The result of an attempt to adopt this metre in Middle English might, on account of the preference of the language for iambic rhythm, very naturally be to transform it into the iambic catalectic tetrameter by the frequent addition of an unaccented opening syllable at the beginning of each half-line. Probably the latter verse-form was the model, as may be seen from Leigh Hunt's Modern English translation of the Latin drinking-song just quoted.[145] Moreover, many mediaeval Latin verses also have a wavering rhythm resulting in a form at times characterized by level stress, e.g. _Fortunae rota volvitur; | descendo minoratus, Alter in altum tollitur | nimis exaltatus. Rex sedet in vertice, | caveat ruinam, Nam sub axe legimus | 'Hecubam' reginam._ Carmina Burana, lxxvii. § =136.= These verses correspond pretty exactly, in their metrical structure, to the opening lines of the _Moral Ode_, which, as far as is known, is the earliest Middle English poem in septenary lines, and dates from the twelfth century: _Íc am élder þánne ic wés, | a wíntre and éc a lóre; ic éaldi móre þánne ic déde: | mi wít oȝhte tó bi móre. Wel lónge ic hábbe chíld ibíen | on wórde ánd on déde; þéȝh ic bí on wíntren éald, | to ȝíung ic ám on réde._ The other common licences of even-beat metre which affect the rhythm of the line, the metrical value of syllables, and the word-accent, also occur in the _Moral Ode_. Suppression of the anacrusis is very often met with; it occurs, for instance, in the first hemistich, in lines 1 and 4 above; in the second hemistich, _ér ic hít iwíste_ l. 17, in both, _þó þet hábbeð wél idón | éfter híre míhte_, l. 175; so that a pure iambic couplet seldom occurs, although the iambic rhythm is, on the whole, predominant. The omission of unaccented syllables in the middle of the line is also often found (although many verses of this kind probably require emendation), as _Ne léve nó mán to múchel_ 24; also in the second hemistich, as _and wól éche dede_ 88. Transpositions of the accent are quite usual at the beginning of the first as well as of the second hemistich: _Elde me ís bestólen ón_ 17; _síððen ic spéke cúðe_ 9. Level stress is also not absent: _For bétere is án elmésse bifóre_ 28. We often meet with elision, apocope, syncope, slurring of syllables, and the use of a disyllabic thesis both at the beginning of the line and in other positions: _þo þet wél ne dóeþ þe wíle he múȝe_ 19; _nís hit búte gámen and glíe_ 188. A noteworthy indication of want of skill in the handling of the Septenary in this first attempt is the frequent occurrence of a superfluous syllable at the close of the first hemistich, which should only admit of an acatalectic ending, e.g.: _Hé scal cúme on úuele stéde | búte him Gód beo mílde_ 26; _Eíðer to lútel ánd to múchel | scal þúnchen éft hem báthe_ 62, &c. The end of the