The Sibyl of Cumae
Apollo and the Sibyl of Cumae

Apollo and the Sibyl of Cumae

Scansion, lines 101-109

Ovid’s Metamorphoses from the Tuft’s Perseus website, Book 14

I couldn’t get the first line to scan. The last 3 feet look clear.

Hās ŭbi praētĕriit ēt /Pārthĕnŏ/pēĭă /dēxtrā

The i in ubi can be long or short, as can the first i in praeteriit. The second i in praeteriit is short. Et is long by position. So the long and short syllables fall in the wrong places. I’m pretending that the first i in praeteriit doubles as a j to lengthen -ter- in praeteriit, and combines with the second i to make a long vowel. Or, Ovid just designated the second i as long for fun.

I did find two AI Latin scansion pages, which both came up with the same result I got. (Nerds rule!)
They are:
http://www.logical.ai/arma/
http://schediazein.altervista.org/Metron/Site/Metron.html

Hās ŭbĭ/ praētĕrĭ/īt ēt /Pārthĕnŏ/pēĭă /dēxtrā
moēnĭa/ dēsĕrŭ/ĭt, laē/vā dē /pārtĕ că/nōri
Aēŏlĭ/daē tŭmŭ/lum ēt, lŏcă /fētă pă/lūstrĭbŭs /ūndis,
lītŏră /Cūmā/rūm vī/vācīsque /āntră Sĭ/byllae
īntrăt, ēt/ ūt mān/ēs vĕnĭ/āt pĕr Ă/vērnă păt/ērnos,
ōrăt. Ăt/ īllă dĭ/ū vūl/tūm tēll/ūrĕ mŏ/rātum
ērēx/īt tān/dēmquĕ dĕ/ō fŭrĭ/būndă rĕ/cēpto
“māgnă pĕ/tĭs” dīx/īt, “vīr/ fāctīs /māxĭmĕ, /cuīus
dēxtĕră/ pēr fērrum /ēst, pĭĕ/tās spēct/ātă pĕr /ignes.