Friday, March 26, 2010

Socrates et Servus nequam (Phaedrus)

SOURCE: For a complete edition of Phaedrus with macrons, see the edition by J.H. Drake at GoogleBooks. This is fable 27 in the Perotti Appendix to Phaedrus. For parallel versions, see Perry 554.

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:

Cum servus nēquam Sōcratī male dīceret,
uxōrem dominī quī corrūpisset suī,
idque ille scīret nōtum circumstantibus,
"Placēs tibi" inquit "quia cui nōn dēbēs placēs;
sed nōn impūnē, quia cui dēbēs nōn placēs."



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

Cum Sōcratī male dīceret servus nēquam, quī dominī suī uxōrem corrūpisset, et ille scīret id nōtum circumstantibus, inquit: "Tibi placēs quia placēs cui nōn dēbēs; sed nōn impūnē, quia nōn placēs cui dēbēs."


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):

Cum Sócrati male díceret servus nequam, qui dómini sui uxórem corrupísset, et ille sciret id notum circumstántibus, inquit: "Tibi places quia places cui non debes; sed non impúne, quia non places cui debes."


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.

Cum ser·vus nē·quam Sō·cratī ·male dī·ceret,
uxō·rem domi·nī quī· corrū·pisset· suī,
idqu~ il·le scī·ret nō·tum cir·cumstan·tibus,
Placēs· tib~ in·quit quia· cui nōn· dēbēs· placēs;
sed nōn· impū·nē, quia· cui dē·bēs nōn· placēs.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing a busy of Socrates:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Cum Socrati male diceret servus nequam, qui domini sui uxorem corrupisset, et ille sciret id notum circumstantibus, inquit: "Tibi places quia places cui non debes; sed non impune, quia non places cui debes."