Having trouble understanding the scansion for the second line of the Aeneid

Question

I've just begun to learn scansion, and I'm using the Aeneid to practice - sadly, I'm stuck on line two ("Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit"). To make a long story short, I ended up looking up the solution, and it turns out that the last 'i' in Lavinia doesn't count as a vowel: "Ītălĭ|ām fāt|ō prŏfŭg|ūs Lāv|īniăquĕ| vēnĭt" Why is this? Is this consonantal 'i', and if that's the case, why? I was taught that an 'i' after a consonant was usually a vowel.

Answer 1

This is a tricky one, when you're just starting out with scansion! You're right that Lāvīnia would normally be four syllables: Lā-vī-ni-a.

However, there's a process in poetry known as synizesis (from the Greek συνίζησις), where two vowels next to each other can turn into a diphthong when the meter requires it. It's not especially common, but has a long and illustrious pedigree: the very first line of the Iliad has an eō (εω) that need to be pronounced as a single syllable. (In the same foot as this ia, actually—I'd never noticed that before.)

So in this instance, synizesis turns the word into Lā-vīn-ja, three syllables, for the sake of the meter. You won't run into this very often, but it's a good tool to keep in mind when a line just won't quite scan. This isn't the only time you'll see it in Vergil!