One of the most common rhythms was cretic + trochee (– u – – x), for example vīta trānscurrit or illa tempestās, and variations of this, such as the well-known Ciceronian esse videātur (– u uu – x).
The most common clausulae in Cicero are the following:[7] Variations may include resolving one of the long syllables in the rhythm into two short ones, for example | – u uu | – x | (esse videātur) instead of | – u – | – x |.
Cicero writes of one occasion when the use of a certain clausula (a dichoreus or double trochee – u – x) by the orator Carbo the Younger was so effective that the audience all gave a shout.
[14] An example of Cicero's use of clausulae in a speech is given below, with the two sentences divided into cola:[15] The "heroic clausula" (– uu – x), which resembles a hexameter ending, is rare but can be used for comic effect, as in the following quotation from pro Caelio:[17] As Adams points out, the passage is made even funnier by the pun on testes, which can mean "testicles" as well as "witnesses".
[8] The following passage from the pro Scauro is analysed explicitly by Cicero himself into four incīsa (commata), followed by two membra (cola), and then a long spondaic period ending in a dichoreus or double trochee:[19] Cicero comments that the incīsa (commata), because of their shortness, are rather freer in their rhythm, and should be used "like little daggers".
The style which consists of a mixture of commata, cola, and the occasional longer period is particularly effective, he says, in passages arguing a case or refuting one.
[6] For example, Livy avoids clausulae which are common in Cicero, such as | – u – | – x |, but frequently ends a sentence with a series of long syllables, for example lēgātī Rōmān(i) occurrērunt.
[20] The earliest orator to make extensive use of rhythmic prose in Greek is said to have been the sophist Thrasymachus of Chalcedon (the same person who appears as a speaker in book 1 of Plato's Republic).
[21][25] Recently computer software has been written to analyse large quantities of Latin prose from numerous authors.
Thus for example, it appears that the double cretic clausula (– x – – u –) is quite common in Cato's book on farming (21%) but rare in Varro's work on the same subject (8%).
Suetonius's biographies have 81%, as do Seneca's letters; Nepos's lives have 70%; Caesar's Gallic War has a slightly lower percentage (63%).
Pliny the Younger, both in his one surviving oration, the Panegyricus, and in his letters, shows a high proportion of "artistic" clausulae, with 85% in both works.
For the purpose of obtaining the percentages given above, a clausula was defined as the last few syllables leading up to places where editors have traditionally punctuated the Latin text with a full-stop, question-mark, exclamation-mark, colon, or semicolon.
[29] In the medieval period, Latin ceased to be pronounced in a quantitative way, and clausulae tended to be accentual rather than based on quantity.
Three end-of-sentence rhythms were especially favoured, the so called plānus (– x x – x) (where – indicates an accented syllable and x an unaccented one), the tardus (– x x – x x), and the velōx (– x x x x – x).
[37] The analysis of a piece of Latin into cola and clausulae can not only of help the modern student to read the passage with authentic phrasing, but also is a useful tool in investigating an author's style.
So, for example, Riggsby notes that the cola in the earlier part of the 2nd Catilinarian oration are shorter, and the clausulae more varied, than in the last paragraph.
[39] In the case of authors whose practice varied over the years, such as Plato, clausulae analysis can throw light on the date of a work.
For example, it appears that Cicero pronounced reddūcō "I bring back" and relliquus "remaining" with a long first syllable, as did Lucretius.
[41] In the future perfect tense, as in fēcerīmus "we'll have made", it appears that Cicero, contrary to the rule given in some grammars such as Kennedy,[43] pronounced the "i" long, as did his contemporary Catullus.