Iambic Horror: Shivers and Brokenness in Archilochus and Hipponax

Abstract

Now, the letter rho, as I was saying, seemed to the name giver a good instrument for the representationof motion....Through this letter, he imitates motion first of all in the words ῥεῖν (“to flow”) and ῥοῇ (“flow”), then in τρόμῳ (“trembling”) ... and in such verbs as κρούειν (“to strike”), θραύειν (“to crush”) ... θρύπτειν (“to break”).... He saw, I think, that the tongue in this [letter] was least at rest, and most shaken (σειομένην)....