2666. This verse is a logaoedic pentapody acatalectic, with the dactyl
in the third place. The scheme is:--
-́ ⏑ | -́ > | -́ ‖ ⏖ | -́ ⏑ | -́ ⏑
| [-́ ⏑] |
The trochee in the second foot was admitted by Alcaeus and Sappho, and
occurs in Catullus, but not in Horace. In Horace the caesura regularly
falls after the thesis, or (less frequently) in the arsis, of the
dactyl; but in Catullus, as in Sappho and Alcaeus, it has no fixed
position. Examples of this verse are:--
With masculine caesura: Iám sa|tís ter|rī́s ‖ nivis | átque | dī́rae
(H. 1, 2, 1).
With feminine caesura: Phoébe | sílvā|rúmque ‖ po|tḗns Di|ā́na
(H. _C. S._ 1).
With trochee in second foot: Seú Sa|cā́s sa|gíttife|rṓsve | Párthōs
(Cat. 11, 6).
THE GREATER (or HENDECASYLLABIC) ALCAIC.
2667. This verse is a logaoedic pentapody catalectic, with anacrusis and
with the dactyl in the third foot. The scheme is:--
⏑͕ ⁞ -́ ⏑ | -́ > # -́ ⏖ | -́ ⏑ | -́ ⌃
There is nearly always a diaeresis after the second foot. Examples
are:--
Ō | mā́tre | púlchrā # fī́lia | púlchri|ór (H. 1, 16, 1).
Vi|dḗs ut | áltā # stét nive | cándi|dúm (H. 1, 9, 1).
2668. Alcaeus admitted a trochee in the second foot, and allowed the
anacrusis to be either long or short; but Horace admitted only the
spondee in the second foot, and usually (in Bk. 4 always) employed a
long anacrusis. Horace also differed from his predecessor in assigning a
fixed place to the caesura, which in Alcaeus has no regular position.
[Errata:
2667 ... Ō | mā́tre | púlchrā # fī́lia | púlchri|ór
Ō|mā́tre
Vi|dḗs ut | áltā # stét nive | cándi|dúm
cándi | dúm]