Terentiana

Extract

M. Marouzeau has re-directed attention to the peculiarity of Terentian versification by which a monosyllabic word (preposition, conjunction or interjection) is put at the end of the line, though it belongs, in point of sense, to the beginning of the next line. There is thus, for the copyist or ‘corrector’, a strong temptation to shift the little word to the beginning of the next line, or even to drop it altogether. Where scansion allows, the second course can be adopted without arousing any suspicions.