In a consonant cluster, one consonant ends the preceding syllable and the rest start the following syllable. For example, Latin syllabifies as but as and as . Exceptions and additions A few exceptions to and elaborations of the above rules of heavy and light syllables: The Greek letters (zeta, xi, and psi) and their Roman equivalents and (and ) were pronounced as two consonants, so they lengthen by position despite being represented by a single character. For example, the first syllable of is heavy, despite the short vowel followed only by one written consonant, because the Z was pronounced as two consonants and lengthens the syllable by position. Sanskrit meter also treats the letters अं and अः (the anusvara and visarga) as full consonants for purposes of syllable weight, despite being classified typically as vowels. The combination stop–liquid (usually) or stop–nasal (sometimes) cohered in both Latin and Greek; that is, the two consonants were pronounced together with the speed of one consonant. As a result, they did not lengthen by position if the poet did not want them to (although they could if the poet chose). For example, the first syllable of is generally light, even though it has a short vowel followed by two consonants, because the consonants cohere (and the word is syllabified ). However, the combination aspirate-nasal or voiced consonant-nasal did not cohere and always lengthened by position. In Homer and his imitators, the digamma (), a sound defunct in the standard Ionic alphabet and lost from pronunciation by the classical period, was still felt enough to lengthen by position, even though it is normally not written in the Homeric poems. For example, in the line (Odyssey, 9.3), the first syllable of is long, even though it has a short vowel followed by only one consonant, because the word was originally , and the digamma was still felt enough to lengthen the syllable by position. Since the digamma was being lost during the time when the Homeric poems were composed, recited, and written down, its effects are sometimes not felt, so that words that would have contained a digamma sometimes do not show its effects. As noted above, the number and order of heavy and light syllables in a line of poetry (together with word breaks) articulated the meter of the line, such as the most famous classical meter, the epic dactylic hexameter. See also Meter (poetry)