This is the only instance where Catullus has introduced a spondee into
the second foot of the phalaecian, which then becomes decasyllabic. The
alternation of this decasyllabic rhythm with the ordinary
hendecasyllable is studiously artistic; I have retained it throughout.
In the series of dactylic lines 17-22, Catullus no doubt intended to
convey the idea of rapidity, as, in the spondaic line immediately
following, of labour.