Chapter XXII: Book VI: with a new set of definitions

[34] Alberic’s _Rationes dictandi_ are printed in Rockinger, I. 9-28, and are followed by _Albericus de dictamine_, 29-46.

[35] _Liber pontificalis_, 162, vol. II. 311, as translated by Poole (84) in context. The Chancellor was afterward (1118-1119) Pope Gelasius II.

[36] The key phrases are Clark’s (10), repeated by Poole (90). The grave accent in the last indicates that at this point there is often a secondary, lighter stress.

_Tardus_ is called _ecclesiasticus_ in a thirteenth-century work quoted by Thurot, 482.

A fourth form, _trispondiacus_ (Vacandard, 72, 89), is regarded by Croll (2) as a modification of _velox_.

For correctness of cadence as a mark of authenticity see the passage from Pierre de Blois quoted by Langlois, NE 34, part 2: 26.

The best English summary of the technic of _cursus_ is Poole, Chapter IV, which also reviews Valois, Havet, W. Meyer, and Clark. The best indication of the significance of _cursus_ is Croll; for though this essay is directed to a later period, it reviews medieval habit and through English examples exhibits the influence of _cursus_ in the development of vernacular prose rhythm.

[37] _Reg._ VI. 105, June 30, 1203, as quoted and pointed by Poole (97), who thus prints the whole mandate.

[38] _Ep._ VI. 6; Toynbee, 75; pointed by Clark, 20. Both record W. Meyer’s emendation for _cursus_, _puníta_ (for _Púnica_, a former corrupt reading). The _cursus_ in John of Salisbury’s _Ep._ 221 are followed in the translation above, page 209. The text begins as follows: “Fáma vulgánte (_plan._) didicimus vos et dominum Ottonem sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ diáconum càrdinálem (_vel._) ad preces illustris domini nostri regis Anglórum (_plan._) ex mandato dómini pápæ (_plan._) in partes Aquitániæ dèscendísse (_vel._) ut auctore Deo, si fieri potest, Anglicanæ Ecclesiæ debitam reddatis libertatem (not conformed) et inter dominum regem et Cantuariensem archiepiscopum pacem et concórdiam rèformétis (_vel._). A magnis etiam et a venerabilibus víris audítum est (_tard._) quod præfatus dominus noster rex adeo de amore véstro confídit (_plan._) ut consilio vestro in omnibus obtemperáre decréverit” (_tard._).

[39] For this see Vacandard’s historical review.

[40] Pointed by Croll (27), who compares the English versions of this and of other collects in the Book of Common Prayer.

[41] If the second measure could have ended on _mýsteries of thy bódy_, it would have conformed.

[42] See above, Chapter IV. C.

[43] See above, pages 111, 184.

[44] _Candelabrum_, describing French interpretation of prose rhythms by metrical terms, says: “Nor do they consider those feet according to shortness or length, but according to number of syllables and word-habit.” The whole passage is quoted by Thurot (484), who notes its correspondence to Maître Guillaume (quoted at 481): “The feet used in verse are three, dactyl, spondee, trochee. In _dictamen_, however, we use two, spondee and dactyl. Nor are the feet to be measured by length and shortness, but by the run (_cursus_) of the words. For every dissyllable, whether long or short, is a spondee; and a trisyllable with a short penult is a dactyl.” Ponce (quoted also at 481) lays down the same principle. The _cursus_, that is, was determined by the number of unstressed syllables between word-accents. The old terminology of quantitative metric was kept, partly because it was conveniently familiar, partly because the new rhythms were legitimate descendants of the old. But the abeyance of quantity could not be more clearly indicated than by the dictators’ habit of calling every dissyllable a spondee.