Chorepiscopos and poet writing in the region of Aleppo . His five madroše on Aqaq, bp. of Beroea (Aleppo), who died in 436, provide the only indication of his date and locality (ed. Overbeck, 259–69). These poems are very general in character and more interesting is his madrošo on the Dedication of a new church in Chalcis (Qenneshrin; translations by Graffin and McVey). According to the oldest ms. of the 12 memre on the patriarch Joseph (ed. Bedjan), these too were by Balai, rather than Ephrem ; it remains unclear which attribution is correct (Phenix prefers Balai). Later tradition knows Balai primarily as the originator of the five-syllable meter (also identified as ḥoʾen l-ḥaṭoye), in which numerous boʿwoto and takšpoto are written (samples are given by Zetterstéen); the real authorship of these remains uncertain.