Thursday, February 4, 2010

Porcus et Equus (Abstemius)

SOURCE: This fable comes from the first Hecatomythium ("100 Fables") of Laurentius Abstemius (Lorenzo Bevilaqua), a fifteenth-century Italian scholar. Of all the neo-Latin fable collections, Abstemius's was the most popular, and his stories are frequently anthologized in the 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century collections of Aesop's fables in Latin. Here is a 1499 edition of the book online. This is fable 48 in the collection.

READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons or accent marks - and read the text out loud until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, try reading the unmarked text at the bottom. It should be easy for you after practicing with the marked texts. :-)


MACRONS. Here is the text with macrons:

Porcus cōnspiciēns equum bellātōrem, quī cataphractus ad pugnam prōdībat: Stulte, inquit, quō properās? in pugna enim fortassē moriēris. Cui equus: Tibi inter lutum sordesque impinguatō, quamvīs nihil dignum laude gesseris, cultellus adimet vītam: mortem vērō meam comitābitur glōria. Haec fābula innuit, honestius esse rēbus praeclārē gestīs occumbere, quam vītam turpiter actam prōtrahere.



ACCENT MARKS. Here is the text with stress accents, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):

Porcus conspíciens equum bellatórem, qui cataphráctus ad pugnam prodíbat: "Stulte (inquit) quo próperas? In pugna enim fortásse moriéris." Cui equus: "Tibi inter lutum sordésque impinguáto, quamvis nihil dignum laude gésseris, cultéllus ádimet vitam: mortem vero meam comitábitur glória." Haec fábula ínnuit, honéstius esse rebus praecláre gestis occúmbere, quam vitam túrpiter actam protráhere.



UNMARKED TEXT. Here is the unmarked text - after practicing with the marked text that you prefer, you should not have any trouble with the unmarked text. I've put in some line breaks to show the natural pauses in the story:

Porcus
conscpiens equum bellatorem,
qui cataphractus
ad pugnam prodibat:
"Stulte (inquit) quo properas?
In pugna enim fortasse morieris."
Cui equus:
"Tibi
inter lutum sordesque impinguato,
quamvis
nihil dignum laude gesseris,
cultellus adimet vitam:
mortem vero meam
comitabitur gloria."
Haec fabula innuit,
honestius esse
rebus praeclare gestis
occumbere,
quam vitam turpiter actam
protrahere.




IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a horse and a pig in conversation: