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Friday, April 06, 2012

Some Lines in Lucretius

In Lucretius' De Rerum Natura there are some lines in which the entire hexameter consists of nouns in asyndeton, e.g.:

1.744 aera solem imbrem terras animalia fruges
2.670 (669) ossa cruor venae calor umor viscera nervi
2.726 = 5.438 (441) intervalla vias conexus pondera plagas
2.1021 concursus motus ordo positura figurae
3.1017 verbera carnifices robur pix lammina taedae
5.1336 volneribus clamore fuga terrore tumultu

I don't know if scholars have given a label to this type of line, or if such lines occur in other authors.