BC). This kind of tetrameter is also known as the iambic octonarius, because it has eight iambic feet. There were two varieties. One had a break at the end of the second metron as in Ambrose's hymn. In some lines, however, such as the following from Terence, the break came after the 9th, not the 8th, metrical position: ! "But you on the other hand now seem to me to be lucky, Phaedria!" | – – uu – | – – u – | u – – – | – u – | A characteristic of iambic metre in early Latin was that even the short elements in the metre were often replaced with a long syllable, as with tun in , or two short ones, as with mihi above; but if so, they were usually unaccented to give the impression of being short. There was usually therefore quite a strong match between word accent and rhythm, as in the line above. A variation on this metre was the iambic septenarius, or iambic tetrameter catalectic. This was similar but with the last syllable omitted. The example below also comes from Terence: But what's this? Do I see Geta running to arrive here? | – uu – uu | – uu u – || – – – – | u – – | The final syllable of the line could be long or short, but every final syllable counted as long by the principle known as brevis in longo. Accentual-syllabic verse The term iambic tetrameter was adopted to describe a similar metre in accentual-syllabic verse, as composed in English, German, Russian, and other languages. Here, iamb refers to an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. A line of iambic tetrameter consists of four such feet in a row: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM Examples English × / × / × / × / Come live with me and be my love (Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love") German × / × / × / × / Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Emanuel Schikaneder, libretto to The Magic Flute) Hebrew × / × / × / × / Adon Olam Asher Malach (the opening line of Adon Olam, a traditional hymn of anonymous authorship from the Jewish liturgy.) See also Syllable weight Iambic pentameter Notes Types of verses