Sugli esametri tetracoli. Tendenze stilistiche e sclerotizzazione dell’esametro tardoantico

Throughout the history of the hexameter, four-word verse became increasingly common, reaching a peak in late antiquity. The tetracolos was perceived as a particularly expressive verse, conveying an effect of magniloquence, which partly explains its success. However, it is also possible to point to 'structural' reasons that favoured the success of the tetracolos, which can be traced back to Fränkel's theory of the four-fold division of the hexameter. The progressive articulation per cola of the hexameter, in two main parts each consisting of two colas and separated by the central pause, favours the increasing use of four-word verse, which represents its most accomplished form (this applies not only to grammatical tetracolos, but also to those with an appositive). In Late Antiquity, the use of this structure is also due to performative needs that favour clearly marked and recognisable metrical structures. Both internal reasons, linked to the development of the inner structure of the hexameter, and external reasons, linked to the oral performance of literature in Late Antiquity, lead to an increase in the frequency of tetracolos, which nevertheless retain their original expressive function.