>Item Subject: Message text
>Dear friends:
>
>In one of the pantocrator mandorle which I am studying (XIIth-XIIIth c.) I am
>finding a special kind of inscriptions who are called by an author "leonine
>hexameters". This author does not give further explanations about the origin of
>this kind of hexameters. Does anyone know something about this? Is there any
>bibliographical useful reference to consult with?
>Thanks,
>
>Alfonso
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>
Dear Alfonso,
Others have pointed you to the good and comprehensive works on Latin
versification. But if you happen to read German, you might also consult a
more specific article which I myself do know only from second hand: Carl
Erdman, _Leonitas_, in: AA.VV., _Coronqa quernea. Festgabe Karl Strecker zum
80. Geburtstage dargebracht_, Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1941 (= Schriften des
Reichsinsituts fu"r A"ltere Deutsche Geschichtskunde [Monumenta Germaniae
Historica], 6), reprinted Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1962.
The basic definition of Leonine verse is that it is a hexameter or
pentameter where the penthemimeres rhymes with the end of the verse (e.g.:
Lucifer ut stellis sic es praelata puellis), but E. R. Curtius
(_Europa"ische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter_, p.161) cites also
more complicated examples like:
Hora novissima, tempora pessima sunt, vigilemus.
Ecce minaciter imminet arbiter ille supremus:
Imminet, imminet, ut mala terminet, aequa coronet,
Recta remuneret, anxia liberet, aethera donet...
(Bernard of Morlas)
The name was derived either from a poet Leoninus (12th cent.) or (like the
cursus leoninus) from pope Leo, but accidental use of the basic metrical
principle can be found as early as in Augustean times.
Sincerely,
Otfried Lieberknecht
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