BOOK XVII. CHAP. I.

we judge [it] by sense, so also in the arrangement of words we examine the reason of the context, whether it is correct or not. For if it is incongruous, it will make a solecism grammatical error, as if the elements of the sentence were coming together inharmoniously, just as the inharmoniousness of letters or syllables, or their accidents, makes a barbarism linguistic error in individual words. 8 Just as, therefore, the right method of writing teaches the congruent joining of letters, so also does the method of arrangement show the right composition of a sentence. We call 7 the elements "prepositive" both in consonants and in vowels; but there are also certain prepositive elements in syllables. In diphthongs, a, e, and o are prepositive, as in ae, au, eu, oe; but i and u are postponed. And aspirations added to vowels are found at the beginning of syllables, as habeo I have, Hermus, hircus he-goat, homo man, hora hour, humus ground, humanus human. And u placed in the place of a consonant, and q and k, are always placed at the beginning of syllables. Syllables are also placed before others, as prae- is always found at the beginning of words: praemium reward, praeco herald, praetor praetor, praedium estate, praelum press. Also postpositive [elements], which begin with gm or cm or chm, as agmen column, Pyracmon, Menaechmus. Also final ones, which end in ls or rs...

Diphthongs. The method of punctuation in these editions is varied. In the Aldine, Basel, and Cologne editions, a period is placed after "et o"; in the Putsch edition, a comma. The Venice and Erfurt editions correctly exhibit no punctuation mark; however, they did so wrongly a little earlier after "syllabis," where they placed a major punctuation mark. Furthermore, it should be noted that the diphthong "ei," which is read in the Aldine, Juntine, Cologne, Basel, and Putsch editions after "oe," is absent from the Leipzig A, B, Erlangen, Munich B, and Langer manuscripts, and the Venice, Erfurt, and Ascensius editions. Therefore, I also omitted it. It certainly should have been placed after "eu." Gphb manuscript "ae, oe, au, ei, eu." "Hermus." The Aldine, Basel, and Putsch editions read "heremus." But the Ascensius and Cologne editions and the Langer manuscript have "hermus." I have followed these books, except that I ensured this word should be expressed with an initial capital letter. The Venice, Erfurt, and Juntine editions have "herinus." Most codices have "hemus." After "hora," the Leipzig A manuscript adds "hodie." "in principio" at the beginning. The Venice, Ascensius, Basel, and Putsch editions have "initio." I have followed the Leipzig A manuscript and the Cologne edition. "prae semper." Thus the Leipzig A, B, Erlangen, Langer, and Gphb manuscripts. In the Venice, Ascensius, Erfurt, Juntine, Aldine, Basel, and Cologne editions, "semper" is placed after "invenitur." "praelum" I have received from the Ascensius edition and the Gphb manuscript instead of "prae-lium," which the Aldine, Juntine, Basel, and Cologne editions and the Langer manuscript defend.