Is 'hoc' ever pronounced short?

Based on metric evidence, it was always pronounced "hocc" with a geminated c, but still spelled hoc. I went through all the 124 appearances of the hoc in Virgil's works. Whenever hoc was followed by a vowel, the scansion unambiguously required that the syllable be long.

1. Is H silent in Latin?

Is H silent in Latin?

h is fully pronounced and never 'silent'. s is always as in "see" and never voiced as in "wise". ch represents Greek Χ χ (chi) and is nearly equal to a hard Latin "c", the only difference being that ch is aspirated (it is pronounced with an additional puff of air).