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 iambic meter. You will find materials for all of these options below. :-)
VERSE MACRONS. Here is the verse text with macrons:
Persōnam tragicam fōrte vulpēs vīderat;
"Ō quanta speciēs" inquit "cerebrum nōn habet!"
Hōc illīs dictum est quibus honōrem et glōriam
Fōrtūna tribuit, sēnsum commūnem abstulit.
PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Fōrte vulpēs persōnam tragicam vīderat; inquit: "Ō quanta speciēs cerebrum nōn habet!" Hōc dictum est illīs quibus Fōrtūna honōrem et glōriam tribuit, sēnsum commūnem abstulit.
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):
Forte vulpes persónam trágicam víderat; inquit: "O quanta spécies cérebrum non habet!" Hoc dictum est illis quibus Fortúna honórem et glóriam tríbuit, sensum commúnem ábstulit.
IAMBIC METER. Here is the verse text with some color coding to assist in the iambic meter. The disyllabic elements (iambs/spondees) are not marked, but the trisyllabic elements are color-coded: dactyls are red, anapests are purple, and tribrachs are green (as is any proceleusmaticus, although that is a rare creature):
Persō·nam tragi·cam fōr·te vul·pēs vī·derat;
Ō quan·ta speci·ēs in·quit cere·brum nōn· habet!
Hōc il·līs dict~· est quibus· honōr~· et glō·riam
Fōrtū·na tribu·it, sēn·sum com·mūn~ ab·stulit.
IMAGE. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) by Walter Crane:
What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Forte vulpes personam tragicam viderat; inquit: "O quanta species cerebrum non habet!" Hoc dictum est illis quibus Fortuna honorem et gloriam tribuit, sensum communem abstulit.
