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Dactylo-epitrite

The dactylic and iambo-trochaic units that combine in Pindar and Bacchylides.

Verse forms

The metrical families one by one: dactylic, iambic, trochaic, aeolic, ionic, anapaestic, dochmiac and the rest.

Dactylo-epitrite · 1 of 5

The elements of dactylo-epitrite

Dactylo-epitrite, abbreviated D/e, is the metre of a large number of the odes of Pindar and Bacchylides. Of their three metrical categories it is the easiest to analyse.[1] Its name joins two ancient feet: the dactyl — ⏑ ⏑ and the epitrite — ⏑ — —.[2] Hephaestion lists four epitrites among the seven-time feet. The second of them, — ⏑ — —, is “also called the trochaic heptaseme or Carian”.[3] But he has no chapter on the metre itself. The pairings of dactylic and iambic cola that make it up appear in his book as asynarteta, under names such as the ἐγκωμιολογικόν (enkōmiologikon) and the ἰαμβέλεγος (iambelegos).[4]

The modern analysis is simpler. Most D/e poems can be treated as built from a few units joined by a link-syllable:[5]

Symbol Shape Note
d — ⏑ ⏑ — a single “dactylic” element
D — ⏑ ⏑ — ⏑ ⏑ — the hemiepes[2]
D² — ⏑ ⏑ — ⏑ ⏑ — ⏑ ⏑ — D with a third dactyl
e — ⏑ — a cretic shape, equivalent to ∧ia
E — ⏑ — × — ⏑ — equivalent to a lekythion
E² — ⏑ — × — ⏑ — × — ⏑ — E with a third e
link usually — before, between and after the units

The opening of Pindar’s Pythian 12 is built from D units and links alone. Each D is the hemiepes, — ⏑ ⏑ — ⏑ ⏑ —, and each link is a single long syllable:[1]

1 αἰτέ‿ω σε, φιλάγλαε, καλλίστα βροτεᾶν πολίων,

linkαἰ—aiD — ⏑ ⏑ — ⏑ ⏑ —τέ‿ω—teōσε⏑seφι⏑phiλάγ—lagλα⏑laε⏑eκαλ—kallinkλίσ—lisDτα—taβρο⏑broτε⏑teᾶν—ānπο⏑poλί⏑liων×ōn

2 Φερσεφόνας ἕδος, ἅ τ’ ὄχθαις ἔπι μηλοβότου

DΦερ—pherσε⏑seφό⏑phoνας—nāsἕ⏑heδο⏑doς ἅ—shālinkτ’ὄχ—t’ochDθαις—thaisἔ⏑eπι⏑piμη—mēλο⏑loβό⏑boτου—tou

I beg you, lover of splendour, fairest of mortal cities, home of Persephone, you who on the banks of sheep-grazing …

Pindar, Pythian 12.1–2: hemiepes units, D, joined by link-syllables (red), — D — D ‖ D — D. In line 1, -τέω (-teō) is one syllable.

synthetic ∿

The link-syllable is normally long.[1] In Euripides there are roughly 280 long links against 70 short.[6] In drama West keeps the notation that shows it as normally long. But he notes that word-break is more readily admitted after it when it is short.[7] The symbols e and E are simply the customary ones here. One could equally write ∧ia for e, lk for E, D ia for D – e and D 2ia for D – E.[1]

The notation goes back to Maas. His d¹ (— ⏑ ⏑ —) and d² (⏑ ⏑ —) replace West’s single d. The link-syllable is also called the anceps interpositum. It did not belong to the metre as first conceived, since D/e grew out of free combinations of the hemiepes with trochaic or iambic elements.[8] So the links are not rhythmical units of their own. D, e and E were cola in their own right, and adding a syllable in front of one or after it produces a different colon.[9]

The usual combinations. A period is made by stringing units together, with or without links: — D — D, D — D, — D — E, D — e, E² — and so on. The strophe of Pindar’s Pythian 12, analysed on the Worked example tab, uses exactly these.[1] Hephaestion’s names describe the same pairings from the other side. The ἐγκωμιολογικόν is “a dactylic penthemimer and an iambic one of equal length”.[10] In West’s symbols this is D × e ×, also called the elegiambus. Its reverse, the ἰαμβέλεγος, is × e × D.[11] Hephaestion adds a “Platonic” form with two dactylic penthemimers either side of an iambic one, and a “Pindaric” one the other way round.[12]

Resolution and contraction. Resolution can occur in the sequence (⏓) ⏕ ⏑ —, the first long of an e. Less commonly it occurs in — ⏑ ⏕ — — ⏑ —, the last long of the first e in E. Exceptionally, to accommodate proper names, it occurs in — ⏑ ⏕ × D (Pindar, Isthmian 6.63), and even inside D, — ⏑ ⏑ ⏕ ⏑ ⏑ — (Isthmian 3.63). In about ten cases the resolution recurs in each responding strophe, but rather more often it is a licence taken in a single place. Contraction of the first biceps of D occurs, as in Stesichorus, but only very rarely.[13]

