Monday, February 15, 2010

Vulpes et Canis (Desbillons)

SOURCE: For a complete edition of the fables of Desbillons, the 18th-century Jesuit scholar and poet, see GoogleBooks. This is fable 1.16 in Desbillons, and it is not a fable I have found in the classical Aesopic corpus, so I am not sure about Desbillons' source - any information would be appreciated! It's an elegant little fable about the forces of karma, where the fox suffers the fate he inflicted on someone else!

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:

Vulpis rapuerat gallum gallināceum,
Vorāveratque. At hanc recentī sanguine
Adhuc madentem fortis occupat Canis,
Crēbrōque dente membra discerpēns vorat.
Ab aliō exspectēs, alterī quod fēceris.



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

Vulpis gallum gallināceum rapuerat, et vorāverat. At canis fortis hanc vulpem recentī sanguine adhuc madentem occupat, et membra dente crēbrō discerpēns vorat. Ab aliō exspectēs, quod alterī fēceris.


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):

Vulpis gallum gallináceum rapúerat, et voráverat. At canis fortis hanc vulpem recénti sánguine adhuc madéntem óccupat, et membra dente crebro discérpens vorat. Ab álio exspéctes, quod álteri féceris.


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.

Vulpis· rapue·rat gal·lum gal·linā·ceum,
Vorā·verat·qu~ At hanc· recen·tī san·guine
Adhuc· maden·tem for·tis oc·cupat· Canis,
Crēbrō·que den·te mem·bra dis·cerpēns· vorat.
Ab ali·~ exspec·tēs, al·terī· quod fē·ceris.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing the hounds tearing into a fox:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Vulpis gallum gallinaceum rapuerat, et voraverat. At canis fortis hanc vulpem recenti sanguine adhuc madentem occupat, et membra dente crebro discerpens vorat. Ab alio exspectes, quod alteri feceris.