horiambus predominates. The
choriambus is a verse-foot consisting of a trochee united with and
preceding an iambus, [-uu-]. The choriambi are never used alone, but are
usually preceded by a spondee and followed by an iambus. The line so
formed is called an asclepiad, traditionally because it was invented by
the Aeolian poet Asclepiades of Samos. Choriambic verse was first used
by the poets of the Greek islands, and Sappho, in particular, produced
magnificent effects with it. The measure, as used by the early Greeks,
is essentially lyrical and impassioned. Mingled with other metres, it
was constantly serviceable in choral writing, to which it was believed
to give a stormy and mysterious character. The Greater Asclepiad was a
term used for a line in which the wild music was prolonged by the
introduction of a supplementary choriambus. This was much employed by
Sappho and by Alcaeus, as well as in Alexandrian times by Callimachus
and Theocritus. Among the Latins, Horace, in imitation of Alcaeus, made
constant use of choriambic verse. Metrical experts distinguish six
varieties of it in his Odes. This is an example of his greater asclepiad
(_Od._ i. 11):--

-u u- -u u- - uu -
Tu ne | quaesieris | scire nefas | quem mihi, quem | tibi
Finem | Di dederint | Leuconoe; | nee Babylon|ios
Tentar|is numeros. | Ut melius | quicquid erit, | pati!
Seu plu|res hiemes, | seu tribuit | Jupiter ul|timam,
Quae nunc | oppositis | debilitat | pumicibus | mare
Tyrrhe|num.

In later times of Rome, both Seneca and Prudentius wrote choriambic
verse with a fair amount of success. Swinburne even introduced it into
English poetry:--

Love, what | ailed them to leave | life that was made | lovely, we
thought | with love?
What sweet | vision of sleep | lured thee away | down from the light
| above?

Such lines as these make a brave attempt to resuscitate the measured
sound of the greater asclepiad. (E. G.)

CHORICIUS, of Gaza, Greek sophist and rhetorician, flourished in the
time of Anastasius I. (A.D. 491-518). He was the pupil of Procopius of
Gaza, who must be distinguished from Procopius of Caesarea, the
historian. A number of his declamations and descriptive treatises have
been preserved. The declamations, which are in many cases accompanied by
explanatory commentaries, chiefly consist of panegyrics, funeral
orations and the stock themes of the rhetorical schools. The [Gre