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:
Allātrante Bovēs Cane, quem praesēpe tenēbat,
Pellere quōs frendēns dentibus ille parat.Ad data cum nōn hōs admittere pābula vellet,
Invidiae tantum cūr alis, ūnus ait?Cūr, quibus ipse fruī nequeās, licet improbe vellēs,
Nōn sinis impastōs nōs saturāre cibīs?Est haec invidiae nātūra, nocēre labōrat,
Ūtilitās illī nulla sit inde licet. PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Cane, quem praesēpe tenēbat, Bovēs allātrante, quōs ille pellere parat, dentibus frendēns, cum ad pābula data hōs admittere nōn vellet, ūnus ait: Cūr tantum invidiae alis? Cūr nōs impastōs saturāre nōn sinis cibīs quibus ipse fruī nequeās, licet improbe vellēs? Est haec invidiae nātūra: nocēre labōrat, licet inde nulla ūtilitās illī sit.
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):
Cane, quem praesépe tenébat, Boves allatránte quos ille péllere parat, déntibus frendens, cum ad pábula data hos admíttere non vellet, unus ait: Cur tantum invídiae alis? Cur nos impástos saturáre non sinis cibis quibus ipse frui néqueas, licet ímprobe velles? Est haec invídiae natúra: nocére labórat, licet inde nulla útilitas illi sit.
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.
Allā·trante Bo·vēs Cane,· quem prae·sēpe te·nēbat,
Pellere ·quōs fren·dēns || dentibus ·ille pa·rat.Ad data· cum nōn· hōs ad·mittere· pābula· vellet,
Invidi·ae tan·tum || cūr alis,· ūnus a·it?Cūr, quibus· ipse fru·ī neque·ās, licet· improbe· vellēs,
Nōn sinis· impas·tōs || nōs satu·rāre ci·bīs?Est haec· invidi·ae nā·tūra, no·cēre la·bōrat,
Ūtili·tās il·lī || nulla sit· inde li·cet.IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story from the 1574 edition of Osius:
What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches: Cane, quem praesepe tenebat, Boves allatrante quos ille pellere parat, dentibus frendens. Cum ad pabula data hos admittere non vellet, unus ait: Cur tantum invidiae alis? Cur nos impastos saturare non sinis cibis quibus ipse frui nequeas, licet improbe velles? Est haec invidiae natura: nocere laborat, licet inde nulla utilitas illi sit.
