Classical Latin poetry is capable of a beauty all its own. Its structure, derived from Greek precedents, is an orderly patterning of long and short syllables, sometimes quite simple, sometimes more complex. Across these metrical patterns the words scatter a play of varied phonetic stress and fall in place with a freedom, facilitated by the inflexional nature of the language, that can convey fine nuances of emphasis. As late as the sixth century Latin poets could still feel free to present new metrical arrangements of this kind. Later we find them either (as in the Middle Ages) adopting the...