Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Lepus et Canis (Babrius-prose)

SOURCE: This is a Latin prose version of Babrius's Greek verse fables, as published by Jean François Boissonade in 1844; the book is available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 69 in Boissonade's edition; for other versions, see Perry 331.

READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons or accent marks - and read the text out loud until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, try reading the unmarked text at the bottom. It should be easy for you after practicing with the marked texts. :-)


MACRONS. Here is the text with macrons:

Ex fruticētō leporem villōsīpedem quem excitāverat, īnsequēbātur canis, vēnandī nōn imperītus. Cursū tamen fuit impar. Et caprārius quīdam dixit per iocum: Quantula bestia reperta fuit tē velōcior? Cui canis: Currit aliquis aliter alium rapere quī cupit; et aliter alium quī ex malō servat.


ACCENT MARKS. Here is the text with accent marks, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):

Ex fruticéto léporem villosípedem quem excitáverat, insequebátur canis, venándi non imperítus. Cursu tamen fuit impar. Et caprárius quidam dixit per iocum: Quántula béstia repérta fuit te velócior? Cui canis: Currit áliquis áliter álium rápere qui cupit; et áliter álium qui ex malo servat.


UNMARKED TEXT. Here is the unmarked text - after practicing with the marked text that you prefer, you should not have any trouble with the unmarked text:

Ex fruticeto
leporem villosipedem
quem excitaverat,
insequebatur canis,
venandi non imperitus.
Cursu tamen fuit impar.
Et caprarius quidam
dixit per iocum:
Quantula bestia
reperta fuit
te velocior?
Cui canis:
Currit aliquis
aliter
alium rapere qui cupit;
et aliter
alium qui ex malo servat.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a dog in hot pursuit of a rabbit: