(a) Why this lesson exists
The exam tests scansion directly ("which foot of line X is a dactyl?", "the final syllable of cano is long because…") and indirectly (meter questions hide inside style questions). More importantly: hexameter is audible once you can scan, and audible Vergil is memorable Vergil. Two lessons: today the machine; next lesson, what poets DO with it.
The meter in one sentence: every line has six feet; each foot is a dactyl (– ∪ ∪, long-short-short) or a spondee (– –, long-long); the fifth foot is almost always a dactyl; the sixth is always two syllables (the last syllable counts as long no matter what — syllaba anceps).
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
–∪∪/– – | –∪∪/– – | –∪∪/– – | –∪∪/– – | – ∪ ∪ | – x
(b) Step 1 — syllable quantity (the only hard part)
A syllable is long if: 1. it contains a long vowel (ā ē ī ō ū — dictionary fact) or a diphthong (ae, au, oe, ei, eu, ui), or 2. its vowel is followed by two or more consonants (within the word or across the word-boundary) — long by position. (x = two consonants; qu = one; h = nothing.)
Otherwise it's short. Two riders: - Mute + liquid (tr, pl, cr, br…) MAY count as one consonant or two — poet's choice per line. - Final -s and a following initial vowel: the consonant attaches to the next syllable (tus in- → tu-sin), usually leaving the syllable open/short.
(c) Step 2 — elision
When a word ends in a vowel or vowel + m, and the next word begins with a vowel or h-, the final syllable elides — it's squeezed out of the count: mult(um) ill(e) et — three words, but the line hears mult-il-let. Always mark elisions FIRST, before counting anything. They are everywhere in Vergil, and forgetting one wrecks the whole line.
(d) Step 3 — the procedure (use it every time)
- Mark elisions.
- Mark the freebies: first syllable of the line = long; last foot = 2 syllables (final anceps); fifth foot = expect dactyl.
- Mark longs you KNOW: diphthongs, position-longs (vowel + 2 consonants).
- The shorts fall out by arithmetic: every long you can't account for must close a spondee; every – must start a foot.
- Read it ALOUD with the rhythm. If your mouth stumbles, your marks are wrong somewhere.
(e) Worked example — the first line you'll ever be asked
Ar-ma vi | rum-que ca | nō Trō | iae quī | prī-mus ab | ō-rīs – ∪ ∪ | – ∪ ∪ | – – | – – | – ∪ ∪ | – – (D D S S D S)
Why each mark: Ar — vowel + rm = long by position. ma, vi — short open syllables. rum — closed (m + qu), long. que, ca — short. nō — long vowel (verb canō). Trō — long o. iae — diphthong. quī — long i. prī — long i. mus, ab — ab before ō stays short (one consonant, b, goes to next syllable: a-bō). ō-rīs — two longs. Read it: ARma viRUMque caNO TROIae QUI PRImus ab Oris.
(f) Practice set (scan, then check; all from your passages)
1. vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram (1.4) 2. multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem (1.5) — one elision 3. litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto (1.3) — TWO elisions, the famous ones 4. dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum (4.305) — one elision 5. tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento (6.851) — one elision
(g) Answer key (full scansions)
1. vī su-pe | rum sae | vae me-mo | rem Iū | nō-nis ob | ī-ram — D S D S D S. (vī long vowel; rum long by position before s; sae/vae diphthongs; rem closed before I- — careful: consonantal i of Iūnōnis counts as a consonant; ob short before ī — the b migrates.) 2. mul-ta quo | qu(e) et bel | lō pas | sus dum | con-de-ret | ur-bem — D S S S D S. Elision: quoqu(e) et. (mul position-long; bel before l; pas before s; the heavy spondee-run carries the weight of multa passus — suffering in slow motion. That's L25's business.) 3. lī-to-ra | mult(um) il | l(e) et ter | rīs iac | tā-tus et | al-tō — D S S S D S. TWO elisions back-to-back: mult(um) ille and ill(e) et. The line about being "much tossed on lands and deep" loses pieces of its own words to elision — pronounce it and you feel the battering. 4. dis-si-mu | lār(e) e-ti | am spē | rās-tī | per-fi-de | tan-tum — D D S S D S. Elision: dissimulār(e) etiam. (dis position-long; the opening dactyls spit — Dido at speed; spērāstī = syncopated spērāvistī, both syllables long: the accusation slows to hammer-blows.) 5. tū re-ge | r(e) im-pe-ri | ō po-pu | lōs Rō | mā-ne me | men-tō — D D D S D S. Elision: reger(e) imperiō. (Three opening dactyls — the mission statement moves; then Rōmāne plants two heavy longs at the center: the name itself is a spondee-and-a-half of marble.)
Self-check standard: 4–5 lines fully correct = move on. 2–3 = redo using the procedure in (d), step-numbered, no skipping. 0–1 = reread (b) and re-scan the worked example with your finger; quantity rules, not talent, are what's missing.
⭐ Exam strategy: the MC scansion question usually targets ONE thing: an elision you might miss, a position-long you might not notice (especially across word boundaries), or consonantal i (Iūnōnis, iactātus — the i is a j). Before answering any meter question, mark elisions and position-longs in the stem line FIRST. The answer is almost always sitting in one of those two places.