cordax

A New Latin Dictionary by Charlton T. Lewis Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL. D.

cordax, ăcis, m., = κόρδαξ,

I the extravagant dance of Grecian comedy, distinguished by lively movement and wanton gesture, and by the rope which was kept passing through the hands of the dancers; the imitation of this dance was regarded as a mark of drunkenness or licentiousness: ducere, to dance it (κόρδακα ἕλκειν), Petr. 52, 9 (cf. Ter. Ad. 752).—Adject.: cordaces sententiae, i. e. tinnulae, staggering (together with modulatae), Fronto de Or. 2, p. 240 Mai.—

II Transf. of the trochaic rhythm, in a loose translation of Aristotle (ὁ δὲ τροχαῖος κορδακικώτερος), on account of its hopping movement, Cic. Or. 57, 193; Quint. 9, 4, 88.

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