ARCHILOQUIAN, a term in poetry, applied to a sort of verses, whereof Archilochus was the inventor. SeeVerse. These consist of seven feet; the four first whereof areordinarily dactyls, though sometimes spondees; the three lasttrochees: for instance;Solvitur acris hiems grata vice veris et Favoni, Hor.
It is usual to mix iambic verses of six feet, abating a syllable, with Archiloquian verses; as Horace himself has done in the ode now cited. These verses are also called dactylic, on account of the dactyls at the beginning. See DACTYL and DACTYLIC.
