I am using the bigfoot
package for the footnotes of a critical edition in the verse
environment. I have defined two different footnotes (A and B). What I need is to fix the separation between them, i.e. the space from the last note of the A footnote until the footnote ruler above the B footnote. The problem is that this separation varies when the page breaks in different positions.
Since the page break is co-defined by the command \\*
of the verse
package (which precludes a page break; to avoid widows and orphans), the situation can become quite complex. Below I provide a MWE and an illustration of the problem. The code that "Redefines the space above and below the footnote rulers" was kindly provided by Maïeul here.
\documentclass[12pt]{book}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\usepackage{verse}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}
\setdefaultlanguage{greek}
\setotherlanguage{english}
\newfontfamily\greekfont[Script=Greek,Ligatures=TeX]{Times New Roman}
\usepackage[para]{bigfoot}
\def\extrafootnoterule{\defaultfootnoterule}
\interfootnotelinepenalty=10000
\DeclareNewFootnote[para]{A}
\DeclareNewFootnote[para]{B}
\def \mylinespacing {1.05}
\expandafter\def\csname @makefnbreak\endcsname{\unskip\linebreak[0]\quad}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Redefines the space above and below the footnote rulers
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\before}{2.52pt}%Space before rule
\newcommand{\after}{10.52pt}% Space after rule
\renewcommand{\footnoterule}{%Redefine footnoterule
\hrule width 3cm
\kern \after}
% Change the space kept for rules+spaces around
\advance\skip\footins by \after
\advance\skip\footins by \before
% Not print the after space before the rule
\patchcmd{\@makecol}{\vskip \skip\footins}{\vskip \skip\footins\vskip-\after}{}{}
%load parafootskip
% Not print the after space before the rule
\patchcmd{\MFL@joinrule}{\@tempskipa\skip#5}{\@tempskipa\skip#5\advance\@tempskipa by -\after}{}{}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\renewcommand{\thefootnoteA}{}
\renewcommand{\thefootnoteB}{}
\newcommand{\foota}[1]{%
\begingroup%
\linespread{\mylinespacing}%
\footnoteA{\textbf{\arabic{poemline}} #1}
\endgroup}
\newcommand{\footb}[1]{%
\begingroup%
\linespread{\mylinespacing}%
\footnoteB{\textbf{\arabic{poemline}} #1}
\endgroup}
\newcommand{\footheirm}[1]{%
\begingroup%
\linespread{\mylinespacing}%
\footnoteA+{#1}
\endgroup}
\hyphenpenalty = 10000
\exhyphenpenalty = 10000
\begin{document}
\verselinenumbersleft
\settowidth{\versewidth}{ααααααααααααααααααααααααααααααααααααααααα}
\chapter*{CANON I}
\poemlines{5}
\begin{verse}[\versewidth]
\vin ᾠδὴ . \textit{Θαυμαστὸς ἐνδόξως ποιῶν τέρατα}\footheirm{heirm. α΄ EE 76, n. 108, Andreae}
\vin Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν,\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἄϋ��ον,\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τῶν θεωριῶν\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τὴν σάλπιγγα τὴν θείαν,\footb{Τὴν πύρινην}\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τὸ στόμα τῆς σοφίας,\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τὸν μέγαν θεολόγον\\*
θείοις ὕμνοις ἀνευφημήσωμεν.\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\!
\vin Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν,\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἄϋλον,\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τῶν \footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}θεωριῶν\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τὴν σάλπιγγα τὴν θείαν,\\
τὸ στόμα τῆς σοφίας,\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τὸν μέγαν θεολόγον\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
θείοις ὕμνοις ἀνευφημήσωμεν.\\!
\vin Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν,\\*
τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἄϋλον,\\
τῶν θεωριῶν \footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\
τὴν σάλπιγγα τὴν θείαν,\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
τὸ στόμα τῆς σοφίας,\\*
τὸν μέγαν θεολόγον\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
θείοις ὕμνοις ἀνευφημήσωμεν.\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\!
\end{verse}
\end{document}
With the code provided above one would get the result illustrated on the left side of the image that follows (I only show the bottom of the first page in order to save space). If the \\*
substitutes the \\
at the end of the second and third verses of the last stanza (the code below), then I get the result depicted on the right side of the image.
\vin Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν,\\*
τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἄϋλον,\\*
τῶν θεωριῶν \footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
τὴν σάλπιγγα τὴν θείαν,\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
τὸ στόμα τῆς σοφίας,\\*
τὸν μέγαν θεολόγον\footb{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\*
θείοις ὕμνοις ἀνευφημήσωμεν.\foota{Τὴν πύρινην γλῶτταν}\\!
Apparently the footnote A moves up and the separation from footnote B is increasing. This behaviour is what I need to eliminate.