Sapphicus maior
The maior Sapphicus is in the ancient Verslehre a relatively rare meter . The metric scheme is:
- —◡ ——— ◡◡ —— ◡◡ — ◡— ◠
In metric formula notation, it becomes with sapph mabbreviated. It can be interpreted as being composed of the 3rd Glyconus and the 1st Pherekrateus .
The verse was first used by the eponymous Greek poet Sappho and by Anakreon . In Latin literature it appears only in an ode by Horace ( An Lydia , I, 8) as the second part of a distich , the first part of which is a 1st Pherekrateus:
- —◡◡ — ◡— ◠
- —◡ ——— ◡◡ —— ◡◡ — ◡— ◠
From this ode as an example:
- o̱deri̱t ca̱mpu̱m | patie̱ns ‖ pu̱lveris a̱tque so̱li̱s
- —◡ ——— | ◡◡— ‖ —◡◡ — ◡——
The four-line stanza formed from two such distiches is called the Second Sapphic Stanza (pher1/sapph m/pher1/sapph m), not to be confused with the sapphic stanza formed from sapphic elf silvers .
A replica in German can be found in a translation of the Horazische Ode by Wilhelm Binder , here the first stanza:
Lydia, speak - by all the
gods, I beg - do you think so quickly
to celebrate Sybari's heart to the death of love? Why
shun the arena of those who otherwise tolerated dust and sun?
literature
- Sandro Boldrini : Prosody and Metrics of the Romans. Teubner, Stuttgart & Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-519-07443-5 , pp. 149f.
- Friedrich Crusius , Hans Rubenbauer : Roman metrics. 2nd Edition. Hueber, Munich 1955, p. 107.
- Gero von Wilpert : Subject dictionary of literature. 8th edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-520-84601-3 , p. 717.