Statistics and the art of Latin prose

Abstract

I have been investigating various statistical methods of looking for poetical cadences (sentence ends which have rhythm) in Latin prose. Stata was used as my primary software for performing my own analysis, and for checking the analysis of previous scholars. Several methods for determining rhythmicity have been proposed over the last twenty years; I have evaluated the use of some of these, and used others to analyse a particular text by the Venerable Bede (a Northumbrian monk, born in c.672, who wrote Biblical commentaries in Latin, amongst other things). The research method involved Chi-squared tests performed against control texts (examples of Latin prose selected for the type of their cadences). The analysis using Stata provided me with the necessary figures for performing adjustments to avoid overtesting (the Chi-squared test was performed many times on the same material). I found that, when compared to control texts, Bede was significantly more likely than the control texts to use rhythmical cadences, but was equally likely to use metrical cadences. I concluded that Bede used rhythmical cadences in his prose, but may not have used metrical cadences in his prose.