Editing Epode (section)

==Evolution==
In the performance of a choral ode, at a certain point in time the choirs, which had previously chanted to the right of the altar or stage, and then to the left of it, combined and sang in unison, or permitted the ''[[coryphaeus]]'' to sing for them all, while standing in the centre.

The epode soon took its place in choral poetry, which it lost when that branch of literature declined. But it extended beyond the ode, and in the early dramatists we find numerous examples of monologues and dialogues framed on the epodical system. In [[Latin]] poetry the epode was cultivated, in conscious [[archaism]], both as a part of the ode and as an independent branch of poetry. Of the former class, the [[epithalamia]] of [[Catullus]], founded on an imitation of [[Pindar]], present us with examples of strophe, antistrophe and epode; and it has been observed that the celebrated ode 1.12 of [[Horace]], beginning {{lang|la|Quem virum aut heroa lyra vel acri}}, possesses this triple character.<ref name=EB1911/>