Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Aquila et Pica (Abstemius)

SOURCE: This fable comes from the first Hecatomythium ("100 Fables") of Laurentius Abstemius (Lorenzo Bevilaqua), a fifteenth-century Italian scholar. Of all the neo-Latin fable collections, Abstemius's was the most popular, and his stories are frequently anthologized in the 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century collections of Aesop's fables in Latin. Here is a 1499 edition of the book online. This is fable 26 in the collection.

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:

Pica aquilam rogābat ut sē inter suōs familiārēs et domesticōs acciperet, quando id mererētur cum corporis pulchritūdine, tum ad mandāta peragenda linguae volūbilitāte. Cui aquila, "Hoc facerem (rēspondit), nī vererer, nē quae intrā tēgulās fiunt, tuā loquacitāte cuncta efferrēs." Haec fābula monet linguācēs et garrulōs domī nōn habendōs.



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

Pica áquilam rogábat ut se inter suos familiáres et domésticos accíperet, quando id mererétur cum córporis pulchritúdine, tum ad mandáta peragénda linguae volubilitáte. Cui áquila, "Hoc fácerem (respóndit), ni vérerer, ne quae intra tégulas fiunt, tua loquacitáte cuncta efférres." Haec fábula monet linguáces et gárrulos domi non habéndos.



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. I've put in some line breaks to show the natural pauses in the story:

Pica
aquilam rogabat
ut se
inter suos familiares et domesticos
acciperet,
quando id mereretur
cum
corporis pulchritudine,
tum
ad mandata peragenda
linguae volubilitate.
Cui aquila,
"Hoc facerem (respondit),
ni vererer,
ne quae intra tegulas fiunt,
tua loquacitate cuncta efferres."
Haec fabula monet
linguaces et garrulos
domi non habendos.




IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a bluejay squawking: