Book 3
8.4
The paean is a third kind of rhythm closely related to those already mentioned; for its proportion is 3 to 2, that of the others 1 to 1 and 2 to 1, with both of which the paean, whose proportion is 1 1/2 to 1, is connected.The heroic rhythm (dactyls, spondees, and anapests) is as 1 to 1, two short syllables being equal to one long; trochaic and iambic 2 to 1 on the same principle; paean, 3 to 2 (three shorts and one long), being the mean between the other two.
8.5
All the other meters then are to be disregarded for the reasons stated, and also because they are metrical; but the paean should be retained, because it is the only one of the rhythms mentioned which is not adapted to a metrical system, so that it is most likely to be undetected.
8.6
At the present day one kind of paean alone is employed, at the beginning as well as at the end;Understanding καὶ τελευτῶντες. 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: Δα¯λο˘γε˘νε˘ς εἴτε Λυ˘κι˘αν, (O Delos-born, or it may be Lycia), and Χρυ¯σε˘ο˘κό˘μα¯ Ἕ˘κα˘τε˘ παῖ Διό˘ς (Golden-haired far-darter, son of Zeus). The other on the contrary begins with three short syllables and ends with one long one: με˘τὰ˘ δε˘ γᾶν ὕ˘δα˘τά˘ τ’ ὠκε˘α˘νὸν ἠφά˘νι˘σε˘νύξAll three attributed to Simonides (Frag. 26 B: P.L.G.). (after earth and waters, night obscured ocean). 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 the end should be clearly marked, not by the scribe nor by a punctuation mark,A dash below the first word of a line, indicating the end of a sentence. but by the rhythm itself.
8.7
That the style should be rhythmical and not unrhythmical, and what rhythms and what arrangement of them make it of this character, has now been sufficiently shown.
