The tribrach also is often employed by Euripides:—
– ⏑ – – – ⏑ – – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ – – – ⏑ –
ψηφον | αμφ ημ|ων πολ|ιτας | επι φον|ῳ θεσθ|αι χρε|ωνꞈ (Orestes, 756).
– ⏑ – – – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ –
ευτυχ|εις δ ημ|εις εσ|ομεθα | ταλλα δ | ου λεγ|ουσ ομ|ωςꞈ (Iph. Taur. 1232).
The fifth foot is the favourite place for the tribrach, and next to that the first:—
⏑ ⏑⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ – – – ⏑ –
χρονιος | αλλ ομ|ως ταχ|ιστα | κακος εφ|ωραθ|η φιλ|οιςꞈ (Orestes, 740).
Euripides, late in his career, introduced a good deal of license, here as elsewhere. Firstly, tribrachs become far more frequent and occur in unusual places:—
⏑ ⏑ ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ᷋
ανοσι|ος πεφ|υκας | αλλ ου | πατριδος | ως συ | πολεμι|οςꞈ (Phœnissæ, 609).
To place a resolved foot practically at the end of the line is bold—the metre is shaken almost to pieces. Here, as in other respects, Euripides points forward to the conversational manner of the New Comedy. But he goes further, and allows feet hitherto not found in trochaics: the anapæst and the dactyl. The latter, however, is extremely rare[868] and employed only with proper names:—
– ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – – – ⏑ –
συγγον|ον τ εμ|ην Πυλαδ|ην τε | τον ταδ|ε ξυνδρ|ωντα | μοιꞈ (Orestes, 1535).