Sunday, January 10, 2010

Columba 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 6 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:

Columba interrogāta ā pīcā, quid eam indūceret ut in eōdem semper locō nīdificāret, cum eius pullī inde semper surriperentur. "Simplicitas," rēspondit. Haec indicat fābula facile esse virōs probōs saepe dēcipī.



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):

Colúmba interrogáta a pica, quid eam indúceret ut in eódem semper loco nidificáret, cum eius pulli inde semper surriperéntur. "Simplícitas," respóndit. Haec índicat fábula fácile esse viros probos saepe décipi.



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:

Columba interrogata a pica,
quid eam induceret
ut in eodem semper loco nidificaret,
cum eius pulli
inde semper surriperentur.
"Simplicitas," respondit.
Haec indicat fabula
facile esse
viros probos saepe decipi.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing a dove in her nest: