Thursday, January 28, 2010

Sus et Canis (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 41 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:

Sūs irrīdēbat canem odōrisequum, quī dominō murmure et caudā adulārētur, ā quō ad artem aucupātōriam multīs verberibus auriumque vellicātiōnibus fuerat īnstructus. Cui canis: "Nescīs (inquit) īnsāne, nescīs quae ex verberibus illīs sim cōnsecūtus, per ea enim suāvissimīs perdīcum cōturnīcumque carnibus vescor." Haec fābula nōs monet nē inīquō animō ferāmus praeceptōrum verba, quae multōrum bonōrum causā esse cōnsuēvēre.



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):

Sus irridébat canem odorísequum, qui dómino múrmure et cauda adularétur, a quo ad artem aucupatóriam multis verbéribus auriúmque vellicatiónibus fúerat instrúctus. Cui canis: "Nescis (inquit), insáne, quae ex verbéribus illis sim consecútus, per ea enim suavíssimis perdícum coturnicúmque cárnibus vescor." Haec fábula nos monet ne iníquo ánimo ferámus praeceptórum verba, quae multórum bonórum causa esse consuevére.



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:

Sus
irridebat canem odorisequum,
qui
domino murmure et cauda
adularetur,
a quo
ad artem aucupatoriam
multis verberibus
auriumque vellicationibus
fuerat instructus.
Cui canis:
"Nescis (inquit), insane,
quae
ex verberibus illis sim consecutus,
per ea enim
suavissimis
perdicum coturnicumque carnibus
vescor."
Haec fabula nos monet
ne iniquo animo
feramus praeceptorum verba,
quae
multorum bonorum causa esse
consuevere.




IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a bird dog at work.