Distich (Gr. distichos, 'consisting of two rows') is the classical name given to any two lines, but especially to a hexameter and pentameter, making complete sense, the character of which is seen in the following well-known example by Schiller:
Im Hexameter steigt des Springquells flüssige Säule,
In Pentameter drauf fällt sie melodisch herab; which was thus Englished by Coleridge:
In the hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column,
In the pentameter aye falling in melody back.
It was much used by the Greeks and Romans as a vehicle for the expression of single thoughts and sentiments; and hence became almost exclusively employed for the classical epigram. The greater poets of modern Germany, as Goethe and Schiller, have also shown a fondness for the distich, and remarkable skill in its use. A collection of moral maxims in Latin, ascribed to a certain Dionysius Cato (q.v.), are called Disticha, and were highly popular during the middle ages.