Alcmanian verse
Alcmanian verse refers to the dactylic tetrameter in Greek and Latin poetry.
Dactylic tetrameter in Alcman
Ancient metricians called the dactylic tetrameter the Alcmanic because of its use by the Archaic Greek poet Alcman, as in fragment 27 PMG:Μῶσ᾽ ἄγε Καλλιόπα θύγατερ Διὸς ἄρχ᾽ ἐρατῶν ϝεπέων, ἐπὶ δ᾽ ἵμερον ὕμνωι καὶ χαρίεντα τίθη χορόν. | ¯˘˘¯˘˘¯˘˘¯˘˘ ¯˘˘¯˘˘¯˘˘¯˘˘ ¯¯¯˘˘¯˘˘¯˘˘ |
This length is scanned like the first four feet of the dactylic hexameter. Thus, a spondee substitutes for a dactyl in the third line, but the lines end with dactyls.
The Alcmanian strophe
composed some poems in the Alcmanian strophe or Alcmanian system, a couplet consisting of a dactylic hexameter followed by a dactylic tetrameter a posteriore. Examples are Odes I.7 and I.28, and Epode 12.Later Latin poets use the dactylic tetrameter a priore as the second verse of the Alcmanian strophe. For example, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy I.m.3: