Thursday, March 18, 2010

Tempus (Phaedrus)

SOURCE: For a complete edition of Phaedrus with macrons, see the edition by J.H. Drake at GoogleBooks. This is fable 5.8 in Phaedrus. For parallel versions, see Perry 530.

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:

Cursū volucrī, pendēns in novāculā,
calvus, comōsā frōnte, nūdō occipitiō,
quem sī occupāris, teneās, ēlapsum semel
nōn ipse possit Iuppiter reprehendere,
occāsiōnem rērum sīgnificat brevem.
Effectūs impedīret nē sēgnis mora,
finxēre antīquī tālem effigiem Temporis.



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

Cursū volucrī, in novāculā pendēns, calvus, frōnte comōsā, occipitiō nūdō, quem sī occupāris, teneās; ēlapsum semel, Iuppiter ipse reprehendere nōn possit, rērum occāsiōnem brevem sīgnificat. Nē mora sēgnis effectūs impedīret, antīquī Temporis tālem effigiem finxēre.


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):

Cursu volúcri, in novácula pendens, calvus, fronte comósa, occipítio nudo, quem si occupáris, téneas; elápsum semel, Iúppiter ipse reprehéndere non possit, rerum occasiónem brevem signíficat. Ne mora segnis efféctus impedíret, antíqui Témporis talem effígiem finxére.


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.

Cursū· volu·crī, pen·dēns in· novā·culā,
calvus,· comō·sā frōn·te, nū·d~ occipi·tiō,
quem s~ oc·cupā·ris, tene·ās, ē·lapsum· semel
nōn ip·se pos·sit Iup·piter· reprehen·dere,
occā·siō·nem rē·rum sīg·nificat· brevem.
Effec·tūs im·pedī·ret nē· sēgnis· mora,
finxē·r~ antī·quī tā·l~ effigi·em Tem·poris.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) from one of Alciato's emblems based on this same image of Tempus/Kairos:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Cursu volucri, in novacula pendens, calvus, fronte comosa, occipitio nudo, quem si occuparis, teneas; elapsum semel, Iuppiter ipse reprehendere non possit, rerum occasionem brevem significat. Ne mora segnis effectus impediret, antiqui Temporis talem effigiem finxere.