Metrical Tests of the Authorship of the Culex and Ciris
M. Marjorie Crump · 2019
The practice of using metrical tests to decide the authorship of disputed poems is becoming increasingly prevalent. Metrical tests, whether for authorship or date, are valueless, unless their evidence is well supported by other evidence. A marked metrical peculiarity may give grounds for assigning a poem to an author, who possesses the same peculiarity; but other and stronger evidence required. Metrical characteristics may be useful in determining date. For example, an undated poem by a known author may sometimes be approximately dated by a comparison with the metre of his dated works. The Culex agrees with the Eclogues in containing a larger percentage of lines in which dactyls exceed spondees and a smaller percentage in which spondees exceed dactyls. The ideal metrical test would be one dealing with a characteristic produced unconsciously and without consideration of the style of the poem.