Il 'verso' lirico nei Persiani di Eschilo

The determination of ‘verse’-end in the lyric sections of Greek tragedy poses three main problems: 1. the relationship between the ‘verse’-ends and the syntactic, semantic and rhetorical level of the text; 2. the use of criteria other than hiatus and brevis in longo to determine the ‘verse’-ends; 3. the attribution of a not absolute value to the criteria of Böckh. The analysis of the verse-division of some lyric passages of Aeschylus’Persians established in modern editions and metrical studies shows that: 1. the relationship between ‘verses’ and syntactic structure is multiform (‘verse’-end does not always coincide with sense-pause); 2. the criteria other than Böckh’s ones pay attention also to the performative aspects, but are often subjective and problematic (above all for what concerns catalexis); 3. the individuation of brevis in longo depends on colometry and metrical interpretation; the hiatus is not a safe guide to ‘verse’-end when it involves interjections and the like. Therefore, the identification of ‘verse’ boundaries in the lyrics of Greek drama is still an open issue