lisons: il n’y a guère que le ω et les η grecs que nous allongions en lisant. Selon toute apparence, les Grecs and les Italiens anciens, qui, à en juger par les modernes, n’étaient pas moins vifs que nous, ne devaient guère se donner plus de temps pour peser sur leurs syllabes longues. Aussi n’était-ce pas dans la conversation qu’ils mesuraient leurs syllabes; c’était dans les discours oratoires, et encore plus dans leurs vers; c’était là qu’on pouvait observer les longues et les brèves, et c’est là aussi que nous les devons observer dans notre langue.”

συλλαβῶν οὐ μία φύσις, ἀλλὰ καὶ μακρότεραί τινές εἰσι τῶν
μακρῶν καὶ βραχύτεραι τῶν βραχειῶν. ἔσται δὲ τοῦτο
φανερὸν ἐπὶ τῶν παραδειγμάτων.

ὁμολογεῖται δὴ βραχεῖα εἶναι συλλαβή, ἣν ποιεῖ φωνῆεν
γράμμα βραχὺ τὸ ο̄, ὡς λέγεται ὁδός. ταύτῃ προστεθήτω      5
γράμμα ἓν τῶν ἡμιφώνων τὸ ρ̄ καὶ γενέσθω Ῥόδος· μένει
μὲν ἔτι βραχεῖα ἡ συλλαβή, πλὴν οὐχ ὁμοίως, ἀλλ’ ἕξει τινὰ
παραλλαγὴν ἀκαρῆ παρὰ τὴν προτέραν. ἔτι προστεθήτω
ταύτῃ τῶν ἀφώνων γραμμάτων ἓν τὸ τ̄ καὶ γενέσθω τρόπος·
μείζων αὕτη τῶν προτέρων ἔσται συλλαβῶν καὶ ἔτι βραχεῖα      10
μένει. τρίτον ἔτι γράμμα τῇ αὐτῇ συλλαβῇ προστεθήτω τὸ
σ̄ καὶ γενέσθω στρόφος· τρισὶν αὕτη προσθήκαις ἀκουσταῖς
μακροτέρα γενήσεται τῆς βραχυτάτης μένουσα ἔτι βραχεῖα.
οὐκοῦν τέτταρες αὗται βραχείας συλλαβῆς διαφοραὶ τὴν
ἄλογον αἴσθησιν ἔχουσαι τῆς παραλλαγῆς μέτρον. ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς      15
λόγος καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς μακρᾶς. ἡ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ η̄ γινομένη συλλαβὴ
μακρὰ τὴν φύσιν οὖσα τεττάρων γραμμάτων προσθήκαις
παραυξηθεῖσα τριῶν μὲν προταττομένων, ἑνὸς δὲ ὑποταττομένου,
καθ’ ἣν λέγεται σπλήν, μείζων ἂν δήπου λέγοιτο εἶναι
τῆς προτέρας ἐκείνης τῆς μονογραμμάτου· μειουμένη γοῦν      20
αὖθις καθ’ ἓν ἕκαστον τῶν προστεθέντων γραμμάτων τὰς
ἐπὶ τοὔλαττον παραλλαγὰς αἰσθητὰς ἂν ἔχοι. αἰτία δὲ τίς
ἐστι τοῦ μήτε τὰς μακρὰς ἐκβαίνειν τὴν αὑτῶν φύσιν μέχρι
γραμμάτων πέντε μηκυνομένας μήτε τὰς βραχείας εἰς ἓν ἀπὸ
πολλῶν γραμμάτων συστελλομένας ἐκπίπτειν τῆς βραχύτητος,      25
ἀλλὰ κἀκείνας ἐν διπλασίῳ λόγῳ θεωρεῖσθαι τῶν βραχειῶν
καὶ ταύτας ἐν ἡμίσει τῶν μακρῶν, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἐν τῷ
παρόντι σκοπεῖν. ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ὅσον εἰς τὴν παροῦσαν ὑπόθεσιν
ἥρμοττεν εἰρῆσθαι, ὅτι διαλλάττει καὶ βραχεῖα συλλαβὴ

[153]

more than one kind of length and shortness of syllables: some are longer than the long and some shorter than the short. And this will be made clear by consideration of the examples which I am about to adduce.

