Latin Aeolics
Aeolic forms were included in the general Roman habit of using Greek forms in Latin poetry. Among the lyric poets, Catullus used glyconic-pherecratean stanzas (Catullus 34, 61), the Phalaecian hendecasyllable (many compositions), the Greater Asclepiad (Catullus 30) and the Sapphic stanza (Catullus 11 and 51, an adaptation of Sappho fr. 31). Horace extended and standardized the use of Aeolics in Latin, also using the Alcaic stanza, the Lesser Asclepiad, and hipponacteans. In the summing-up poem "Exegi monumentum" (Odes 3.30), Horace makes the somewhat exaggerated claim:
| “ | princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos / deduxisse modos I was able to be the first to bring Aeolian song / to Italian measures. (trans. David West) |
” |
Read more about this topic: Aeolic Verse
Famous quotes containing the word latin:
“I am not of the opinion generally entertained in this country [England], that man lives by Greek and Latin alone; that is, by knowing a great many words of two dead languages, which nobody living knows perfectly, and which are of no use in the common intercourse of life. Useful knowledge, in my opinion, consists of modern languages, history, and geography; some Latin may be thrown into the bargain, in compliance with custom, and for closet amusement.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)