Scansion and Elision in a Prescribed Verse Line
A student scans a hexameter line from a prescribed verse text: arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris. The student marks six feet but is unsure about the final foot and about whether -que elides before cano. A classmate claims the line has a spondee in the fifth foot, which would be unusual. The student must produce a defensible scansion and explain the metrical rules, including elision and the typical dactylic fifth foot. The teacher wants the scansion justified foot by foot, with quantities marked.
1. Provide the correct scansion and explain each decision, especially the fifth foot and the treatment of *-que*.
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The line scans as: ar-ma vi-rum-que ca-no, Troi-ae qui pri-mus ab o-ris. Marking feet: (1) arma = spondee (ār-mă, long by position before v); (2) virumque = dactyl (vĭ-rŭm-quĕ, with -que short); (3) cano = spondee (că-nō, final -o long by nature); (4) Troiae = spondee (Trōi-ae, diphthong long); (5) qui primus = dactyl (quī prĭ-mŭs); (6) ab oris = spondee (ăb ō-rīs). The fifth foot is a dactyl, not a spondee - the classmate is wrong, and a spondaic fifth foot is rare and marked. On -que: it does not elide before cano, because elision requires a final vowel or vowel + m before an initial vowel or h; cano begins with a consonant, so no elision occurs. The student should state the rule explicitly and show that the enclitic -que is scanned as part of virumque, contributing a short syllable. The exam rewards naming the rule, not just the result.
2. The student later meets a line ending *monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum*. Explain how to handle the potential elisions and why the metre still works.
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Here the student must apply elision systematically. monstrum horrendum: final -um before h elides, since h does not block elision in classical verse, giving monstr(um) horrendum as one metrical unit. horrendum, informe: final -um before initial i elides, so horrend(um) informe. informe, ingens: final -e before i elides, giving inform(e) ingens. ingens, cui: final -s does not elide (only vowels and vowel + m elide), so no elision here. cui lumen: cui is a diphthong and stands; lumen ademptum closes the line. The student should count the resulting syllables to confirm six feet and note that elision is a feature of natural spoken Latin, not a flaw. The exam expects the candidate to mark elisions, name the rule (vowel or vowel + m before vowel or h), and demonstrate that the line still scans. Simply crossing out letters without explanation earns little credit.