Ἠρίστησα μὲν ἰτρίου λεπτοῦ μικρὸν ἀποκλὰς,
Οἴνου δ ̓ ἐξέπιον κάδον· νῦν δ ̓ ἁβρῶς ἐρόεσσαν
Ψάλλω πηκτίδα τῇ φίλῃ κωμάζων παιδὶ ἁβρῇ.

and Catullus Carm. XVII, XVIII, XIX, as Carm. XVIII. Hunc lucum tibi dedico consecroque, Priape,

Qua domus tua Lampsaci est, quaque silva, Priape ;
Nam te praecipue in suis urbibus colit ora
Hellespontia, ceteris ostreosior oris.

The comic poets seem to have used all forms indiscriminately. Examples of the polyschematist forms are:

Κἀνθρύσκου, μαλακῶν τ ̓ ἴων λείμακα, καὶ τριφύλλου.

Καὶ μελιλώτινον λαλῶν καὶ ῥόδα προςσεσηρώς.

The last form resembles altogether the choriambicum polyschematistum.

Besides the trochee and spondee, the iamb can be used in the bases, as,

Γελῶν δ ̓ ἱπποσέλινα καὶ κοσμοσάνδαλα βαίνων.
Οδεύων Πηλουσιακὸν κνεφαῖος παρὰ τέλμα.

the tribrach:

Ὑπ ̓ ἀναδενδράδων ἁπαλὰς ἀσπαλάθους πατῶν τις.
Ω μαλάχας μὲν ἐξορῶν, ἀναπνέων θ' υάκινθον.

and, although rarely, the dactyl, as,

Αν φέρομεν παρὰ τῆς θεοῦ, ἂν ἐκαλέσσατο τήνα. The diaeresis after the dactyl is strictly observed. The elision does not destroy it, as Cat. XVII. 24.

Si pote stolidum repente excitare veternum.

The verse is sometimes asynartete; hence the hiatus and anceps in the diaeresis, as,

Αν φέρομεν παρὰ τῆς θεοῦ, ἂν ἐκαλέσσατο τήνα. Catull. XIX. 4.

Nutrivi magis et magis, ut beata quotannis.

It was used by Sotades and other poets in ethical and satirical poetry; and was, according to Aristides Quintilianus, never sung, but only recited. Among the Romans, Ennius had Sotadics in his satires and in the Asotus, Plautus in Amph. I. 1. 14 sqq. Aulul. II. 1. 30 sqq. III. 2. Stich. I. 1. 1 sqq. and Martial Epigr. III. 29.

The verse was treated with great freedom. All the arses except the last, and in Plautus even this, could be resolved and the theses contracted; but with the Greeks this contraction is allowed in the second foot only. A long could be put for the second thesis of the ionic, especially in the second foot, more rarely in the first and third. Finally, the ditrochee could everywhere be substituted for the ionic, which was often done, particularly in the third foot. The first long of the ditrochee could be resolved; in Plautus the second also ; finally, it was allowed to put the fourth epitrite for the ditrochee, in Plautus even the dispondee.

The diaeresis is after the second foot, but it is often neglected.

Αν χρυσοφορῇς, τοῦτο τύχης ἔστιν ἔπαρμα,

and the polyschematist :

are rare. Usually ionics alternate with ditrochees. The following form is most frequent:

Has cum gemina compede dedicat catenas,
Saturne, tibi Zoilus, annulos priores.

Resolutions are particularly frequent in the first foot:
Νόμος ἐστὶ θεός· τοῦτον ἀεὶ πάντοτε τιμᾷ.
Πουλύποδα φαγὼν ὁ Διογενὴς ὠμὸν τέθνηκεν.
Πόδα, γόνυ, κοτύλην, ἀστραγάλους, ἰσχία, μηρούς.

more rare in the second and third:

