ELEMENTS OF HEBREW RHYTHM 135
Lamentations i. abundantly confirms, that the
same poem may contain distichs of different
metrical character.
But within what limits may or do these and
other differences occur within the same poem?
If that question is to be answered we must dis-
cover some principle of measurement which will
enable us to determine in less simple cases than
those just cited when the rhythm remains constant
and when it changes, and how.
Is balance, then, due to (1) equality in the
number of syllables in the two lines, and echo to
inequality in the number of syllables? If this
be so, then Lamentations v. 3,
bx Nyx vnyyh Mymvty
tvnmlxK vnytvmx
Orphans were we, without father,
(And) our mothers (were) as widows,
is in balancing rhythm, the number of syllables
in each line being eight.
Or (2) is balance due to the sum of the metrical
values of all syllables in each line being the same,
even though the number of the syllables differs?
The number of syllables in a Latin hexameter
varies; but the sum of the metrical values of
the syllables must always be equivalent to six
spondees. If this were the true account of
Hebrew rhythm, it would become necessary to
determine what syllables are metrically long,
what short.