Thursday, March 11, 2010

Roscius Iurisconsultus (Gradatim)

SOURCE: The New Gradatim by H.R. Heatley, H.N. Kingdom, W.C. Collar (1900) at GoogleBooks. This is not a fable in the classical Aesopic corpus, but I thought it was a good joke, and worth including!

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:

Rōscius, praeclārus iūriscōnsultus, pūblicōs lūdōs quondam spectābat. Subitō vir rūsticus occurrit. "Dā mihi," inquit, "respōnsum, Ō praeclāre Rōscī; canis dīvitis vīcīnī meum agrum intrāvit, necāvitque trēs pullōs. Quantam tū mulctam dominō canis impōnis?" "Quattuor assēs," respondit Rōscius. "Dā mihi igitur assēs," inquit vir, "tuus enim canis erat reus." "Rēs aequa est," iterum respondit Rōscius, "et libenter tibi quattuor assēs dabō. At tū prīmum numerā mihi quīnque assēs, numquam enim iūriscōnsultī sine mercēde dant respōnsa."


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

Róscius, praeclárus iurisconsúltus, públicos ludos quondam spectábat. Súbito vir rústicus occúrrit. "Da mihi," inquit, "respónsum, O praecláre Rosci; canis dívitis vicíni meum agrum intrávit, necavítque tres pullos. Quantam tu mulctam dómino canis impónis?" "Quáttuor asses," respóndit Róscius. "Da mihi ígitur asses," inquit vir, "tuus enim canis erat reus." "Res aequa est," íterum respóndit Róscius, "et libénter tibi quáttuor asses dabo. At tu primum númera mihi quinque asses, numquam enim iurisconsúlti sine mercéde dant respónsa."


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:

Roscius, praeclarus iurisconsultus,
publicos ludos quondam spectabat.
Subito vir rusticus occurrit.
"Da mihi," inquit, "responsum,
O praeclare Rosci;
canis divitis vicini
meum agrum intravit,
necavitque tres pullos.
Quantam tu mulctam
domino canis imponis?"
"Quattuor asses," respondit Roscius.
"Da mihi igitur asses," inquit vir,
"tuus enim canis erat reus."
"Res aequa est,"
iterum respondit Roscius,
"et libenter tibi quattuor asses dabo.
At tu primum
numera mihi quinque asses,
numquam enim iurisconsulti
sine mercede dant responsa."



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing the sarcophagus of a Roman lawyer: