Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Upupa honorata (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 45 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:

Invitātae ferē omnēs avēs ad Aquilae nuptiās indignē ferēbant upupam cēterīs praeferrī, quia corōnā īnsignis esset et versicolōribus pennīs ornāta, cum semper inter stercora et sordēs solita esse volūtārī. Haec fābula stultitiam eōrum arguit, quī in hominibus honōrandīs, potius vestium nitōrem praestantiamque formae quam virtūtēs mōrēsque soleant attendere.



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):

Invitátae fere omnes aves ad Áquilae núptias indígne ferébant úpupam céteris praeférri, quia coróna insígnis esset et versicolóribus pennis ornáta, cum semper inter stércora et sordes sólita esse volutári. Haec fábula stultítiam eórum árguit, qui in homínibus honorándis, pótius véstium nitórem praestantiámque formae quam virtútes morésque sóleant atténdere.



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:

Invitatae fere omnes aves
ad Aquilae nuptias
indigne ferebant
upupam ceteris praeferri,
quia corona insignis esset
et versicoloribus pennis ornata,
cum
semper inter stercora et sordes
solita esse volutari.
Haec fabula
stultitiam eorum arguit,
qui in hominibus honorandis,
potius vestium nitorem
praestantiamque formae
quam virtutes moresque
soleant attendere.




IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a hoopoe: