In the longer passages in which they occur, these metres are generally combined with some form of trochaic verse, which again is often exchanged for septenarian or octonarian iambics.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
He was the author also of what seem to have been works on grammar and literary criticism and history, written in trochaic and other metres, and known by the names Didascalica and Pragmatica, and Parerga.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
From the few Saturnian lines remaining, it may be inferred that the verse had an irregular trochaic movement; and it seems first to have come into use as an accompaniment to the beating of the foot in a primitive rustic dance.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar