271 
MET 
accordingly pronounce it to be either, i. Acataie&ic. 
2. Cataledlic, if wanting one fyllable ; or Brachycataleflic, 
if wanting one whole foot, or half a metre. 3. Hyper- 
cataleftic. Hence the complete name of every Verfe ne- 
celfarily confifts of three terms ; the firll referring to the 
fpecies, the fecond to the number of metres, the third 
to the apothefis, or ending. This is the fcientiflc method 
of the old grammarians. And the knowing how to apply 
thefe terms to any verfe that prefents itfelf, neceffarily 
includes the fubordinate knowledge of every foot, which 
may be afterwards mentioned or not, at pleafure. It is 
rather unufual to mention them, except in cafes of diffi¬ 
culty, or when the poet feems to deviate from rule. 
Schmidius and Triclinius, in their Analyfis of the Metres 
of Pindar and Sophocles, frequently recite firft the gene¬ 
ral name, confining of the three terms above-mentioned, 
and then fubjoin the particular feet. 
When different metres are intermixed, as in the choral 
odes of the Greek tragedians, each verfe muff: be fcanned 
feparately. In a J'yftem , or collection of verfes of one and 
the fame fpecies, it is fufficient to mention the general 
name once for all. When there is a recurrence of verfes 
of different kinds combined together, (as in the Alcaic 
Odes of Horace,) the law of variation muff be premifed, 
as in the Delphin edition. 
The two laff terms of the general name are reduced to 
one for the fake of brevity in particular cafes. 1. Where 
a Verfe of a given fpecies confifts of two feet and a half, 
it is called a Pentliimemer, confiding of five half-feet. 
2. When it confifts of three and a half, an Hephthimemer, 
confiding of feven half-feet. 3. When it confifts of one 
whole Metre and a half, it is called Hemiholius, being the 
half of a whole Trimeter j which would be, at length, 
Dimeter BrachycataleClic. To thefe we may add, that 
the lalt metre of a cataleClic verfe, efpecially in Trochaic 
and Iambics, is called Ka.rxxA£n;. 
It would exceed the compafs of our defign to enume¬ 
rate the various names of verfes (befides thofe already 
defcribed) which have been occafionally adopted by the 
writers of Greek Profody. The rules belonging to each 
of the nine.fpecies have been or will be given under their 
refpeftivc titles; fee Iambic, &c. But it may not be im¬ 
proper to obferve, that the caufes which have given rife 
to other names inftead of the proper name of the fpecies, 
are chiefly thefe: 1. The invention, or frequent ufe, of 
any fpecies by a particular poet 5 in which cafe the gene¬ 
ral name is fuperfeded by an adjeftive derived from fome 
fuch names as the following: Afclepiades, Glijcon, AIcceas, 
Sappho, Phalcecus, Sotades, Archilochus, Aleman, Phere- 
crates, Anacreon, A riftophanes, Euripides, &c. 2. Its being 
ufed in fome particular civil or religious ceremony. 3. 
Or having been appropriated to fome particular fubjeft 
or fentiment. 
Profodiacus is an inftance of the fecond kind, and 
Parcemiacus of the third.— KaAnrai n^oavHtXKoy, on tv run; 
to^T mis, tv off; oHot eytvovTo, toistoi; c^uvro. 
KaAitrai He Uccpotp.ictnov, Snx, to *roMas ©■agotpeta; ru Toiarai 
ptr^u yty^utpQxi. Triclin. 
Befides the divifion of the verfe into metres and feet, 
■Writers have taken notice of another divifion into two 
parts only, owing to the natural intermiflion of the voice 
in reading it. This is called the Paufe, which neceffarily 
ends with a word; and its diftance from the beginning 
is generally, though not invariably, determined by the 
length of the verfe. Heroic verfes and trimeter Iambics 
are efteemed moll harmonious, when the paufe falls upon 
the JirJt jijliable of the third foot. In Iambic and Trochaic 
Tetrameters, its place is at the esul of the fecond metre. 
Thefe rules, which are far from being general, are more 
obferved by the Roman than Greek poets. In Anapaeftic 
verfes, and Paeonic, no place is alligned to the paufe, be- 
caule, fince the metres (if rightly conllrudled) end with 
a word, the effett of a paule will be produced at the end 
of each metre. The lame may be obferved of Ionic a 
sninore. 2 
lil E T 
Table of Feet. 
