In Roman rhetoric, a clausula (, plural clausulae ; Latin for "little close or conclusion") was a rhythmic figure used to add finality to the end of a sentence or phrase. There was a large range of popular clausulae. One of the most common rhythms was cretic + trochee (– u – – x), for example or , and variations of this, such as the well-known Ciceronian (– u uu – x).
Different authors had different preferences for clausulae. For example, the cretic + trochee and its variants make up 35% of the clausulae in Seneca's letters, but only 11% of the clausulae in Livy's history. Conversely, the double spondee (e.g. – – – –) makes up 36% of Livy's clausulae, but only 11% in Seneca's letters.Keeline & Kirby (2019), p. 170.
Types of clausulae
Every long sentence can be divided into sections called by the Greek word cola (singular colon), in Latin (singular ); the last few syllables of every colon tend to conform to certain favourite rhythmic patterns, which are known as clausulae.Habinek (1985), pp. 10–11. Shorter cola were known as commata /ˈkɒmətə/ (singular comma), or in Latin (singular ), which also often display rhythmic endings.Shewring & Denniston (1970), §16.Cunningham (1957), p. 499.
The constant use of clausulae in Cicero's speeches was first thoroughly investigated by the Polish philologist Tadeusz Zieliński in a monumental work published in German in 1904, following an earlier dissertation by G. Wüst in 1881 and work by other scholars.Clark (1905). Zieliński established that a Ciceronian clausula had two parts: a "base", generally a cretic | – u – | or a variation on it, and a "cadence", generally of a trochaic rhythm such as | – x |, | – u x |, or | – u – x |.Srebrny (1947 (2013)), p. 150. (Here "–" indicates a long syllable, "u" a short syllable, and "x" a syllable which can be either long or short, while "|" demarcates the edges of these parts.)
The most common clausulae in Cicero are the following:Berry (1996), pp. 51-2. | – u – | – x | and variations (32.4% of Cicero's clausulae) | – x – | – u x | (24.4%) | – x – | – u – x | (30.1%)
Variations may include resolving one of the long syllables in the rhythm into two short ones, for example | – u uu | – x | () instead of | – u – | – x |. Another type of allowable variation is to substitute | – uu – | or | – u – – | for the base.Clark (1905), p. 167.
The above clausulae account for about 87% of Cicero's clausulae. Other clausulae are rarer. For example, the cadence may have five elements | – u – u – | or consist of two spondees | – – – – |. This last type (commoner in Livy than in Cicero) is compared by Zieliński to the blows of a hammer. Certain clausulae, such as the hexameter ending | – u u | – x |, were avoided (it occurs in Cicero, but only in about 0.6% of cases, and often for a reason such as mock-heroic description).Berry (1996), p. 52.Adams (2013).
Zieliński noted that Cicero's preferences changed gradually over the years. For example, the rhythm | – – – | – u x | was more common in his earlier speeches, while from his consulate onwards he preferred the lighter | – u – | – u x |.Clark (1905), p. 166.
According to Zieliński, it is a principle of clausulae that the word-accent tends to follow the ictus of the feet, that is, there is usually an accent on the first syllable of the base and on the penultimate long syllable of the cadence, e.g. , , , , etc.Clark (1905), p. 168. However, there are often exceptions to this rule, and Cicero was not so strict as later writers such as Augustine and Arnobius.Shewring & Dennison (1970), §16, 20.
There is no doubt that the skilful use of clausulae was one of the techniques which an orator used to excite an audience. Cicero writes of one occasion when the use of a certain clausula (a dichoreus or double trochee – u – x) by the orator Carbo the Younger was so effective that the audience all gave a shout.Cicero, Orator 214; cf. Adams (2013), p. 8; Cunningham (1957), p. 498.
Examples from Cicero An example of Cicero's use of clausulae in a speech is given below, with the two sentences divided into cola:Grillo (2015), p. 42. , | – u – | – – | , | – u – | – – | , | – – – | – u – | , | – u – | – u – – | , | – u – | – u – – | , | – u – | – u – | | – – – | – u – |
; | – – – | – u – | ; | – u – | – – | , | – u – | – u – | , | – u – | uu – | ; | – – – | – u – | | – u – | – u – |Cicero, dē Prōvinciīs cōnsulāribus, 43.
"Behold that storm, the gloom of good men and a sudden and unforeseen fear, the darkness of the republic, the ruin and conflagration of the state, terror given to Caesar concerning his acts, fear of slaughter for all good men, the wickedness, greed, indigence, and audacity of the consuls! If I was not helped, I did not deserve it; if I was deserted, perhaps he was providing for his own safety; if I was even attacked, as certain people either think or wish, our friendship was violated, I received an injury; I should have been his enemy, I do not deny it."
The "heroic clausula" (– uu – x), which resembles a hexameter ending, is rare but can be used for comic effect, as in the following quotation from pro Caelio:pro Caelio §63; cf. Adams (2013), p. 42. | – u – | – uu – – | | – – – | uu – | | – uu – | – uu – – | | uu – | – u – – |
"They hid in the baths. Outstanding witnesses! Then they rashly leapt out. Cool-headed men!"
As Adams points out, the passage is made even funnier by the pun on testes, which can mean "testicles" as well as "witnesses".
The following passage from the 2nd Catilinarian oration shows some of the less commonly used cadences, including the five-syllable | – u – u – | and the "hammer-blow" spondaic | – – – – |:in Catilīnam 6; cf. Riggsby (2010). | – u – | – u – | | – – – | – u – u – | | – uu – | – – – – | | – uu – | – – | | uu – – | – u – | | – uu – | – u – u – u – u – | | – u – | – u – – |
"There is no place for leniency any longer; the situation itself calls for severity. But one thing I will concede even now: let them go out, let them depart; let them not allow Catiline to pine away miserably with desire for them. I will show them the route: he departed by the Aurelian Way. If they are willing to hurry, by evening they will catch up with him."
It is characteristic of the emphatic spondaic ending (– – – –) that in Cicero there is always a word-break between the base and the cadence. With the clausula – u – – x on the other hand, as in illa tempestas, the most usual place for a word-break is after the second syllable.
The following passage from the pro Scauro is analysed explicitly by Cicero himself into four (commata), followed by two (cola), and then a long spondaic period ending in a dichoreus or double trochee:Cicero, Orator 222–26; analysed in Cunningham (1957), pp. 499–500. | u | – u – | – – || uu – – | | u | – uu uu | – – || uu – – | | – – | – – – | – u – – | | u u u – – – | – u – | – – – | | – – – – | – u – | – u – | | – – – – – – – | – u – | – u – – |
"Did you lack a house? No, you already had one. Did you have plenty of money? No, you didn't have enough. You ran madly into the columns, you raged crazily against other people's slaves; you reckoned a decrepit, dark, fallen down house as worth more than yourself and your fortunes."
Cicero comments that the (commata), because of their shortness, are rather freer in their rhythm, and should be used "like little daggers". The rhythmical period (), he says, is a longer sentence composed of at least two cola, and is more sparingly used. The style which consists of a mixture of commata, cola, and the occasional longer period is particularly effective, he says, in passages arguing a case or refuting one.
Clausulae in other writers Clausulae are found not only in Cicero but in many Roman (as well as Greek and medieval) writers, especially in oratory but also in other types of writing. Each writer has their own preferences and "rhythmic signature". For example, Livy avoids clausulae which are common in Cicero, such as | – u – | – x |, but frequently ends a sentence with a series of long syllables, for example .Clark (1905), pp. 167, 171.
The earliest orator to make extensive use of rhythmic prose in Greek is said to have been the sophist Thrasymachus of Chalcedon (the same person who appears as a speaker in book 1 of Plato's Republic).Clark (1905), p. 164. Plato himself favoured the clausulae | – u – | – u x |, | – – – | – u x |, and | – u u | – u x |, among others. His preferences changed in the course of his life, and he used | u u u x | and | – u u u – x | more often in the later works.Shewring & Denniston (1970), §11. Lysias, Aeschines, Isaeus, Plutarch and others also had their own preferences. Clausulae are prominent in the orations of Demosthenes, especially the ditrochaeus (– u – x), dispondaeus (– – – x), cretic + trochee (– u – – x), and choriamb + trochee (– uu – – x). But Demosthenes' most characteristic practice (known as "Blass's Law") is to avoid series of more than three short syllables anywhere in his sentences.Shewring & Denniston (1970), §10. Some writers such as Thucydides, wrote prose almost free of rhythmical influence, however.Shewring & Denniston (1970), §8.
In Latin, rhythmical prose was characteristic of the so-called "Asiatic" style of oratory, whereas followers of the plainer "Attic" style avoided it. The younger Pliny, Seneca, Suetonius, Apuleius and Tertullian more or less followed the Ciceronian pattern, though several writers avoided | – – – | – u x | and the famous clausula | – u u u | – x |, as being overly Ciceronian.Shewring & Denniston (1970), §17f.
Recent research Recently computer software has been written to analyse large quantities of Latin prose from numerous authors.See Keeline and Kirby (2019). This has confirmed the findings of earlier investigators and made it easy to compare one author with another. Thus for example, it appears that the double cretic clausula (– x – – u –) is quite common in Cato's book on farming (21%) but rare in Varro's work on the same subject (8%). The cretic + trochee (– u – – x) is exceptionally common in Curtius Rufus (48%). This same cretic + trochee occurs in 34% of the clausulae in Cicero's Catilinarian orations, but in only 17% of clausulae in his letters to Atticus.
Those clausulae which are considered most "rhythmic" or "artistic" are the following together with their variants:See Keeline and Kirby (2019), pp. 163–164. cretic + trochee (– u – – x) cretic/molossus + cretic (– x – – u –) double trochee (– u – x) hypodochmiac (– u – u x)
Cicero's speeches typically have a high percentage of clausulae of the "artistic" type, for example 90% in the Catilinarians. Even in the letters to Atticus the percentage is 70%. In fact, most of the 25 authors analysed by Keeline and Kirby have a majority of artistic-type clausulae. Suetonius's biographies have 81%, as do Seneca's letters; Nepos's lives have 70%; Caesar's Gallic War has a slightly lower percentage (63%). Even a technical writer such as Vitruvius in his has 61%, and the medical writer Celsus has 70%.
Sallust and Livy, however, seem to have avoided the "artistic" clausulae or used them less often. Sallust's Jugurthine War has only 46% of such clausulae. Livy varies in different parts of his work. In books 1–10 the percentage of "artistic" clausulae is 50%, but in books 21–30 it is only 33%. The spondaic clausula (as in ) is more common in Livy than in other writers, but it too varies, being less common in books 1–10 (29%) and more common in books 21–30 (40%).The macronised texts used, and the tables of percentages of different authors and works, have been made available online: see the Bibliography below.