pythiˈambic, a. (n.) Anc. Pros.
[ad. mod.L. pythiambic-us, f. Pȳthius Pythian (versus Pȳthius hexameter verse) + iambicus iambic.]
The epithet or name of an episynthetic or composite metre consisting of a dactylic hexameter (Pythian verse) followed by an iambic colon.
There are two varieties according as the hexameter is followed (1) by an iambic dimeter, as in Horace Epod. 14 and 15; (2) by an iambic trimeter, as in Epod. 16.
| 1832 Pemble Horatii Opera p. xii, The First Pythiambic is a couplet consisting of the common Dactylic Hexameter and an Iambic Quaternarius... The Second Pythiambic is a couplet of the Dactylic Hexameter and Iambic Senarius. 1877–94 Gildersleeve Lat. Gram. 489. 1877 Wickham Horace I. 385. |