licuiset

Updated: February 21, 2025

It is a succession of trochaic beats, six in all, preceded by a single syllable, as in the instance quoted by Macaulay: "The | queen was in her chamber eating bread and honey," So in the Scipionic epitaph, "Qui | bus si in longa licuiset tibi utier vita." These are, doubtless, the purest form of the measure. In these there is no break, but an even continuous flow of trochaic rhythm.

Charles Thomas Cruttwell - The History of Roman Literature : From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius