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:
Heu miser in mediīs sitiēns stat Tantalus undīs,
Et pōma ēsuriēns proxima habēre nequit.Nōmine mūtātō dē tē id dīcētur avāre,
Quī, quasi nōn habeās, nōn frueris quod habēs. PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Heu miser, Tantalus sitiēns in mediīs undīs stat, et ēsuriēns pōma proxima habēre nequit. Nōmine mūtātō, id dē tē dīcētur, avāre! quī nōn frueris quod habēs, quasi nōn habeās.
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):
Heu miser, Tántalus sítiens in médiis undis stat, et esúriens poma próxima habére nequit. Nómine mutáto, id de te dicétur, aváre! qui non frúeris quod habes, quasi non hábeas.
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.
Heu miser in mediīs sitiēns stat Tantalus undīs,
Et pō·m~ ēsuri·ēns | proxim~ ha·bēre ne·quit.Nōmine mūtātō dē tē id dīcētur avāre,
Quī quasi· nōn habe·ās | nōn frue·ris quod ha·bēs.IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source).
What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Heu miser, Tantalus sitiens in mediis undis stat, et esuriens poma proxima habere nequit. Nomine mutato, id de te dicetur, avare! qui non frueris quod habes, quasi non habeas.
