saliva_, _abdomen_,
_acumen_. The rule of _aer_ also holds good though it hardly has
other instances than Greek names, as _Mach['a]on_, _[AE]n['e]as_,
_Thal['i]a_, _Achel['o]us_, _Ach['[ae]]i_.

In words of more than two syllables with short penultima the vowel
in the stressed antepenultima was pronounced short when there was a
consonant between the two last vowels, and _i_ and _y_ were short
even when no consonant stood in that place. Examples are _stamina_,
_Sexagesima_, _minimum_, _modicum_, _tibia_, _Polybius_. But _u_,
_au_, _eu_ were, as usual, exceptions, as _tumulus_, _Aufidus_,
_Eutychus_. I believe that originally men said _C[)[ae]]sarem_, as
they certainly said _c[)[ae]]spitem_ and _C[)[ae]]tulum_, as also
_C[)[ae]]sarea_, but here in familiar words the cases came to follow
the nominative.

Exceptions to the rule were verb forms which had _[=a]v_, _[=e]v_,
_[=i]v_, or _[=o]v_ in the antepenultima, as _am[=a]veram_,
_defieverat_, _audivero_, _moveras_, and like forms from aorists with
the penultima long, as _suaseram_, _egero_, _miserat_, _roseras_, and
their compounds.

This rule was among the first to break down, and about the middle of
the nineteenth century the Westminster Play began to observe the
true quantities in the antepenultimate syllables. Thus in spite of
'cons[)i]deration' boys said _s[=i]dera_, and in spite of 'n[)o]minal'
they said _n[^o]mina_, while they still said _s[)o]litus_ and
_r[)a]pidus_.

On the other hand the following rule, of which borrowed words provide
many examples, still obtains in the Play. In words of more than two
syllables any vowel in the antepenultima other than _i_ or _y_ was
pronounced long if no consonant divided the two following vowels.
Possibly the reason was that there was a syn[ae]resis of the two
vowels, but I doubt this, for a parasitic _y_ was treated as a
consonant. Examples are _alias_, _genius_, _odium_, _junior_,
_an[ae]mia_, and on the other hand _f[)i]lius_, _L[)y]dia_. Compound
verbs with a short prefix were exceptions, as _[)o]beo_, _r[)e]creo_,
whence our 'recreant'. A long prefix remained long as in _d[=e]sino_.
The only other exception that I can remember was _Ph[)o]loe_.

In polysyllables the general rule was that all vowels and diphthongs
before the penultima other than _u_, when it bore a primary or
secondary stress, and _au_ and _eu_ were pronounced short except
where the 'alias' rule or the 'larva' rule applied. Thus we said
_h[)e]r[)e]di