Homer’s metre: a practical guide for reading Greek hexameter poetry by G.B. Nussbaum (review)

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 379 DA VID KNOWLES. The Evolution of Medieval Thou ght. Originally published 1962. Reprinted New York: Vintage Press. Distributed in Canada by Random House , Toronto. Pp . 356. Paper, $8.50, 0-394-70246-8. "One can be a perfect philosopher only if one knows both Plato and Aristotle". This is hardly an astonishing remark , but some may be surprised that it was made in the thirteenth century, and made by St. Albert the Great. Medieval thought is placed firmly on ancient foundations in this classic account, and the expo sition of intellectual progress, which goes up to William of Ockham, rightly begins with Socrates of Athens. The reader of this reprint must of course expect the learning of an earlier generation, and the brief suggestions for further reading are somewhat outdated ; there is an occasional orotundity of style which may have stood out even in 1962, when the book was first printed. But although there are more recent treatments which cover more or less the same ground (such as those of Haren, Leff, and Wolff, also in paperback), the virtues of this one are undimmed. To say nothing of his knowledge and scholarship, Knowles wrote with a deep respect for his subjec ts, a notable fairness and maturity of judgement, and a supreme clarity of structure. There is throughout a careful balance betw een detail , whether biographical, chronological or theological, and generality, as shown in his helpful surveys of medieval education at different times or in his explanations of such dominant concerns as angels, ontology or universals. Especially noteworthy is his rounded presentation of such leading figure s as Augustine , John of Salisbury, Duns Scotus and Siger of Brabant (murdered by his demented secretary). There arc few philosophers in whose writings Knowles did not find "the element of charm and the impress of personality ". They are much in evidence in this book, too. UNIV ERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS , SCOTLAND ROGER GREEN G.B. NUSSBAUM. Homer's metre: a pra ctical guide f or readin g Greek hexam eter poetry. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1986. pp .40. Broche,£2.95, 0-86292- 172-4. L'auteur , professeur a l'Univcrsitc de Keele , en Grand c-Brctagne, a deja procure un opuscule equivalent pour la metrique latine; il adapte sa method e ici, rcmplacant I'accent aigu C) par des traits soulignant les syllabes "fortes".' On a sept brefs chapitre s: "Special markings and specimen text"; "Pronunciation checkli st"; "Feeling the rhythm"; "Understanding the metre"; "Learning the rhythm" ; "Phrasing"; "From marked text to reading at sight". Un epilogue ! Sur leur nature controversec voir ci-desso us n. 12 et n. 13. 380 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS (29-30) est suivi de deux appendices qui ajoutent quelques explications: I'un initie ades metres derives d'Homere (pentarnetre, distique elegiaque) ou independants (trimetre farnbique): I'autre precise des points de scansion (33) , d'intensite ("stress") et de mesure ("verse-beat"), pour les comparer au latin (34-35) . On attendrait une bibliographie: Wl.W. Koster, Traite de metrique grecque (Leyde 1966) et M.L. West, Greek metre (Oxford 1982) sont essentiels, plus accessibles que B. Snell, Griechische Metrik (Gouingen 1957) qui fait encore autorite. La technique proposee parait excellente, surtout pour de jeunes oreilles "rompues" aux divers "beats " fin de siecle. En respectant les etapes, on peut y apprendre un certain sens du rythme epique, en esperant l'integrer petit apetit a ses habitudes de lecteur. On a d'abord toutes les indications, quantite, accent tonique, intensite (sept vers); puis on ajoute la cesure en supprimant les quantites (cinq vers) pour aller apprendre les pauses en ne maintenant que la cesure et l'intensite (sept vers, toujours differents); enfin, huit vers servent ala pratique exclusive de la cesure et des pauses. II s'agit d'un passage de I'/liade, 1.285-311, ou I'Atride et Achille refusent passionnernent la mediation de Nestor. Les trois pages de prononciation (7-9) appellent des reserves. Est-il sur que "up" soit un cas clair de [a] pour tout anglophone? On verrait mieux des exemples comme "lap, rapid, tap", ou l'articulation semble plus unanime. II faut penser aux usagers internationaux de I...