Sunday, February 7, 2010

Socrates ad Amicos (Phaedrus)

SOURCE: For a complete edition of Phaedrus with macrons, see the edition by J.H. Drake at GoogleBooks. This is fable 3.9 in Phaedrus. For parallel versions, see Perry 500.

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 iambic meter. You will find materials for all of these options below. :-)


VERSE MACRONS. Here is the verse text with macrons:

Vulgāre amīcī nōmen sed rāra est fidēs.
Cum parvās aedēs sibi fundāsset Sōcratēs
(cūius nōn fugiō mortem sī fāmam adsequar,
et cēdō invidiae dummodo absolvar cinis),
ex populō sīc nēsciōquis, ut fierī solet:
"Quaesō, tam angustam tālis vir pōnis domum?"
"Utinam" inquit "vēris hanc amīcīs impleam!"



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

Amīcī nōmen vulgāre est, sed fidēs rāra. Cum Sōcratēs (cūius mortem nōn fugiō, sī fāmam adsequar, et invidiae cēdō, dummodo cinis absolvar), parvās aedēs sibi fundāsset, ex populō nēsciōquis, ut fierī solet, sīc inquit: "Quaesō, tū, tālis vir, domum pōnis tam angustam?" Sōcratēs inquit: "Utinam hanc impleam amīcīs vēris!"


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):

Amíci nomen vulgáre est, sed fides rara. Cum Sócrates (cuius mortem non fúgio, si famam ádsequar, et invídiae cedo, dúmmodo cinis absólvar), parvas aedes sibi fundásset, ex pópulo nescióquis, ut fíeri solet, sic inquit: "Quaeso, tu, talis vir, domum ponis tam angústam?" Sócrates inquit: "Útinam hanc ímpleam amícis veris!"



IAMBIC METER. Here is the verse text with some color coding to assist in the iambic meter. The disyllabic elements (iambs/spondees) are not marked, but the trisyllabic elements are color-coded: dactyls are red, anapests are purple, and tribrachs are green (as is any proceleusmaticus, although that is a rare creature); for more information, here are some Notes on Iambic Meter.

Vulgā·r~ amī·cī nō·men sed· rār~ est· fidēs.
Cum pa·rvās ae·dēs sibi· fundās·set Sō·cratēs
(cūius· nōn fugi·ō mor·tem sī· fām~ ad·sequar,
et cē·d~ invidi·ae dum·mod~ ab·solvar· cinis),
ex popu·lō sīc· nesciō·quis, ut· fierī· solet:
Quaesō,· t~ angus·tam tā·lis vir· pōnis· domum?
Utin~ in·quit vē·ris hanc· amī·cīs im·pleam!



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), which depicts Socrates in a Roman gem from the first century, contemporary with Phaedrus:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Amici nomen vulgare est, sed fides rara. Cum Socrates (cuius mortem non fugio, si famam adsequar, et invidiae cedo, dummodo cinis absolvar), parvas aedes sibi fundasset, ex populo nescioquis, ut fieri solet, sic inquit: "Quaeso, tu, talis vir, domum ponis tam angustam?" Socrates inquit: "Utinam hanc impleam amicis veris!"