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may be found in a papyrus fragment in dactylo-epitrite metre (42 PBerol. 6870. 16-19), where the rhythmical notation clearly indicates  . . . However, while this text may possibly be from a drama of Classical date, the musical setting is probably of the Roman period, and it may not be a reliable guide to Pindaric practice. |
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A similar doubt arises with the commonest of all Archaic song forms, the elegiac couplet, which is a little strophe composed of a dactylic hexameter followed by  . People generally assume a lengthening of the syllable before the central join, or a pause after it, to make the rhythm run evenly according to our notions. But from a Greek standpoint there is no reason why 5/4 bars,  , should not succeed each other directly, as do 5/8 paeonic bars,  . |
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Much fifth-century choral and dramatic lyric is characterized by the use of rhythms of more than one category. Sometimes it is a matter of introducing a brief element of contrast with a prevailing rhythm, as when a dactylic line appears near the end of an iambic strophe, the last line being again iambic.58 Sometimes there is a definite change of horses, as in the third Epinician Ode of Bacchylides and the Thirteenth Olympian of Pindar, where aeolic passes into dactylo-epitrite. Often the situation is more complex. The |
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58 Aesch. Ag 165, al.; Greek Metre, 100, 104. |
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