Friday, March 12, 2010

Vulpes et Uva (Phaedrus)

SOURCE: For a complete edition of Phaedrus with macrons, see the edition by J.H. Drake at GoogleBooks. This is fable 4.3 in Phaedrus. For parallel versions, see Perry 15.

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:

Famē coācta volpēs altā in vīneā
ūvam adpetēbat, summīs saliēns vīribus.
Quam tangere ut nōn potuit, discēdēns ait:
"Nōndum mātūra es; nōlō acerbam sūmere."
Quī, facere quae nōn possunt, verbīs ēlevant,
adscrībere hoc dēbēbunt exemplum sibi.



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

Volpēs, famē coācta, in vīneā altā ūvam adpetēbat, summīs vīribus saliēns. Ut ūvam tangere nōn potuit, discēdēns ait: "Nōndum mātūra es; nōlō acerbam sūmere." Quī verbīs ēlevant quae facere nōn possunt, hoc exemplum sibi adscrībere dēbēbunt.


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):

Volpes, fame coácta, in vínea alta uvam adpetébat, summis viribus saliens. Ut uvam tangere non pótuit, discédens ait: "Nondum matúra es; nolo acérbam súmere." Qui verbis élevant quae fácere non possunt, hoc exémplum sibi adscríbere debébunt.


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.

Famē· coāc·ta vol·pēs al·t~ in vī·neā
ūv~ ad·petē·bat, sum·mīs sali·ēns vī·ribus.
Quam tan·ger~ ut· nōn potu·it, dis·cēdēns· ait:
"Nōndum· mātū·r~ es; nō·l~ acer·bam sū·mere."
Quī, face·re quae· nōn pos·sunt, ver·bīs ē·levant,
adscrī·ber~ hoc· dēbē·bunt ex·emplum· sibi.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source).


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Volpes, fame coacta, in vinea alta uvam adpetebat, summis viribus saliens. Ut uvam tangere non potuit, discedens ait: "Nondum matura es; nolo acerbam sumere." Qui verbis elevant quae facere non possunt, hoc exemplum sibi adscribere debebunt.