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:
Iāne bifrōns, quī iam trānsacta futūraque callēs,
Quīque retrō sannās, sīcut et ante, vidēs:Tē tot cūr oculīs, cūr fingunt vultibus? An quod
Circumspectum hominem forma fuisse docet? PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Iāne bifrōns, quī iam trānsacta et futūra callēs, et quī retrō sannās, sīcut et ante vidēs: cūr tē fingunt tot oculīs, cūr tot vultibus? An quod forma hominem docet circumspectum fuisse?
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):
Iane bifrons, qui iam transácta et futúra calles, et qui retro sannas, sicut et ante vides: cur te fingunt tot óculis, cur tot vúltibus? An quod forma hóminem docet circumspéctum fuísse?
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.
Iāne bi·frōns, quī· iam trān·sacta fu·tūraque· callēs,
Quīque re·trō san·nās, || sīcut et· ante, vi·dēs:Tē tot· cūr ocu·līs, cūr· fingunt· vultibus?· An quod
Circum·spect~ homi·nem || forma fu·isse do·cet?IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story from a 1567 edition of Alciato:
What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Iane bifrons, qui iam transacta et futura calles, et qui retro sannas, sicut et ante vides: cur te fingunt tot oculis, cur tot vultibus? An quod forma hominem docet circumspectum fuisse?
