three. Five is the one forbidden number; because five is the

number of the feet; and if five were chosen, the two patterns would

coincide, and that opposition which is the life of verse would

instantly be lost. We have here a clue to the effect of

polysyllables, above all in Latin, where they are so common and

make so brave an architecture in the verse; for the polysyllable is

a group of Nature's making. If but some Roman would return from

Hades (Martial, for choice), and tell me by what conduct of the

voice these thundering verses should be uttered--'Aut Lacedoe-

monium Tarentum,' for a case in point--I feel as if I should enter

at last into the full enjoyment of the best of human verses.

But, again, the five feet are all iambic, or supposed to be; by the

mere count of syllables the four groups cannot be all iambic; as a

question of elegance, I doubt if any one of them requires to be so;

and I am certain that for choice no two of them should scan the

same. The singular beauty of the verse analysed above is due, so

far as analysis can carry us, part, indeed, to the clever

repetition of L, D, and N, but part to this variety of scansion in

the groups. The groups which, like the bar in music, break up the

verse for utterance, fall uniambically; and in declaiming a so-

called iambic verse, it may so happen that we never utter one

iambic foot. And yet to this neglect of the original beat there is

a limit.

The Art of Writing and Other Essays