It will be admitted that a syllable is short which is formed by the short vowel ο, as, for example, in the word ὁδός. To this let the semi-vowel ρ be prefixed and Ῥόδος be formed. The syllable still remains short; but not equally so, for it will show some slight difference when compared with the former. Further, let one of the mutes, τ, be prefixed and τρόπος be formed. This again will be longer than the former syllables; yet it still remains short. Let still a third letter, σ, be prefixed to the same syllable and στρόφος be formed. This will have become longer than the shortest syllable by three audible prefixes; and yet it still remains short. So, then, here are four grades of short syllables, with only our instinctive feeling for quantity as a measure of the difference. The same principle applies to the long syllable. The syllable formed from η, though long by nature, yet when augmented by the addition of four letters, three prefixed and one suffixed, as in the word σπλήν, would surely be said to be ampler than that syllable, in its original form, that consisted of a single letter. At all events, if it were in turn deprived, one by one, of the added letters, it would show perceptible changes in the way of diminution. As to the reason why long syllables do not transcend their natural quality when lengthened to five letters, nor short syllables drop from their shortness when reduced from many letters to one, the former being still regarded as double the shorts, and the latter as half the longs,—this does not at present demand examination. It is sufficient to say what is really germane to the present subject, namely, that one short syllable

4 δὴ] δεῖ P || βραχεῖα EM: βραχέα F: βραχεῖαν PV || συλλαβὴν PV   5 γράμμα βραχὺ EF: βραχὺ γράμμα V: γράμμα P || προστεθήτω EPV: προστιθέτω M: τίς προσθέτω F   8 ἀκαρὴ P: ἀκαρεὶ MV: om. EF || προστεθήτω EPMV: προσθέτω F   9 ἓν EF: om. PMV   15 ἄλογον EFV: ἀνάλογον PM   19 μείζονα ἂν F   20 μειουμένη] μειουμένης P: μειουμένων M || γ’ οὖν αὖθις P, M: τε οὖν αὖθις F: τε αὖ πάλιν E: δ’ αὖ πάλιν V   21 ἓν PMV: om. EF   22 τοὔλαττον] τὸ λεῖπον PM || τίς ex τί corr. F: ἣ τίς PM, V   23 αὐτῶν F: ἑαυτῶν PMV   24 ε̄ μηκυνομένας ... (25) γραμμάτων om. F || πέντε Uptonus, ε̄ Us.: ἑπτὰ PM: δ̄ V

2. Cp. Quintil. ix. 4. 84 “sit in hoc quoque aliquid fortasse momenti, quod et longis longiores et brevibus sunt breviores syllabae; ut, quamvis neque plus duobus temporibus neque uno minus habere videantur, ideoque in metris omnes breves longaeque inter sese sint pares, lateat tamen nescio quid, quod supersit aut desit. nam versuum propria condicio est, ideoque in his quaedam etiam communes.”

8. ἀκαρῆ: cp. de Isocr. c. 20 ἀκαρῆ δέ τινα ... ἐνθυμήματα.

12. τρισὶν ... προσθήκαις: the meaning apparently is that the first prefix increases the length by one augmentation; the second, by two; the third, by three. αὕτη = ἡ συλλαβή στρόφ-.

22. ἐπὶ τοὔλαττον: cp. Aristot. Eth. Nic. ii. 7. 12 ἡ δὲ προσποίησις ἡ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον ἀλαζονεία καὶ ὁ ἔχων αὐτὴν ἀλαζών, ἡ δ’ ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλαττον εἰρωνεία καὶ εἴρων [ὁ ἔχων], iv. 7. 14 οἱ δ’ εἴρωνες ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλαττον λέγοντες χαριέστεροι μὲν τὰ ἤθη φαίνονται; and Long. de Sublim. c. 38 αἱ δ’ ὑπερβολαὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοὔλαττον.

26. θεωρεῖσθαι here (and in 204 3, 210 9) may perhaps supply a parallel (though not a complete one) of the kind desired in Classical Quarterly i. 41 n. 1.

βραχείας καὶ μακρὰ μακρᾶς καὶ οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει δύναμιν
οὔτ’ ἐν λόγοις ψιλοῖς οὔτ’ ἐν ποιήμασιν ἢ μέλεσιν διὰ μέτρων
ἢ ῥυθμῶν κατασκευαζομένοις πᾶσα βραχεῖα καὶ πᾶσα μακρά.

