XV
[15arg] That Marcus Varro in heroic verse noted a matter demanding very minute and careful observation.IN the long lines called hexameters, and likewise in senarii, 1 students of metric have observed that the first two feet, and also the last two, may consist each of a single part of speech, but that those between may not, but are always formed of words which are either divided, or combined and run together. 2 Varro in his book On the Arts 3 wrote that he had observed in hexameter verse that the fifth half-foot always ends a word, 4 and that the first five half-feet are of equally great importance in making a verse with the following seven; and he argues that this happens in accordance with a certain geometrical ratio.