Iambus 
V 
GffjdV. 
Trochee 
- V 
(/.a. 
Tribrach 
V V V 
w £0dro. 
Sponde e 
- - 
©D/oCiJ, 
Dactyl 
- V V 
~EWE7TS. 
Anamest 
V V - 
hlzyctXtjv, 
Paeon primus 
• V V V 
XciXuO^i Tat, 
Paeon lecundus 
V - v V 
K 'E7rujvv[AS. 
Paeon tertius 
V V - u 
TeAerxvrx. 
Paeon quartos 
V U V - 
®so yivng % 
ChORI AMBUS 
- V V - 
~HfAETEgd). 
ANTISP ASTUS 
V - - V 
XoAdjOlvTa, 
Ionic us a majore 
- - V V 
Koo m fA,r)TO~^S, 
lonicus a minore 
V V - - 
B£o° TQXoJyajv, 
Epitritus primus 
V - - - 
W AViX>jTGdV. 
Epitritus lecundus 
- V - - 
EupgQlvTaiv. 
Epitritus terlius 
* - V - 
2d)Tflglct,S» 
Epitritus quartus 
- - - 0 
$aivr)<7a<Tart 
Others 
lefs in ufe are, 
Pyrrichius 
V V 
Tabs. 
Proceleutmaticus 
V v V u 
B a.Quxo'jUa, 
Amphibrachys 
V - u 
~£/\dj-£. 
Creticus 
- V - 
E ugiQtj. 
Bacchius 
u - - 
XxXTvaj, 
Antibacchius 
- - u 
~E\Qovtcc. 
Moloffus 
— 
ME'TRE, f. in the French meafures. See the article 
Measure, vol. xiv. p. 597, 8. 
ME'TRE, or Mh'ter,/ A meafure for oil and other 
liquids in Turkey. The meter w'eighs eight okes, or 
22|lbs. avoirdupois. 
METRENCHY'TA, f. in furgery, an inftrument for 
injefting liquors into the womb. 
METRE'TA, f. in antiquity, an Attic liquid meafure 
containing upwards of ten gallons. 
MET'RICAL, adj. Pertaining to metre or numbers. 
Confifting of verles: as, metrical precepts. Compofed in 
metre.—The Latin rhythmical verles refembled the metri¬ 
cal in number of fyllables only, without any regard to 
quantity. Tyrwhitt. 
MET'RICE, f. [from metre.'] That part of ancient 
mulic which relpedled the quantities of the lyllables. 
METRI'CIAN, J’. A poet. Chaucer. 
ME'TRO, the ancient Metaurus, a river in Italy, which 
croffes the duchy of Urbino, and runs into the Adriatic 
in lat. 43. 50. N. 
METROCO'MIA, [from the Gr. jujjtj?^, mother, and 
nupn, town or village.] A term in the ancient church- 
hiftory, fignifying a borough or village that had other 
villages under its jurifdiftion.—What a metropolis was 
among cities, a metrocomia was among country towns. 
The ancient metrocomia had each its choriepilcopus or 
rural dean; and here was his fee or refidence. Chambers. 
METRODO'RUS, a phyfician of Chios, B. C. 444. He 
was adifciple of Democritus, and had Hippocrates among 
his pupils. His compofitions on medicine, See. are loll. 
He fupported that the world was eternal and infinite, and" 
denied the exiftence of motion. 
METRODO'RUS, a painter and philofopher of Strato- 
nice, B.C. 171. He was fent to Paulus Aimilius, who, 
after the conqueft of Perfeus, demanded of the Athenians 
a philofopher and a painter, the former to inftrudt his 
children, and the latter to make a painting of his triumphs. 
Metrodorus was lent, as in him were united the phiiofo- 
pher and the painter. 
MEI RONO'ME, J. [from the Gr. p.H^ov, a meafure* 
and vop.os, a rule, or law.] A machine lately invented by 
M. Maelzel, to determine the time of a piece of mulic. It 
requires a pendulum, which, while a movement is per¬ 
forming, may be lengthened or ihortened at the pleafure 
of the compofer, till the ofcillations exadftly agree with 
the bar, or any of its accented parts. The length of the 
pendulum mull be Ipecified at the beginning of a piece. 
- Many 