πρῶτον μὲν δὴ θεώρημα τοῦτο τῶν ἐν ταῖς συλλαβαῖς
παθῶν· ἕτερον δὲ τοιόνδε· τῶν γραμμάτων πολλὰς ἐχόντων      5
διαφορὰς οὐ μόνον περὶ τὰ μήκη καὶ τὰς βραχύτητας ἀλλὰ
καὶ περὶ τοὺς ἤχους, ὑπὲρ ὧν ὀλίγῳ πρότερον εἴρηκα, πᾶσα
ἀνάγκη καὶ τὰς ἐκ τούτων συνισταμένας συλλαβὰς ἢ διὰ
τούτων πλεκομένας ἅμα τήν τε ἰδίαν ἑκάστου σῴζειν δύναμιν
καὶ τὴν κοινὴν ἁπάντων, ἣ γίνεται διὰ τῆς κράσεώς τε καὶ      10
παραθέσεως αὐτῶν· ἐξ ὧν μαλακαί τε φωναὶ γίνονται καὶ
σκληραὶ καὶ λεῖαι καὶ τραχεῖαι, γλυκαίνουσαί τε τὴν ἀκοὴν
καὶ πικραίνουσαι, καὶ στύφουσαι καὶ διαχέουσαι, καὶ πᾶσαν
ἄλλην κατασκευάζουσαι διάθεσιν φυσικήν· αὗται δ’ εἰσὶ μυρίαι
τὸ πλῆθος ὅσαι.      15

ταῦτα δὴ καταμαθόντες οἱ χαριέστατοι ποιητῶν τε καὶ
συγγραφέων τὰ μὲν αὐτοὶ κατασκευάζουσιν ὀνόματα συμπλέκοντες
ἐπιτηδείως ἀλλήλοις, τὰ δὲ γράμματα καὶ τὰς συλλαβὰς
οἰκείας οἷς ἂν βούλωνται παραστῆσαι πάθεσιν ποικίλως
φιλοτεχνοῦσιν, ὡς ποιεῖ πολλάκις Ὅμηρος, ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν      20
προσηνέμων αἰγιαλῶν τῇ παρεκτάσει τῶν συλλαβῶν τὸν
ἄπαυστον ἐκφαίνειν βουλόμενος ἦχον

ἠϊόνες βοόωσιν ἐρευγομένης ἁλὸς ἔξω·

[155]

may differ from another short, and one long from another long, and that every short and every long syllable has not the same quality either in prose, or in poems, or in songs, whether these be metrically or rhythmically constructed.

The foregoing is the first aspect under which we view the different qualities of syllables. The next is as follows. As letters have many points of difference, not only in length and shortness, but also in sound—points of which I have spoken a little while ago—it must necessarily follow that the syllables, which are combinations or interweavings of letters, preserve at once both the individual properties of each component, and the joint properties of all, which spring from their fusion and juxtaposition. The sounds thus formed are soft or hard, smooth or rough, sweet to the ear or harsh to it; they make us pull a wry face, or cause our mouths to water, or bring about any of the countless other physical conditions that are possible.

These facts the greatest poets and prose-writers have carefully noted, and not only do they deliberately arrange their words and weave them into appropriate patterns, but often, with curious and loving skill, they adapt the very syllables and letters to the emotions which they wish to represent. This is Homer’s way when he is describing a wind-swept beach and wishes to express the ceaseless reverberation by the prolongation of syllables:—

Echo the cliffs, as bursteth the sea-surge down on the strand.[131]

1 οὐ F: οὔτε PMV   2 μέτρων ἢ ῥυθμῶν F: ῥυθμῶν ἢ μέτρων PMV   8 καὶ EF: om. PMV   10 καὶ (posterius) EF: καὶ τῆς PMV   13 πᾶσαν EFM: πᾶσαν τὴν PV   16 δὴ PMV: ἤδη EF   17 αὐτοὶ EF: αὐτοί τε PMV   18 τὰ δὲ FM: τὰ EPV   19 οἰκείας F: δὲ οἰκείας E: οἰκείως PM: δὲ οἰκείως V   20 τῶν EF: om. PMV   21 τὸν om. P   22 ἐκφαίνειν EF: ἐμφαίνειν PMV

