ALCAICS, in Ancient Poetry, a name given to several kinds of verse, from Alcæus, their alleged inventor.
The first kind consists of five feet, viz. a spondee or iambic, an iambic, a long syllable, a dactyle, another dactyle. Such are the following lines of Horace:
Omnis | eodem | cogitur, | omnium
Versatur urtica | sericus, | ocia,
Sore castura.
The second kind consists of two dactyles and two trochees; as,
Exili|um importitura | cynon.
Besides these two, which are called dactylic Alcaics, there is another, simply styled Alcaic, consisting of an epitrite, a choriambus, another choriambus, and a bacchius. The following is of this species:
Cur timet folium Tiberim | tangere, cur | olivum?