Saturday, January 16, 2010

Tauri et Leo (Trinity)

SOURCE: This poem was composed by the anonymous "Trinity Master" who published a lovely little book in 1852 setting Latin fables in prose side-by-side with his verse compositions; read the book at Google Books. This is poem 14 in the collection. For more versions, see Perry 372.

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:

Campus erat; Taurīs ibi pascere quattuor est mos;
Foedere sē iunctō cōnsociāre placet:
Quōs simul errantēs videt importūna Leaena;
At simul errantēs hostis adīre timet.
Dīvidit, et cunctōs vincit; cuī vincere apertē
Non datur, īnsidiās fictaque verba parat.
Nec mora; dissociat comitēs; male crēditur hostī:
Iam procul ā sociīs quisque Leōne cadit.


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

Campus erat; ibi pascere quattuor Taurīs mos est. Foedere iunctō, sē cōnsociāre eis placet. Quōs simul errantēs Leaena importūna videt, at Leaena hostis Tauros simul errantēs adīre timet. Dīvidit, et cunctōs vincit. Cuī non datur apertē vincere, Īnsidiās et verba ficta parat. Nec mora: male hostī crēditur; Leaena Tauros comitēs dissociat: Taurus quisque iam procul ā sociīs Leōne cadit.


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):

Campus erat; ibi páscere quáttuor Tauris mos est. Foédere iuncto, se consociáre eis placet. Quos simul errántes Leaéna importúna videt, at Leaéna hostis Tauros simul errántes adíre timet. Dívidit, et cunctos vincit. Cui non datur apérte víncere, insídias et verba ficta parat. Nec mora: male hosti créditur; Leaéna Tauros cómites dissóciat: Taurus quisque iam procul a sóciis Leóne cadit.


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.

Campus e·rat; Tau·rīs ibi· pascere· quattuor· est mos;
Foedere· sē iunc·tō || cōnsoci·āre pla·cet:
Quōs simul· erran·tēs videt· impor·tūna Le·aena;
At simul· erran·tēs || hostis a·dīre ti·met.
Dīvidit,· et cunc·tōs vin·cit; cuī· vincer~ a·pertē
Non datur,· īnsidi·ās || fictaque· verba pa·rat.
Nec mora;· dissoci·at comi·tēs; male· crēditur· hostī:
Iam procul· ā soci·īs || quisque Le·ōne ca·dit.


IMAGE. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) from a 19th-century edition of the fables:

What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches: Campus erat; ibi pascere quattuor Tauris mos est. Foedere iuncto, se consociare eis placet. Quos simul errantes Leaena importuna videt, at Leaena hostis Tauros simul errantes adire timet. Dividit, et cunctos vincit. Cui non datur aperte vincere, Insidias et verba ficta parat. Nec mora: male hosti creditur; Leaena Tauros comites dissociat: Taurus quisque iam procul a sociis Leone cadit.