The Elegiambus.
[2680.] This verse consists of the same cola as the Iambelegus ([2678]), but in reverse order. Spondees are not admitted in the first colon, and no resolutions occur in the second colon. There is regularly a diaeresis between the cola. The scheme is:—
–́ ⏑ ⏑ | –́ ⏑ ⏑ | –́ ⌅ # ⏑͐⁞–́ ⏑ | –̇ ⏑͐ | –́ ⏑ | –̇ ⌃
An example is:—
Scrī́bere | vérsicu|lṓs ‖ a|mṓre | percus|súm gra|vī (H. Epod. 11, 2).
[2681.] This verse occurs only in the Third Archilochian Strophe ([2727]) of Horace. The name Elegiambus is given to it as being the reverse of the Iambelegus (see [2679]).
[ANAPAESTIC RHYTHMS.]
[2682.] In these the fundamental foot is the anapaest ⏑ ⏑ –́, for which its metrical equivalents the spondee —́, dactyl – ⏑́ ⏑ and proceleusmatic ⏑ ⏑ ⏑́ ⏑ are sometimes substituted.
[2683.] The anapaestic verse of the early Latin comedy is extremely irregular, and its limits are often hard to define. Spondees and apparent bacchii (reduced to anapaests by the law of iambic shortening; see [2470]) are extremely common, and metrical irregularities of various kinds abound. The Latin language has so few anapaestic words that it does not lend itself readily to this rhythm. Terence wisely abstained altogether from anapaestic verse. Varro, Seneca, and Prudentius and other late writers wrote anapaests conforming more closely to Greek models.
The Anapaestic Tetrameter Acatalectic (or Octonarius).