E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus, Metres., para 82

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Early Lyric Poetry at Rome .

Date of birth and of death.

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82. GLYCONIC and PHERECRATIC series are combined by Catullus as follows¹:-

a.A second Glyconic catalectic followed by a second Pherecratic acatalectic forms the verse called PRIAPEAN, used in c. 17. The scheme is, -

oo -uu- u- | oo -uu- -

The first series in this verse ends with a complete word, and does not allow hiatus after it: elision occurs there four times (vv. 4, 11, 24, 26).

b.The stanza of c. 34 is composed of four verses, of which the first three are second Glyconics catalectic, and the fourth a second Pherecratic acatalectic. The stanza of c. 61 is similar, but with four, instead of three, Glyconics. The scheme of the Glyconics thus arranged is, -

oo -uu- u-

and that of the Pherecratics, -

oo -uu- -

Synapheia is observed throughout, as in the Priapean stanza. Once an irrational spondee takes the place of the cyclic dactyl (c. 61. 25）².

1 We no longer refer to "first Glyconic," "second Glyconic," and so on. In modern terms, Merrill's "second Glyconic" is just a glyconic; the "first Glyconic" is a choriambic dimeter, though Catullus does not use them.

2 This is obsolete language; in more modern terms "once the two short syllables of the choriambic nucleus are resolved."

Catullus. Catullus. E. T. Merrill. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1893.

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