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:
Cum lupus ēsuriēns mandit cervārius escam
Praeque famē captum dēvorat hinnuleum,Respiciat sī forte aliō, vel lūmina vertat,
Praesentem oblītus quem tenet ungue cibum,Quaeritat incertam - tanta est oblīvio - praedam.
Quī sua neglexit, stultē aliēna petit. PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Cum lupus cervārius, ēsuriēns, escam mandit et prae famē hinnuleum captum dēvorat, sī forte aliō respiciat, vel lūmina vertat, oblītus cibum praesentem quem ungue tenet, praedam incertam quaeritat - tanta est oblīvio! Stultē aliēna petit, quī sua neglexit.
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):
Cum lupus cervárius, esúriens, escam mandit et prae fame hinnúleum captum devórat, si forte alio respíciat, vel lúmina vertat, oblítus cibum praeséntem quem ungue tenet, praedam incértam quaéritat - tanta est oblívio! Stulte aliéna petit, qui sua negléxit.
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.
Cum lupu·s ēsuri·ēns man·dit cer·vārius· escam
Praeque fa·mē cap·tum || dēvorat· hinnule·um,Respici·at sī· fort~ ali·ō, vel· lūmina· vertat,
Praesent~· oblītus || quem tenet· ungue ci·bum,Quaeritat· incer·tam - tan·t~ est ob·līvio· - praedam.
Quī sua· neglex·it, || stult~ ali·ēna pe·tit.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:
Cum lupus cervarius, esuriens, escam mandit et prae fame hinnuleum captum devorat, si forte alio respiciat, vel lumina vertat, oblitus cibum praesentem quem ungue tenet, praedam incertam quaeritat - tanta est oblivio! Stulte aliena petit, qui sua neglexit.
