The elegiac distich was introduced in Rome by Quintus Ennius, in the first half of the 2nd century BC. It became the standard meter of epigram and elegy, its life extending over a very long period, from archaic Latinity to late antiquity (and beyond, to the Middle Ages and the early modern period). This volume provides scholars with a collection of (in good part previously unpublished) first-hand analyses of the elegiac distich, based on the scansion of nearly all Latin poetry in this meter, from Catullus to Venantius Fortunatus. As such, it reconstructs the evolution of the Latin elegiac distich in the first seven hundred years of its history, and it sheds new light on the metrical style of almost all Latin poets who composed verses in it during the period under consideration. Lucio Ceccarelli is Professor of Latin Literature at the University of L?Aquila. His research focuses mainly on Latin poetic meter. He has authored a monograph on the Latin hexameter (Roma, 2008) and several articles on archaic and classical Latin meter. Table of Contents Part I: The Latin Elegiac Distich from Catullus to Martial Chapter 1: The realisation of the metrical scheme in the classical elegiac distich 1. The hexameter in the classical elegiac distich 2. The pentameter in the classical elegiac distich 3. The realisation of the metrical scheme of the classical elegiac distich. Summarising conclusions Chapter 2: The line-breaks of the classical elegiac hexameter 1. The line-breaks in the third foot of the classical hexameter 2. The line-breaks in the fourth foot of the classical elegiac hexameter Chapter 3: The verbal metre of the classical elegiac distich 1. The clausula of the classical elegiac hexameter 2. The clausula of the classical pentameter 3. The verbal metre of the second hemistich of the classical pentameter 4. Iambic words before diaeresis in the classical Latin pentameter Chapter 4: Synaloepha in the classical elegiac distich Chapter 5: The elegiac distich in the classical period. Summarising conclusions Chapter 6: Elegiac hexameter and hexameter kata stichon. The classical period Part II: The late antique Latin elegiac distich Chapter 1: The late antique elegiac distich. Preliminary considerations Chapter 2: The realisation of the metrical scheme of the late antique elegiac distich 1. The late antique elegiac hexameter 2. The late antique pentameter Chapter 3: The line-breaks in the late antique elegiac hexameter 1. The line-breaks in the third foot of the late antique elegiac hexameter 2. The line-breaks in the fourth foot of the late antique elegiac hexameter Chapter 4: The verbal metre of the late antique elegiac distich 1. The clausula of the late antique elegiac hexameter 2. The clausula of the late antique pentameter 3. The verbal metre of the second hemistich of the late antique pentameter 4. Iambic words before diaeresis of the late antique pentameter Chapter 5: Synaloepha in the late antique elegiac distich Chapter 6: Hexameter kata stichon and elegiac hexameter in the late antique period Chapter 7: The late antique elegiac distich. Conclusions Final considerations Bibliography Tables Index of tables