Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Capra, Lac Eius, et Lupus: qui sibi damnum apparat (Alciato)

SOURCE: The emblems of Alciato, with a convenient bilingual presentation online at Memorial University, and a marvelous collection of illustrated editions at Glasgow. This is emblem 64 in the collection. Although this is not a story found in Aesop's fables, it shares the motif of the shepherd who foolishly raised a wolf cub, as in Perry 209 and Perry 267.

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:

Capra, lupum nōn sponte meō nunc ūbere lactō,
Quod male pastōris prōvida cūra iubet.
Crēverit ille simul, mea mē post ūbera pascet:
Improbitas nullō flectitur obsequiō.


PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:

Capra, nōn sponte meō, nunc ūbere lupum lactō, quod pastōris cūra iubet, male prōvida. Ille simul crēverit, post ūbera mea mē pascet: improbitas obsequiō nullō flectitur.


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):

Capra, non sponte meo, nunc úbere lupum lacto, quod pastóris cura iubet, male próvida. Ille simul créverit, post úbera mea me pascet: impróbitas obséquio nullo fléctitur.


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.

Capra, lu·pum nōn· sponte me·ō nunc· ūbere· lactō,
Quod male· pastō·ris || prōvida· cūra iu·bet.
Crēverit· ille si·mul, mea· mē post· ūbera· pascet:
Improbi·tas nul·lō || flectitur· obsequi·ō.


IMAGE. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) from a 1541 edition of the emblems:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Capra, non sponte meo, nunc ubere lupum lacto, quod pastoris cura iubet, male provida. Ille simul creverit, post ubera mea me pascet: improbitas obsequio nullo flectitur.