Metres used by Horace

Two Greek metres commonly used by Horace are the Alcaic (four-line stanzas of respectively 11, 11, 9, and 10 syllables):

Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
Labuntur anni, nec pietas moram
	Rugis et instanti senectae
		Adferet indomitaeque morti.

“Ah, Postumus, Postumus, the years go swiftly by; no amount of righteousness will combat wrinkles, the advance of old age, or the inevitability of death” (Odes I. 14. 1--4).

And the Sapphic (four-line stanzas of respectively 11, 11, 11, and 5 syllables):

Pone sub curru nimium propinqui
Solis in terra domibus negata;
Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,
	  Dulce loquentem.

“Put me down beneath the chariot of the sun where it is nearest to earth, and the land’s unfit for living: I shall still love sweetly laughing, sweetly speaking Lalage” (Odes I. 22. 21--4).