Abstract
Multivariate analyses offer the possibility of distinguishing the various independent components of style which contrast one sample of text with another. The analysis will show which of the stylistic components is of the greatest importance in any particular contrast. The application of these techniques to the greater part of the extant corpus of Latin elegiac verse shows that the concept of style in this setting can be dissected into at least three independent components. Two of these components, associated previously with the entropy and elision frequency of the text, are under more or less conscious control by the author, but the third, associated previously with the mean syllable number per word, reflects the date at which the verse was written and is apparently refractive to counterfeiting. Severe mental stress in the author is reflected in this component.
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