DACTYLIC RHYTHMS. In all dactylic rhythms the regular substitute for the dactyl (— )is the spondee (— —). lu Greek and Latin alike the dactylic or heroic hexameter is the most coin :non form of verse, and is regularly employed in epic, didactic, and bucolic poetry. [t contains six feet, of which the first four may be either dactyls or spondees, the fifth is usually a dactyl (when a spondee is here used. the verse is called spondaic), and the sixth is either a spondee or a trochee. The chief ea.s.nra is usually after the thesis—occasionally in the arsis—of the third foot, less often after the thesis of the fourth. A dieresis after the fourth foot is called bucolic from its frequem•y in bucolic poetry.
- - - - tiv5pa I 'vvere, I Moka, I are . X6rporov, 15s ,,triXa roXXd .irXiyx;ei I tre/ Tp:1 I ;11 le I pt aroZi I s0 p e I srepaev Od ys. I, 1-2.
I 4 4 conticu er(e) (i111 Iles, in tentitqu(e) tau to • nebant.
lode to Iro pater I I sic orsus ab Vergi .Se. 2, 1-2.
The dactylic pentameter consists of two cata leptic dactylic tripodies, separated by diaeresis.
Spondees as substitutes for the dactyls are per mitted only in the first half of the verse, and syllaba aneeps is allowed only at the end of the second tripody. This verse is never used by itself, but always follows a dactylic hexameter, the two making an elegiac distich. This couplet is found in elegiac poetry (liellee the name), and was frequently employed for amatory verse and epigrams.
ry Ee" , I I Sagami oLs6:1 rqSe aetae0a Kei 1pcov 7eLio; PO; Tityrus et sage .1F, ucla qu(e) arena • — — le gentur Boma tri umpha (him mint orbis e, Tit Ovid A m. I. 15. 25-26.
The tetrameter aeataleetie was used by Alcman and other Greek lyricists in dactylic strophes.
A tetrameter catalectie with an hexameter forms the Arehilochian strophe, and the trimel en cataleetie is known as the lesser A rehilochian verse: both are employed by Horace.