Of the Kinds of Verses.
Should any one seek here for an account of every kind of verse used by the Latin poets, all we can say is—we wish he may get it. As it behoveth no one to be wiser than the law, so it behoveth not us to be wiser than the Eton Grammar.
The verses which boys are commonly taught to make are hexameters and pentameters.
An hexameter verse consists of six feet. As the ancient heroes were at least six feet high, this is probably the reason why it is also called an heroic verse.
The fifth foot in this kind of verse should be a dactyl, the sixth a spondee; the other feet may be either dactyls or spondees; as
Ōbstāntī plŭvĭīs vēnīt cūm tēgmĭnĕ Sāmbō:
Sambo came with his Macintosh.
The fifth foot also is sometimes a spondee, as
Clāvĭgĕr Ālcīdēs, māgnūm Jŏvĭs īncrēmēntūm.
Hercules, king of clubs, great offspring of Jupiter.