Cursus in clausula, an online analysis tool of Latin prose

The analysis of cursus in a Latin text could be a crucial aspect of textual criticism and it could be helpful in solving attribution problems or authorship questions. The perception of this 'suprasegmental' [1] stylistic element is quite challenging, especially in the case of prosodic cursus or cursus mixtus, as the ability to differentiate between short and long syllables is lost by contemporary reader likewise it is still sort of mystery the way reading in ancient time took place, where the reading aloud was the main and more common manner to read. In order to study this rhetorical device it is necessary firstly to distinguish the ending sentences in a metrical and/or accentual classification and then to apply quantitative methods (internal/external comparison). A rigorous system for evaluating the definable cadences in the closes of periods of a certain author is important in order to understand if this particular feature is a stylistic conscious choice of the writer. This paper provides an in-depht description of the online tool 'Cursus in Clausula'. The instrument aims to help the Latinist both with the phase of collecting clausolae and with statistical analysis.