“Look, I come to the test, a tiny poem
All composed in a metre of Catullus.” (Tennyson.)
2665. The Phalaecean is a favourite metre in epigrams. It was used by
Sappho, Phalaecus (from whom it took its name), and other Greek poets,
and was introduced into Roman poetry by Laevius and Varro. It is a
favourite metre with Catullus, and is found in the fragments of Cinna,
Cornificius and Bibaculus, in the _Priāpēa_, in Petronius, Statius,
Martial, &c. In Catullus 55, a spondee is often employed instead of the
dactyl, the two kinds of feet alternating in the latter verses of the
poem; but this innovation seems not to have found favour.
[Erratum:
2664 ... -́ > | -́ ⏑⏑ | -́ ⏑ | -́ ⏑ | - ⏑
_printed as shown: expected -́ in last foot_]