essions.

3. In the poets, verbs of _mingling with_, _contending with_, _joining_,
_clinging to_, etc., sometimes take the Dative. This construction is a
Grecism. Thus:--

se miscet viris, _he mingles with the men_;

contendis Homero, _you contend with Homer_;

dextrae dextram jungere, _to clasp hand with hand_.

PECULIARITIES IN THE USE OF THE GENITIVE.

359. 1. The Possessive Genitive gives emphasis to the _possessor_, the
Dative of Possessor emphasizes _the fact of possession_; as,--

hortus patris est, _the garden is my father's_;

mihi hortus est, _I possess a garden_.

2. The Latin can say either stulti or stultum est dicere, _it is foolish to
say_; but Adjectives of one ending permit only the Genitive; as,--

sapientis est haec secum reputare, _it is the part of a wise man to
consider this_.

* * * * *

PART VI.

PROSODY.

360. Prosody treats of metres and versification.

361. Latin Verse. Latin Poetry was essentially different in character from
English. In our own language, poetry is based upon _accent_, and poetical
form consists essentially in a certain succession of _accented_ and
_unaccented_ syllables. Latin poetry, on the other hand, was based not upon
accent, but upon _quantity_, so that with the Romans poetical form
consisted in a certain succession of _long and short syllables_, i.e. of
long and short intervals of time.

This fundamental difference in the character of English and Latin poetry is
a natural result of the difference in character of the two languages.
English is a strongly accented language, in which quantity is relatively
subordinate. Latin, on the other hand, was a quantitative language, in
which accent was relatively subordinate.

QUANTITY OF VOWELS AND SYLLABLES

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

362. The general principles for the quantity of vowels and syllables have
been given above in Sec. 5. The following peculiarities are to be noted
here:--

1. A vowel is usually short when followed by another vowel (Sec. 5, A, 2), but
the following exceptions occur:--

a) In the Genitive termination -ius (except alterius); as, illius,
totius. Yet the i may be short in poetry; as, illius, totius.

b) In the Genitive and Dative Singular of the Fifth Declension; as, diei,
aciei. But fidei, rei, spei (Sec. 52, 1).

c) In fio, excepting fit and forms where i is followed by er. Thus:
fiebam, fiat, fiunt; but fieri,