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Non ebur neque aureum ...

The ode is written in alternating "distichs." The first line consists of 3 1/2 trochees (a long syllable followed by a short); it's named "trochaic dimeter catalectic." The second line is 5 1/2 iambs (short, long) with substitutions; there is a caesura in the third iamb; it's named "iambic dimeter catalectic." The two-line scheme is named Hipponactean Strophe, after the Greek lyric poet Hipponax.