The use of hypermetrical verses in Vergil's Aeneid is rare; but when it occurs, one should consider its effect. The Aeneid is written in dactylic hexameter, which consists of dactyls (long-short-short) and spondees (long-long). The last two feet of the hexameter, with rare exceptions, consist of a dactyl and a spondee. In any poetic meter with predetermined line length, it is important that the final feet return to the default pattern. If this were not the case, then it would be challenging to recognize the particular meter. The other component one must consider in a discussion of hypermetrical verse is elision. In Latin poetry, the final vowel or final vowel plus m elides, or disappears, if the next word begins with a vowel or h. The quantity (short or long) of the final vowel is irrelevant. This is the default situation; if it does not occur where one would expect to occur, this is called hiatus. Elision, however, does not occur between the sixth foot of one line and the first foot of the next line. The sentence or thought often connects the sixth and first foot through enjambment, the delay of a critical word until the beginning of the following line; but this is a literary device rather than a sound-based one. A hypermetrical verse is one in which the last vowel of the last syllable in one line elides due to the first word in the next line beginning with a vowel. It cannot be stressed too much that this is not the default situation! The existence of a hypermetrical verse is dependent on the final vowel of the preceding verse rather than the initial vowel of the following verse.
Aeneas' journey through the Underworld in Book 6 features examples of both false and true hypermetrical verse; in each case, its presence or appearance thereof reflects its context. The first case, the false one, occurs at line 560, while Aeneas and the Sibyl are experiencing the terrifying cacophony of Tisiphone, one of the Furies whose job it is to guard the door to Tartarus, where the truly evil people go. This passage (6.557-561) is filled with words for noise (exaudiri, gemitus, sonare, stridor, strepitum, effare, plangor) and instruments of noise, especially in reference to punishment (scelerum, poenis) and torment (saeva, sonare, verbera, ferri, tractaeque catenae, exterritus). The few words not subsumed in these categories are mostly proper names and function words. Two of these words are verbs of hesitation (constitit, hausit) applied to Aeneas. The overall impression is one of abundant and discordant noise to such a degree that it is disruptive. Aeneas stops to address the Sibyl because he is affected even though is not a prisoner in Tartarus.
"Quae scelerum facies, O virgo, effare quibusve
urguentur poenis? Quis tantus plangor ad auras?"
"Tell me, o maiden, what manner of crimes, and by what punishments are they confined? What is this so great clamor which reaches to the skies?"
Aen. 6.560-1
At first glance, these verses seem well balanced against the chaos of the passage. The vocative "O virgo" is in the middle of the line after the caesura. The three qu- clauses form a triad but they all are ultimately one question. The discordant element in this couplet is the enclitic -ve. The enclitic is necessary, but its presence disrupts the flow of the clause. Without the -ve the phrase would be "quibus urguentur poenis," in which the verb is centered between the adjective and noun, and in which the the verb and the noun participate in enjambment, while the less critical adjective does not. Such a phrase, however, does not meet the requirements of the meter. The addition of the enclitic -ve satisfies the grammatical structure of Latin and the metrical structure of the poetry at the expense of the smaller harmony. The constraints are in irresolvable tension to match the mood of the passage.
The second case, the true extrametrical verse, occurs in the Sibyl's description of Ixion and Pirithous' punishment (6.601-606). The two mortals never enter Tartarus, but the Sibyl's patron goddess, Hecate, taught her the secrets of the realm. Their punishment is to have a rock suspended over their head forever and to have a feast they can see but never reach. Both Ixion and Pirithous had desired congress with goddesses married to other gods.
"Quid memorem Lapithas, Ixiona Pirithoumque?
Quos super atra silex iam iam lapsura cadentique
imminet adsimilis."
"What shall I recall about the Lapiths, Ixion and Pirithous? Over whom a black rock, about to fall any minute now and is alike in threatening the falling person."
(6.601-3)
These verses contain only two qu- words, commensurate with the two sinners. The future participle "lapsura" combined with the reduplicated "iam" creates a prospective effect of future never accomplished. The key phrase, "cadentique imminet adsimilis," once again displays the verb in enjambment, although its companion here is adjectival rather than nominal. Here the hypermetrical verse connects "candentique" and "imminet," and therefore the entire phrase "lapsura cadentique imminet adsimilis." This connection is unifying through its use of transgression inherent to hypermetric verse, yet the same hypermetric verse prevents resolution and reflects its lack within the action of the text.
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