[2665.] The Phalaecean is a favourite metre in epigrams. It was used by Sappho, Phalaecus (from whom it took its name), and other Greek poets, and was introduced into Roman poetry by Laevius and Varro. It is a favourite metre with Catullus, and is found in the fragments of Cinna, Cornificius and Bibaculus, in the Priāpēa, in Petronius, Statius, Martial, &c. In Catullus 55, a spondee is often employed instead of the dactyl, the two kinds of feet alternating in the latter verses of the poem; but this innovation seems not to have found favour.
The Lesser Sapphic.
[2666.] This verse is a logaoedic pentapody acatalectic, with the dactyl in the third place. The scheme is:—
| –́ ⏑ | –́ > [–́ ⏑] | –́ ‖ ⏖ | –́ ⏑ | –́ ⏑ |
The trochee in the second foot was admitted by Alcaeus and Sappho, and occurs in Catullus, but not in Horace. In Horace the caesura regularly falls after the thesis, or (less frequently) in the arsis, of the dactyl; but in Catullus, as in Sappho and Alcaeus, it has no fixed position. Examples of this verse are:—
With masculine caesura: Iám sa|tís ter|rī́s ‖ nivis | átque | dī́rae (H. 1, 2, 1).
With feminine caesura: Phoébe | sílvā|rúmque ‖ po|tḗns Di|ā́na (H. C. S. 1).
With trochee in second foot: Seú Sa|cā́s sa|gíttife|rṓsve | Párthōs (Cat. 11, 6).
The Greater (or Hendecasyllabic) Alcaic.
[2667.] This verse is a logaoedic pentapody catalectic, with anacrusis and with the dactyl in the third foot. The scheme is:—