IAMBIC, in ancient poetry, a sort of verse, so called from its consisting either wholly, or in a great measure, of iambs. See IAMBUS.
Ruddiman makes two kinds of iambic verse, viz. dimeter and trimeter; the former containing four feet, and the latter six. And as to the variety of feet, they consist wholly of iambs, as in the two following verses of Horace:
1 2 3 4 5 6
Diu. Inar[sit u]stuo[stus]
Tris. Suis[et i]psa Ro[ma] vi[ribus]ruit.
Or a dactyle, spondee, anapest, and sometimes a tribrachys, obtain in the odd places; and the tribrachys also in the even places, excepting the last. Examples of all this may be seen in Horace. Thus,
1 2 3 4 5 6
Canid[i]a tra[ctavit]dapes
Vide[re] prope[rantes]domum
Quoquo[se]le[st]i rui[tis] aut[ur] dex[teris].
Prius[que] co[m]muni si det in[ferius] mari.
Alit[us] at[que] can[ibus] homi[ni]d' He[ctorem].
Pavidum[que] lepo[r] aut ad[venam] laqueo[gruem].