The Phalaecean (or Hendecasyllable).
[2664.] This verse is a logaoedic pentapody with the dactyl in the second place. The Greek poets admitted the trochee and iambus, as well as the spondee, in the first foot, and Catullus followed their example; but in Petronius, Martial, and the Priāpēa the first foot is always a spondee, and in later writers nearly always. Horace does not use the Phalaecean. There is no fixed caesura, though the penthemimeral is often found. The scheme is:—
| [–́ ⏑] | ||||
| –́ > | –́ ⏖ | –́ ⏑ | –́ ⏑ | – ⏑ |
| [⏑́–] | ||||
Examples are:—
Cúius | vī́s fie|rī́ li|bélle | mū́nus (Mart. 3, 2, 1).
With initial trochee: Dḗ di|ḗ faci|tís me|ī́ so|dā́lēs (Cat. 47, 6).
With initial iambus: Ágit | péssimus | ómni|úm po|ḗta (Cat. 49, 5).
Compare in English:—
“Look, I come to the test, a tiny poem
All composed in a metre of Catullus.” (Tennyson.)