1. H. Richards (Classical Review xix. 252) suggests οὔτι, in place of the οὔτε of PMV and the οὐ of F.

3. If this passage (from 152 4 up to this point) be taken in connexion with one from the scholia to Hephaestion and another from Marius Victorinus (see Goodell’s Greek Metric pp. 6, 7), we find the following difference indicated as between the school of the metrici and that of the rhythmici: “The metrici considered the long syllable as always twice the length of the short; whatever variation from this ratio the varying constitution of syllables produced was treated as too slight to affect the general flow of verse. The rhythmici, on the other hand, held that long syllables differed greatly from each other in quantity, and that short syllables differed from each other in some degree, apart from variations in tempo. The doctrine of ἀλογία or irrationality, whereby some syllables were longer or shorter by a small undefined amount than the complete long, was associated by some with this theory, as in a passage of Dionysius Halic. (C. V. c. 17 οἱ δ’ ἀπὸ τῆς μακρᾶς ... τῶν πάνυ καλῶν οἱ ῥυθμοί: cp. c. 20 ibid.). Some, at least, affirmed also that a single consonant required half the time of a short vowel, and that two consonants or a double consonant required the same time as a short vowel; those writers accordingly set up a scale of measurement for syllables, simply counting the number of time-units required, on this theory, by the constituent vowels and consonants,” Goodell Greek Metric pp. 8, 9.

20. Cp. the use of the long o in such passages as Virg. Aen. iii. 670 ff. “verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas | nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo, | clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes | contremuere undae”; v. 244 ff. “tum satus Anchisa cunctis ex more vocatis | victorem magna praeconis voce Cloanthum | declarat viridique advelat tempora lauro, | muneraque in navis ternos optare iuvencos | vinaque et argenti magnum dat ferre talentum.” See also Demetr. p. 42 for A. C. Bradley’s comments on Virgil’s line “tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.”

23. Aristotle (Poetics c. 22) points out that it would be disastrous to substitute the trivial κράζουσιν for βοόωσιν in this passage.—With regard to the sound of the line cp. schol. on Il. xvii. 265 καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν κῦμα μέγα θαλάσσης ἐπιφερόμενον ποταμοῦ ῥεύματι καὶ τῷ ἀνακόπτεσθαι βρυχώμενον, καὶ τὰς ἑκατέρωθεν τοῦ ποταμοῦ θαλασσίας ἠϊόνας ἠχούσας, ὃ ἐμιμήσατο διὰ τῆς ἐπεκτάσεως τοῦ βοόωσιν. αὕτη ἡ εἰκὼν Πλάτωνος ἔκαυσε τὰ ποιήματα· οὕτως ἐναργέστερον τοῦ ὁρωμένου τὸ ἀκουόμενον παρέστησεν ... τῆς γὰρ ἐπαλλήλου τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκβολῆς ἡ τοῦ “βοόωσιν” ἀναδίπλωσις ὁμοίαν ἀπετέλεσε συνῳδίαν.

ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ τετυφλωμένου Κύκλωπος τό τε τῆς ἀλγηδόνος
μέγεθος καὶ τὴν διὰ τῶν χειρῶν βραδεῖαν ἔρευναν τῆς τοῦ
σπηλαίου θύρας

Κύκλωψ δὲ στενάχων τε καὶ ὠδίνων ὀδύνῃσιν,
χερσὶ ψηλαφόων·      5

καὶ ἄλλοθί που δέησιν ἐνδείξασθαι βουλόμενος πολλὴν καὶ
κατεσπουδασμένην

οὐδ’ εἴ κεν μάλα πολλὰ πάθῃ ἑκάεργος Ἀπόλλων,
προπροκυλινδόμενος πατρὸς Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο.

μυρία ἔστιν εὑρεῖν παρ’ αὐτῷ τοιαῦτα, χρόνου μῆκος ἢ      10
σώματος μέγεθος ἢ πάθους ὑπερβολὴν ἢ στάσεως ἠρεμίαν ἢ
τῶν παραπλησίων τι δηλοῦντα παρ’ οὐδὲν οὕτως ἕτερον ἢ τὰς
τῶν συλλαβῶν κατασκευάς· καὶ ἄλλα τούτοις ἐναντίως εἰργασμένα
εἰς βραχύτητα καὶ τάχος καὶ σπουδὴν καὶ τὰ τούτοις
ὁμοιογενῆ, ὡς ἔχει ταυτί      15

ἀμβλήδην γοόωσα μετὰ δμωῇσιν ἔειπεν

καὶ

ἡνίοχοι δ’ ἔκπληγεν, ἐπεὶ ἴδον ἀκάματον πῦρ.

ἐφ’ ἧς μὲν γὰρ ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος δηλοῦται συγκοπὴ καὶ τὸ
τῆς φωνῆς ἄτακτον, ἐφ’ ὧν δ’ ἡ τῆς διανοίας ἔκστασις καὶ τὸ      20
τοῦ δείματος ἀπροσδόκητον· ποιεῖ δὲ τούτων ἑκάτερον ἡ τῶν
συλλαβῶν τε καὶ γραμμάτων ἐλάττωσις.

