Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Ursus et Vulpes (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 14 in Boissonade's edition; for other versions, see Perry 288.

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:

Ursus eximiē sē hominem dīligere iactābat; hominis enim cadāver aiēbat sē nōn discerpere. Cui vulpes: Potius cadāver, inquit, tibi lacerarī māvelim, dum vīvum nōn tangās corpus. Quī mē laedit vīvum, mortuum nē lūgeat.


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):

Ursus exímie se hóminem dilígere iactábat; hóminis enim cadáver aiébat se non discérpere. Cui vulpes: Pótius cadáver, inquit, tibi lacerári mávelim, dum vivum non tangas corpus. Qui me laedit vivum, mórtuum ne lúgeat.


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:

Ursus
eximie se hominem diligere
iactabat;
hominis enim cadaver
aiebat
se non discerpere.
Cui vulpes:
Potius cadaver, inquit,
tibi lacerari mavelim,
dum vivum non tangas corpus.
Qui me laedit vivum,
mortuum ne lugeat.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing the bear from the Bestiaria Zoo: