E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus, Metres., para 81

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It may be remarked that while the verse most frequently opens with the irrational trochee (as always in Martial), there are nearly seventy exceptions to this rule, and they are about evenly divided between the regular trochaic opening and that with the iambus.¹ The peculiar experiment with this metre tried in cc. 55 and 58b is noted in the introduction to c. 55.

1 Merrill's terminology is obsolete. He is referring to the possible forms of the Aeolic base, which in Catullus as in the Greek poets may be --, -u, or u-; it cannot be two short syllables. Later poets, including for example Martial, use only two long syllables for Aeolic base.

Catullus. Catullus. E. T. Merrill. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1893.

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E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus
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