The Lyric Metres of Euripidean Drama - Universidade de Coimbra

Dactylic
Or. 1395 (followed by change of metre), Ba. 142 (followed by change of metre),
596 (4 spondees [cf. Ph. 1553], followed by cretics). The exceptions I find are
Ph. [1573] (perhaps not Euripidean 142 ) and the said example IA 1294 (probably
also not Euripidean).
There are several examples in Euripides of dactylic tetrameters with
catalexis:
— ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — : Alc. 904~927, Andr. 482, El. 141~158, Ph.
1580, Or. 831, 1369a, 1431 (conjectural text), Ba. 116~131, IA 588, Cycl. 618,
Rh. 244~255, 902~913;
— ∪ ∪ — — — — — : Ph. 136;
— ∪ ∪ — — — ∪ ∪ — : Or. 841;
— — — ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — : Alc. 89~101, Hi. 164;
— ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ ∪∪ ∪ ∪ — : Andr. 490; 143
— ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — — — : Hec. 166~208, Ph. 192, Or. 1381, IA †776†,
Rh. 27~45.
5. 4. Dimeter (‘2 da’)
Dactylic dimeters are not often found in Euripides:
— ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ : Med. 137, Ph. 1496, 1505, Ba. 117~132, 601.
— ∪ ∪ — — : Ph. † 790a†~807a, 1497b, 1501, 1550.
— — — — : IA 1295.
Twice in late Euripides we encounter a dactylic dimeter with cretic prefix:
Ph. 818 (‘lectio propter numeros incerta’, OCT), Ba. 582 (ἰὼ ἰώ, δέcποτα
δέcποτα: ∪∪ ∪ — + 2 dactyls, or a dactylic tetrameter of the shape — — —
— — ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪).
5. 5. Andromache’s elegiacs (Andr. 103-16)
Andromache’s elegiac monody was the object of a fascinating essay by D.
L. Page, which still makes useful reading today. 144 The first lines of the elegiac
couplet are listed above, with Euripides’ other extant hexameters. The second
line (‘D : D’) appears under two forms:
— ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — : — ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — : Andr. 106, 110, 112, 116.
— ∪ ∪ — — — : — ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — : Andr. 104, 108, 114.
142 Cropp’s defence of Ph. 1567-78 (see 1997: 570-4) does not touch upon the metrical issue.
143 The sole plausible example of a resolved dactyl in tragedy; see above, p. 65.
144 See Page (1936: 206-30; the metre is commented upon on p. 221).
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