Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Leaena, Aper et Vultur: Ex damno alterius, alterius utilitas (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 126 in the collection. Compare the Aesop's fable about the fox who takes the spoils from the lion and the bear after their quarrel, Perry 147.

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:

Dum saevīs ruerent in mūtua vulnera tēlīs,
Ungue leaena ferox, dente timendus aper,
Accurrit vultur spectātum, et prandia captat.
Glōria victōris, praeda futūra sua est.


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

Dum leaena, ungue ferox, aper, dente timendus, tēlīs saevīs in vulnera mūtua ruerent, vultur spectātum accurrit et prandia captat. Victōris glōria sua praeda futūra est.


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):

Dum leaéna, ungue ferox, aper, dente timéndus, telis saevis in vúlnera mútua rúerent, vultur spectátum accúrrit et prándia captat. Victóris glória sua praeda futúra est.


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.

Dum sae·vīs rue·rent in· mūtua· vulnera· tēlīs,
Ungue le·aena fe·rox, || dente ti·mendus a·per,
Accur·rit vul·tur spec·tāt~, et· prandia· captat.
Glōria· victō·ris, || praeda fu·tūra su~· est.


IMAGE. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) from a 1621 edition of the emblems:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Dum leaena, ungue ferox, aper, dente timendus, telis saevis in vulnera mutua ruerent, vultur spectatum accurrit et prandia captat. Victoris gloria sua praeda futura est.