This verse differs from the preceding in that the last foot is always a trochee or spondee, never a dactyl. It is used only in the Alcmanian strophe ([2724]).
[The Dactylic Trimeter Catalectic (or Lesser Archilochian).]
[2579.] This verse has the scheme:
–́ ⏑ ⏑ | –́ ⏑ ⏑ | –́ ⌅
An example is:
Árbori|búsque co | maé (H. 4, 7, 2).
It is used chiefly in the First Archilochian Strophe (see [2725]). In form it is the same as the second half of the pentameter ([2570]).
[2580.] These verses ([2578], [2579]) are often called Archilochian because they were first used by the Greek poet Archilochus.
[IAMBIC RHYTHMS.]
[2581.] These are ascending rhythms ([2528]) in 3/8 time. The fundamental foot is the Iambus (⏑ –́), for which its metrical equivalent the tribrach ⏑ ⏑́ ⏑, the irrational spondee > –́, the irrational dactyl > ⏑́ ⏑, the cyclic anapaest ⏑ ⏑ –́, or the proceleusmatic ⏑ ⏑ ⏑́ ⏑ is sometimes substituted.