Catalectic forms. Simonides (PMG 581) ends periods with catalectic e and E. Catalectic e is — — (∧ia∧). Simonides, and Pindar, who has it in two odes, seem to use it to lend emphasis to a particular word. Examples are Simonides 581.6 (D | e∧ ‖) and Pythian 1.8, where ὁ δὲ κνώσσων closes a period analysed e — D e∧ ‖.[14] Catalectic E is the ithyphallic — ⏑ — ⏑ — —. It is not found in Pindar or Bacchylides, but reappears as a D/e clausula in tragedy.[14] Pindar occasionally admits other abnormal sequences, especially ⏑ ⏑ — at the beginning of a period.[14]

Irregular responsion. Bacchylides 5 is unique in letting × — ⏑ — respond with — ⏑ — at three places in the strophe. One form or the other becomes constant after the first triad. A further apparent irregularity in his Asine paean (fr. 4.70) has two possible parallels in tragedy. All three passages may be corrupt.[15]

Ancestry. D/e grew out of a kind of verse already found in Stesichorus, now with a larger share of iambo-trochaic elements.[1] The metre goes back to Stesichorus’ mixtures of enoplian, dactylic, trochaic and iambic cola.[16] In Stesichorus’ poems of the first category the dactylic sequences are mainly the cola | D |, | × D | and | × D — ‖, and occasionally | D² | and 4da∧ ‖. The anceps before a D-sequence is sometimes a biceps. Sometimes it is a “biceps/anceps”, which can be filled by two shorts or by one long or short.[17]

The ancient terms prosodiac and enoplian belong here. Ancient writers applied “enoplian” to rhythm involving the colon × — ⏑ ⏑ — ⏑ ⏑ — (×). They applied “prosodiac” to a variety of dactylic and aeolic cola and dicola. But modern scholars use both terms in differing senses.[18] So this site uses West’s D and e instead.

The modern use of the two terms is itself disputed. A. M. Dale grouped a wide range of tragic cola under the heading “prosodiac-enoplian” and treated them as a branch of aeolic. Reviewers questioned both the grouping and the names as soon as her book appeared.[19] In Euripides these cola belong with dochmiacs rather than with aeolics: they are common in the dochmiac duets and choral songs, where glyconics never occur.[20] They are also hard to keep apart from dactylo-epitrite. A colon such as the iambelegus, typical of D/e, also turns up among the dochmiacs.[21]

Marble bust of a bearded man with short hair.
Bust of Pindar, Roman copy (Capitoline)

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f West 1987, p. 43.
  2. ^ a b West 1987, p. 87.
  3. ^ Hephaestion, Ench. 3.3.
  4. ^ Hephaestion, Ench. 15.10–11.
  5. ^ West 1987, p. 43; Battezzato 2009, p. 141; Lourenço 2011, p. 81.
  6. ^ Lourenço 2011, p. 81.
  7. ^ West 1987, p. 65.
  8. ^ Maehler 2004, p. 15.
  9. ^ Battezzato 2009, p. 141.
  10. ^ Hephaestion, Ench. 15.10.
  11. ^ West 1987, pp. 86–87; Hephaestion, Ench. 15.11.
  12. ^ Hephaestion, Ench. 15.12–13.
  13. ^ West 1987, pp. 43–44.
  14. ^ a b c West 1987, p. 44.
  15. ^ West 1987, p. 44 with n. 7.
  16. ^ Battezzato 2009, pp. 140–141.
  17. ^ West 1987, p. 37.
  18. ^ West 1987, pp. 87, 89.
  19. ^ Itsumi 1982, pp. 227–228.
  20. ^ Itsumi 1982, pp. 227, 529–530.
  21. ^ Itsumi 1982, p. 530.
Picture credits on this page
  1. Behind the title: P.Oxy. XI 1361 fr. 4: Bacchylides. Plate from Grenfell and Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri XI (1915). Egypt Exploration Society (B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, 1915) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons · background removed
  2. Bust of Pindar: marble, Roman copy after a Greek original of the 5th century BC. Rome, Musei Capitolini MC 586. photo: Jastrow · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
  3. Bust of Aristotle: Roman marble copy after a bronze original by Lysippos of c. 330 BC; the alabaster mantle is a modern addition. Rome, Palazzo Altemps Inv. 8575. After Lysippos; photo: Jastrow (2006) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
  4. Musical contest: on a platform a youth plays the auloi before a draped man (judge or trainer). Attic black-figure amphora by the Edinburgh Painter, c. 490 BC, from Nola. London, British Museum 1849,0620.9. Edinburgh Painter; photo: ArchaiOptix · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons · background removed
  5. Apollo Citharoedus with the griffin. Rome, Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Nuovo. Yair Haklai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons · background removed
  6. Croesus on the pyre: side A of an Attic red-figure amphora by Myson, c. 500–490 BC, from Vulci. Paris, Louvre G 197. Myson; photo: Bibi Saint-Pol · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons