READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons in verse form, or macrons in prose order, or accent marks in prose order, or focusing on the meter. You will find materials for all of these options below. :-)
VERSE MACRONS. Here is the verse text with macrons:
Arripit ut lapidem catulus, morsūque fatīgat,
Nec percussōrī mūtua damna facit.Sīc plērīque sinunt vērōs ēlabier hostēs
Et quōs nulla gravat noxia, dente petunt. PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Ut catulus lapidem arripit et morsū fatīgat, nec percussōrī mūtua damna facit, sīc plērīque vērōs hostēs ēlabier sinunt et dente petunt quōs nulla noxia gravat.
STRESS (ACCENT) MARKS. Here is the prose text with accents, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):
Ut cátulus lápidem árripit et morsu fatígat, nec percussóri mútua damna facit, sic pleríque veros hostes elábier sinunt et dente petunt quos nulla nóxia gravat.
ELEGIAC COUPLET METER. Below I have used an interpunct dot to indicate the metrical elements in each line, and a double line || to indicate the hemistichs of the pentameter line.
Arripit· ut lapi·dem catu·lus, mor·sūque fa·tīgat,
Nec per·cussō·rī || mūtua· damna fa·cit.Sīc plē·rīque si·nunt vē·rōs ē·labier· hostēs
Et quōs· nulla gra·vat || noxia,· dente pe·tunt. IMAGE. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) from a 1534 edition of the emblems:
What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Ut catulus lapidem arripit et morsu fatigat, nec percussori mutua damna facit, sic plerique veros hostes elabier sinunt et dente petunt quos nulla noxia gravat.
