Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Lupus et Equus (DeFuria)


Lupus cum per arvum quoddam errāret, forte hordeī cōpiam reperit; sed cum eō ūtī in cibum minimē posset, relictō discessit. Equō autem mox obviam factus, eum ad arvum illud ut venīret hortābātur, aiēns, ut repertum hordeum nōn comēderit, sed ipsī reservāverit, quod dentium equī strepitum audīre, summae sibi esset voluptātī. Cui Equus subiiciēns, Heus tū, ait, sī lupī hordeō vescī possent, haud profectō aurēs ventrī praeposuissēs.

SOURCE: This comes from the Latin translation that accompanies De Furia's edition of the Greek Aesopic corpus, published in 1810 and available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 300 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 154.

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


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):

Lupus cum per arvum quoddam erráret, forte hórdei cópiam réperit; sed cum eo uti in cibum mínime posset, relícto discéssit. Equo autem mox óbviam factus, eum ad arvum illud ut veníret hortabátur, aiens, ut repértum hórdeum non coméderit, sed ipsi reserváverit, quod déntium equi strépitum audíre, summae sibi esset voluptáti. Cui Equus subiíciens, Heus tu, ait, si lupi hórdeo vesci possent, haud profécto aures ventri praeposuísses.


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:

Lupus
cum per arvum quoddam
erraret,
forte
hordei copiam reperit;
sed cum eo uti in cibum
minime posset,
relicto discessit.
Equo autem
mox obviam factus,
eum
ad arvum illud ut veniret
hortabatur, aiens,
ut repertum hordeum
non comederit,
sed ipsi reservaverit,
quod
dentium equi strepitum audire,
summae sibi esset voluptati.
Cui Equus subiiciens,
Heus tu, ait,
si lupi
hordeo vesci possent,
haud profecto
aures ventri praeposuisses.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a horse and a rather friendly-looking wolf - but as the story warns us, the wolf cannot be taken at his word: