;

_Trin._ 133,

'Non ego illi argentum redderem? Non redderes';

_Stich._ 237,

'Adibo ad hominem. Quis haec est quae advorsum venit?'

6. The chief accent could also affect a preceding syllable. In
polysyllables or polysyllabic combinations, when the chief accent was
on the third syllable, the second syllable, if long, could be
shortened, provided the first syllable were short. _Trin._ 456,

'Ferentarium esse amicum inventum intellego';

_Stich._ 59,

'Nec voluntate id facere meminit,' etc.;

_Stich._ 179,

'Per annonam caram dixit me natum pater.'

7. The following common words have to be separately considered, _ille_,
_iste_, _unde_, _inde_, _nempe_. In the last three the liquid was
practically dropped; _iste_ was pronounced as _ste_; and in _ille_ only
one _l_ was heard, cf. _ellum_, _ellam_ (_en-illum_ = _en-ilum_ =
_en-lum_ = _ellum_). _Frustra_ is a trochee, as in _Menaech._ 692 (at
the end of a line), _frustra sis_; and the first _i_ of _fieri_ is
long. Cf. _Trin._ 532,

'Si in opserendo possint interfieri.'

8. An original long vowel is sometimes kept when later authors have it
short. Examples are, _es_ (from _esse_), final _-or_, as _exertitor_,
_fateor_, _ecastor_; verbal endings, as _eris_, _eget_, _sit_, _det_,
_fuat_, _velit_.

9. _Synizesis._ _Deus_, _meus_, _tuos_, _suos_ (nom.), _eius_, _ei_,
_eum_, _quoius_, _quoi_, _huius_, _huic_, _rei_, etc., may be
monosyllables; _deorum_, _meorum_, _duorum_, _fuisti_, etc., may be
dissyllables; _diutius_, _exeundum_, etc., may be trisyllables. Other
examples are _proin_, _proinde_, _praeoptare_, _dehortor_, _aibam_,
_quator_.

10. _Hiatus._ This occurs, though not frequently, (_a_) at the natural
division of the metre. _Menaech._ 219,

'Sportulam cape atque argentum. | eccos treis nummos habes.'

(_b_) At the natural break in the sense, especially with change of
speakers. _Trin._ 432,

_PH._ 'Tempust adeundi.' _LE._ 'Estne hic Philto qui advenit?'

The hiatus is commonest in monosyllabic words, or words ending in a
short syllable followed by _m_, making the first syllable of an arsis
resolved into two shorts. _Trin._ 433,

'Is herclest ipsus. Edepol _ne ego_ istum velim';

_Trin._ 305,

'Qui homo cum animo inde ab ineunte aetate depugnat suo.'

_Views on Plautus._--For Cicero's high opinion of Plautus cf. _de
Off._ i. 104, 'Duplex omnino est iocandi genus: unum inliberale
petulans, flagitiosum obscaenum, alterum