Σοφοκλῆς ῥαγα φαγὼν σταφυλῆς, πνιγεὶς τέθνηκεν.
Σοὶ τοῦτο γενέσθω φίλον, τὸ σὲ μηδὲν ἀτακτεῖν.
As an example of a molossus in the second foot take:
Η μηχανικὸν ποίημ ̓ ἢ σοφὸν μάθημα,

of the lengthening of the second short of the ionic:

in the first foot : δεῖ τὸν φύσει νικώμενον ἄδικον αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν. in the second: μιμοῦ τὸ καλὸν καὶ μενεῖς ἐν βροτοῖς ἄριστος. in the third: ἐκ τίνος ἐγένου, καὶ τίς εἰ καὶ τίς πάλιν γίνῃ. of the solution of the first trochee of the polyschematist form : in the first foot: ἴσον ἔχουσιν αὐτῶν αἱ ψυχαὶ τὸ μεριμνᾶν. in the third : καὶ γὰρ κατὰ γαῖαν τά γε κακὰ πέφυκεν αἰεί. of the spondee in the first place of the ditrochee:

in the first and second foot:

Αὐτάρκεια γὰρ πρὸς πᾶσιν ἡδονὴ δικαῖα.

in the third :

Αμφότερα μένειν οὐκ οἶδεν· ἕστηκεν γὰρ οὐδέν. Plautus sometimes resolves the arsis, as Aul. III. 2. 24. Meárum aédium et cónclavium mihi pérviam fácitis.

He has also the molossus in the first foot, as Amph. I. 1. 15. Quó facto aut dicto adést opús quiétus né sis,

and the dispondee for the ditrochee :

in the first foot, as Stich. I. 1. 4.

Dé nostris factís nóscimus, quárúm viri hinc ábsunt.

in the third, as Stich. I. 1. 2.

Quaé tam diu vídua cáruit viró, nam nós ejus ánimum.

The Anacreontic verse occurs, according to P. 2. ch. 4. p. 148, in a threefold form:

Of these three forms the third is the most frequent. Many of the poems, handed down to us under the name of Anacreon, consist of nothing but such broken ionics, as Carm. III (2a Mehlh.), IV (2), VII (20′), XXI (15), XXVIII (18'), XLIII (28), XLIV (xy), XLVI (x5′†), XLVIII (8′), XLIX (x8†), L (ve), LXIV Fragm. I (vo). Many of these poems may be divided into strophes.

In other poems all three forms alternate, but the third is always the most frequent, as in Carm. V (up), VI (μa ́), XXII (15), XXIX (15′), XXXVI (v'), XXXVII (ud"), XXXIX (un), XLI (25'), XLII (μ ́), LI (vs′), LII (vy ́), LIII (vy', vď′), LIV (vα).

The pure form occurs exclusively in a fragment of Anacreon in Athen. XV. p. 671. E. and 673. D.

Ὁ Μεγίστης ὁ φιλόφρων
Δέκα δὴ μῆνες, ἐπειδὴ
Στεφανοῦταί τε λύγῳ καὶ
Τρύγα πίνει μελιηδέα,

and in Alcman, also, according to Hephaestion:

Ἑκατὸν μὲν Διὸς υἱοὶ

Τάδε Μῶσαι κροκόπεπλοι.

But these fragments may just as well be parts of ionic systems.

The anacrusis of the first ionic appears rarely as a long: in the pure form, as V. 2.

Μίξωμεν Διονύσῳ,

in the polyschematist, as XXXVI. 11.

Τὴν ψυχήν μου κάρωσαν,

in the broken, as VI. 14, 16.

Καὶ τῆς καλῆς Κυθήρης.

Κῶμον μέτεισι χαίρων.

In the broken form the arsis occurs but rarely resolved, as XLIII. 8.

Σὺ δὲ φίλιος εἰ γεωργών.

The resolution of the second arsis is more frequent, as V. 5. VI. 3. XXXVII. 6.

Πίνωμεν ἁβρὰ γελώντες.
Μεθύωμεν ἁβρὰ γελῶντες.
Ιδε, πῶς γέρανος ὁδεύει.

The third foot is never permitted to be a spondee, in the broken form ; hence verses like XXV. 9.

Σὺν τῷ δὲ πίνειν ἡμᾶς,

are spurious or corrupt.

The verse has, on account of its shortness, no fixed diaeresis. The pure form, however, delights in a diaeresis after the first ionic.

A peculiar kind of Anacreontic is the form with the iambic basis :

νονονον

It might be derived from the above forms, if we were to assume that in the broken form the dissyllabic anacrusis is