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[6] At the present day one kind of paean alone is employed, at the beginning as well as at the end;
1
the end, however, ought to differ from the beginning. Now there are two kinds of paeans, opposed to each other. The one is appropriate at the beginning, where in fact it is used. It begins with a long syllable and ends with three short:
and
The other on the contrary begins with three short syllables and ends with one long one:
This is a suitable ending, for the short syllable, being incomplete, mutilates the cadence. But the period should be broken off by a long syllable and
20
the end should be clearly marked, not by the scribe nor by a punctuation mark,
3
but by the rhythm itself.
Δα¯λο˘γε˘νε˘ς εἴτε Λυ˘κι˘αν, (
O Delos-born, or it may be
Lycia
),
Χρυ¯σε˘ο˘κό˘μα¯ Ἕ˘κα˘τε˘ παῖ Διό˘ς (
Golden-haired far-darter, son of Zeus).
με˘τὰ˘ δε˘ γᾶν ὕ˘δα˘τά˘ τ’ ὠκε˘α˘νὸν ἠφά˘νι˘σε˘νύξ
2
(
after earth and waters, night obscured ocean).
Rhetoric. Aristotle. John Henry Freese (Translator). London. 1926.
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