Asclepiad (poetry)

An Asclepiad (Latin: Asclepiadeus) is a line of poetry following a particular metrical pattern. The form is attributed to Asclepiades of Samos and is one of the Aeolic metres.

As with other Aeolic metrical lines, the asclepiad is built around a choriamb. The Asclepiad may be described as a glyconic that has been expanded with one (Lesser Asclepiad) or two (Greater Asclepiad) further choriambs. The pattern (using "–" for a long syllable, "u" for a short and "x" for an "anceps" or free syllable, which can be either – or u) is:

x x  - u u - |  - u u -  u - (Lesser Asclepiad / Asclepiadeus minor)
x x  - u u - | - u u - | - u u -  u - (Greater Asclepiad / Asclepiadeus maior)

In Horace's Odes, there is almost always a caesura after the 6th syllable.^[1]

Asclepiads are often found mixed with the pherecratean and glyconic, which have a similar rhythm:

x x  - u u -  - (Pherecratean)
x x  - u u -  u - (Glyconic)

West (1982) designates the Asclepiad as a "choriambically expanded glyconic" with the notation gl^c (lesser) or gl^2c (greater).

In theory the first two syllables are anceps (either long or short) but in practice Horace always starts the line with two long syllables (except possibly at 1.15.36).^[2] The last syllable can have brevis in longo.

Asclepiads were used in Latin by Horace in thirty-four of his odes, as well as by Catullus in Poem 30, and Seneca in six tragedies.^[3]