Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Vitia Hominum (Phaedrus)

SOURCE: For a complete edition of Phaedrus with macrons, see the edition by J.H. Drake at GoogleBooks. This is fable 4.10 in Phaedrus. For parallel versions, see Perry 266.

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:

Pērās imposuit Iuppiter nōbīs duās:
propriīs replētam vitiīs post tergum dedit,
aliēnis ante pectus suspendit gravem.
Hāc rē vidēre nostra mala nōn possumus;
aliī simul dēlinquunt, cēnsōrēs sumus.



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

Iuppiter nōbīs imposuit pērās duās: post tergum dedit pērām vitiīs propriīs replētam, ante pectus suspendit pērām vitiīs aliēnis gravem. Hāc rē mala nostra vidēre nōn possumus; simul aliī dēlinquunt, cēnsōrēs sumus.


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):

Iúppiter nobis impósuit peras duas: post tergum dedit peram vítiis própriis replétam, ante pectus suspéndit peram vítiis aliénis gravem. Hac re mala nostra vidére non póssumus; simul álii delínquunt, censóres sumus.


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.

Pērā·s imposu·it Iup·piter· nōbīs· duās:
propriīs· replē·tam viti·īs post· tergum· dedit,
aliē·nis an·te pec·tus sus·pendit· gravem.
Hāc rē· vidē·re nos·tra mala· nōn pos·sumus;
aliī· simul· dēlin·quunt, cēn·sōrēs· sumus.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing Zeus on a gold coin:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Iuppiter nobis imposuit peras duas: post tergum dedit peram vitiis propriis repletam, ante pectus suspendit peram vitiis alienis gravem. Hac re mala nostra videre non possumus; simul alii delinquunt, censores sumus.