IV. Forms More Frequent in the Second Hemistich: The Nominative and Vocative Singular, Masculine and Feminine

§24 . The nominative singular of the first declension ends in a short a that affords the same metrical advantages as the short a of NAV neuter plurals. If we except the pronoun ego, and the pronominal adjectives ille, ipse, and iste, all other nominatives singular, masculine or feminine, end in a syllable that contains either a long vowel (whether or not followed by a final consonant) or a short vowel followed by a final consonant, single or double. Of these, only forms ending in a single consonant preceded by a short vowel can ever yield a final short syllable. Even this depends upon their being followed by an initial vowel; and fewer words begin with vowels than with consonants. Nevertheless, this last type of words, in which the shortness of the ending is contingent upon a following initial vowel, is so numerous, comprising as it does all masculines and feminines of the second and fourth declensions, and a good part of those of the third, that together with nominatives singular of the first declension it constitutes a most important source of short terminations.