[157]

Or again when, after the Cyclops has been blinded, Homer desires to express the greatness of his anguish, and his hands’ slow search for the door of the cavern:—

The Cyclops, with groan on groan and throes of anguish sore,
With hands slow-groping.[132]

And when in another place he wishes to indicate a long impassioned prayer:—

Not though in an agony Phoebus the Smiter from Far should entreat
Low-grovelling at Father Zeus the Aegis-bearer’s feet.[133]

Such lines are to be found without number in Homer, representing length of time, hugeness of body, stress of emotion, immobility of position, or similar effects, simply by the manipulation of the syllables. Conversely, others are framed to give the impression of abruptness, speed, hurry, and the like. For instance,

Wailing with broken sobs amidst of her handmaids she cried,[134]

and

And scared were the charioteers, that tireless flame to behold.[135]

In the first passage the stoppage of Andromache’s breath is indicated, and the tremor of her voice; in the second, the startled dismay of the charioteers, and the unexpectedness of the terror. The effect in both cases is due to the docking of syllables and letters.

1 τετυφλωμένου E: τετυφωμένου F: τυφλουμένου PMV   2 τὴν διὰ EMV: διὰ τὴν FP   8 πάθῃ EF: πάθοι PMV Hom.   10 εὑρεῖν om. F   11 ἠρεμίαν] ὁμιλίαν FM   15 ὁμοιογενῆ F: ὁμο*γενῆ P: ὁμογενῆ MV   16 δμωιῆισιν P: Τρῴῃσιν Hom.   18 ἔκπληγον PMV   19 ἧς F: ὧν PMV   20 ἔκστασις FM: ἔκτασις PV   21 δείγματος PV

1. ἀλγηδών: a somewhat poetical word, though used by Herodotus and Plato. Its use in a highly figurative passage of Herodotus (v. 18) is censured in the de Sublim. iv. 7 καὶ τὸ Ἡροδότειον οὐ πόρρω, τὸ φάναι τὰς καλὰς γυναῖκας “ἀλγηδόνας ὀφθαλμῶν.”

4. In these lines, and in 154 23, the reiteration of the long ω, and of the long η, is particularly to be noted.

9. προπροκυλινδόμενος: imitated by Ap. Rhod. Argon. i. 386 προπροβιαζόμενοι, and ii. 595 προπροκαταΐγδην. Cp. Odyss. xvii. 524 ἔνθεν δὴ νῦν δεῦρο τόδ’ ἵκετο πήματα πάσχων, | προπροκυλινδόμενος.

10. χρόνου μῆκος: cp. Virg. Aen. i. 272 “hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos,” and iii. 284 “interea magnum sol circumvolvitur annum.”

11. σώματος μέγεθος: cp. Virg. Aen. vii. 783 “ipse inter primos praestanti corpore Turnus.”—πάθους ὑπερβολήν: cp. Virg. Aen. ix. 475 “at subitus miserae calor ossa reliquit, | excussi manibus radii revolutaque pensa.”

12. A blending of (1) παρ’ οὐδὲν οὕτως ὡς, (2) παρ’ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἤ.

16. Cp. Virg. Aen. ix. 477 “evolat infelix et femineo ululatu | scissa comam muros amens atque agmina cursu | prima petit,” etc.

18. Batteux (Réflexions pp. 219-21) quotes and analyzes the well-known passage of Racine’s Phèdre (v. 6) which begins: “Un effroyable cri, sorti du fond des flots, | Des airs en ce moment a troublé le repos.” He says: “Dans le dernier morceau de Racine qui peint l’objet terrible, il n’y a pas un vers qui n’ait le caractère de la chose exprimée. Ce sont des sons aigus et perçans, des syllabes chargée de consonnes, et de consonnes épaisses: sorti du fond des flots; notre sang s’est glacé; L’onde approche, se brise; Son front large est armé. Des mots qui se heurtent: effroyable cri; cri redoutable; le crin s’est hérissé. D’autres mots larges et spacieux: Cependant, sur le dos de la plaine liquide, S’élève à gros bouillons (S’élève rejeté à l’autre vers comme celui-ci de Despréaux, S’élève un lit de plume) une montaigne humide; cornes menaçantes; écailles jaunissantes; Indomptable taureau, dragon impétueux. Des syllabes qui se renversent les unes sur le autres: Sa croupe se recourbe en replis tortueux. Ce vers, dans un poëme ancient, eût été célébré de siècle en siècle.”