B. Rising, Iambic Rhythms. The iamb is the trochee reversed; it is triple-timed, and ris ~ ing, The principal arsis falls upon the last two shorts, the last of which again has a stronger intensity (P. I. ch. 3. p. 12). Only the last two shorts can be contracted (P. I. ch. 5. p. 21). The iambic rhythm, as it belongs to the double kind, is less dignified than the anapaestic. It is more rapid and lighter on account of the livelier intensity of the arsis and the shorter extension of the thesis (P. I. ch. 3. p. 13), but more forcible than the trochaic rhythm on account of the termination upon the arsis (P. I. ch. 1. p. 8). By various modifications, however, it is made sometimes more forcible and grave, sometimes weaker and lighter. If the rhythm is arranged by dipodies, then, for reasons above given (P. I. ch. 4. p. 17), the first thesis of every dipody, may be converted into the irrational measure; hence in an iambic series to be measured by dipodies, the freer mea sure-v is always allowed in the uneven places (in sedibus imparibus). By measuring with dipodies and the frequent admission of the irrational time, the rhythm approach-` es the anapaestic measure, and hence becomes graver and more dignified; by measuring with feet, and by the frequent resolution of the iamb, it becomes lighter and more rapid. A distinction, therefore, is made here, as in the trochaic rhythm, between light iambs, which are to be measured by feet, and which on account of their rapidity, were used by preference in lyric poems of the Aeolian style; and the grave kind proceeding by dipodies, which on account of their greater dignity, harmonize better with the Dorian mood. The irrational anapaest may, under certain conditions, stand in every place for an iamb. The proceleusmatic, was entirely excluded by the Greeks, except in a few cases. The elder Roman dramatists permitted the licenses, allowed in the uneven places, in the even places also, with the exception of the last thesis, upon which another arsis follows, which they kept pure (P. I. ch. 4. p. 19). They also admitted the proceleusmatic, but more rarely, and usually in such a manner that it is concealed by the pronunciation : Iambic rhythms delight in principal and foot caesuras; longer verses, as the tetrameter, have ordinarily the diaeresis in the middle. The catalexis is only in syllabam, and as it comes upon the thesis, it is less frequent than in trochaic verses (P. I. ch. 7. p. 26). The most usual rhythms are the following: (1) The Monopody.-Monopodia iambica. w It serves, like the trochaic monopody, as the basis before longer rhythms, as Pind. Olymp. I. 1. Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς αὐθόμενον πῦρ. In Pindar it is found only in the form of the iamb, or the tribrach, and never doubled; it is also never interchanged with the trochaic basis. In the Aeolian lyric poets and the dramatists, it appears also as a spondee, as Eur. Ion. 190, 201. Ἰδοὺ τάνδ ̓ ἄθρησον. or dactyle, as Aesch. Sept. c. Th. 222. ཎྜ They may also be interchanged with the trochaic, and double it, as Soph. Oed. R. 463–466. Τίς ὅντιν ̓ ὁ θεσπιέπεια Δελφὶς εἶπε πέτρα Sometimes systems, sometimes verses are composed of the dipody. The monometer was also used singly by the lyric poets, as Pind. Olymp. VII. 3. Δωρήσεται. In the comic poets it sometimes forms a kind of close, as Arist. Nub. 222. Ω Σώκρατες Ὦ Σωκρατίδιον.—τί με καλεῖς, ὠφήμερε ; The monometer is very frequently connected with other rhythms, as Soph. Aj. 622. X-/ Ἦ που παλαιᾷ μὲν ἔντροφος ἁμέρα. The catalectic monometer (amphibrachys), is nothing The former occurs frequently in the lyric and dramatic poets, partly as a single verse, as Soph. Oed. R. 1336. Ἦν ταῦθ ̓ ὅπωσπερ καὶ σὺ φής, partly in connection with other rhythms, as Pind. Nem. V. 1. Οὐκ ἀνδριαντοποιός εἰμ', ὥστ ̓ ἐλινύσοντα μ' ἐργάζεσθαι ἀγάλματ' ἐπ' αὐτᾶς βαθμίδος. The acatalectic dimeter often occurs in the writers of epodes as an epode, particularly after an iambic trimeter, or heroic hexameter. In Aristophanes it sometimes forms a close after trochaic tetrameters, as Vesp. 1266, 1269, 1270. , Πολλάκις δὴ δόξ ̓ ἐμαυτῷ δεξιὸς πεφυκέναι, Καὶ σκαιὸς οὐδεπώποτε. Likewise it serves the Roman dramatists as a close, before and after longer iambic or trochaic verses, as Terent. Andr. III. 3, 5. Ausculta paucis: ét quid te ego velim ét quod tu catalectic tetrapody of the iambic systems. The Roman dramatists make use, though more rarely, of the catalectic dimeter as a close, as Terent. Hecyr. V. 1, 5. Aut né quid faciam plús, quod post me mínus fecisse monly occurs lightly constructed, and with many resolutions, as Pratin. in Athen. XIV. p. 617. C. Τίς ὁ θόρυβος ὅδε; τίνα τάδε τὰ χορεύματα; Eur. Helen. 1117, 1118. Ὃς ἔμολεν ἔμολε πεδία βαρβάρῳ πλάτα, Ὃς ἔδραμε ῥόθια μέλεα Πριαμίδαις ἄγων, but sometimes also without resolutions, and with the application of the middle time, as sometimes in Pindar, who otherwise avoids all the current line verses, Nem. V. 4. Λάμπωνος υἱὸς Πυθέας εὐρυσθενής. The lyric poets appear not to have allowed the anapaest; where it occurs, the verse must either be otherwise measured or it is corrupt (Comp. Hermann. Elem.). The Trim. iamb. claudus, or Hipponacteus is a trimeter with the last foot reversed: It occurs in satiric poetry only. As in the catalectic trimeter, so called, the first thesis of the third dipody never admits the middle time, it seems rather to be composed of a trochaic monom. with an anacrusis, and a following ithyphallic : As such it often occurs in the chorusses of the dramatists, as Soph. Ant. 592. Στόνῳ βρέμουσι δ ̓ ἀντιπλῆγες ἀκταί. So also it is used by Alcm. in Athen. III. p. 111. A. Κλίναι μὲν ἑπτὰ καὶ τόσαι τράπεσδαι Μακωνίδων ἄρτων ἐπιστέφοισαι, Λίνῳ τε, σασάμῳ τε κὴν πελίχναις. (d) The Tetrameter.—Tetrameter iambicus. |