Metre

Whether what we call metre existed in the earlier times is doubtful; the litany of the Arval Brethren scarcely accommodates itself to an outwardly fixed metrical system, and presents to us rather the appearance of an animated recitation.  On the other hand we find in subsequent times a very ancient rhythm, the so-called Saturnian(6) or Faunian metre, which is foreign to the Greeks, and may be conjectured to have arisen contemporaneously with the oldest Latin popular poetry.  The following poem, belonging, it is true, to a far later age, may give an idea of it:—­

Quod re sua difeidens—­aspere afleicta

Parens timens heic vovit—­voto hoc soluto
___
Decuma facta poloucta—­leibereis lubentis
____          _____
Donu danunt__hercolei—­maxsume—­mereto
_____
Semol te orant se voti—­crebro con__demnes.

__—­’__—­’__—­’__^/ __—­’__—­’__—­’_^

That which, misfortune dreading—­sharply to afflict him, An anxious parent vowed here,—­when his wish was granted, A sacred tenth for banquet—­gladly give his children to Hercules a tribute—­most of all deserving; And now they thee beseech, that—­often thou wouldst hear them.

Panegyrics as well as comic songs appear to have been uniformly sung in Saturnian metre, of course to the pipe, and presumably in such a way that the -caesura- in particular in each line was strongly marked; and in alternate singing the second singer probably took up the verse at this point.  The Saturnian measure is, like every other occurring in Roman and Greek antiquity, based on quantity; but of all the antique metres perhaps it is the least thoroughly elaborated, for besides many other liberties it allows itself the greatest license in omitting the short syllables, and it is at the same time the most imperfect in construction, for these iambic and trochaic half-lines opposed to each other were but little fitted to develop a rhythmical structure adequate for the purposes of the higher poetry.

Melody

The fundamental elements of the national music and choral dancing in Latium, which must likewise have been established during this period, are buried for us in oblivion; except that the Latin pipe is reported to have been a short and slender instrument, provided with only four holes, and originally, as the name shows, made out of the light thighbone of some animal.

Masks