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 meter. You will find materials for all of these options below. :-)
VERSE MACRONS. Here is the verse text with macrons:
Nātālī parat ecce diē convīvia Vultur,
Invītāns aliās īnsidiātor avēs.Tempore quae cum iam, quō iusserat ille, venīrent,
Iānua tunc huīc est clausa repente domūs.Sīc omnēs laniāre ferox et carpere praedo
Sustinet, atque hārum pascere carne gulam.Est sua dēliciīs cuī magna vacāre voluptas,
Saepe perīre malī vīs inopīna facit. PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Vultur īnsidiātor diē nātālī, ecce, convīvia parat, avēs aliās invītāns. Quae cum iam venīrent, tempore quō ille iusserat, tunc repente huīc domūs iānua clausa est. Praedo ferox sīc sustinet omnēs laniāre et carpere atque hārum carne gulam pascere. Cuī sua magna voluptas est dēliciīs vacāre saepe facit perīre malī vīs inopīna.
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):
Vultur insidiátor die natáli, ecce, convívia parat, aves álias invítans. Quae cum iam venírent, témpore quo ille iússerat, tunc repénte huic domus iánua clausa est. Praedo ferox sic sústinet omnes laniáre et cárpere atque harum carne gulam páscere. Cui sua magna volúptas est delíciis vacáre saepe facit períre mali vis inopína.
ELEGIAC COUPLET METER. Below I have used an interpunct dot · to indicate the metrical elements in each line, and a double line || to indicate the hemistichs of the pentameter line.
Nātā·lī parat· ecce di·ē con·vīvia ·Vultur,
Invī·tāns ali·ās || īnsidi·ātor a·vēs.Tempore ·quae cum· iam, quō ·iusserat· ille, ve·nīrent,
Iānua ·tunc huīc· est || clausa re·pente do·mūs.Sīc om·nēs lani·āre fe·rox et ·carpere· praedo
Sustinet,· atqu~ hā·rum || pascere ·carne gu·lam.Est sua ·dēlici·īs cuī ·magna va·cāre vo·luptas,
Saepe pe·rīre ma·lī || vīs ino·pīna fa·cit.IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story from the 1574 edition of Osius (notice that the image has been lifted from another book where the story is told of a crow, corvus, ratehr than a vulture!):
What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches: Vultur insidiator die natali, ecce, convivia parat, aves alias invitans. Quae cum iam venirent, tempore quo ille iusserat, tunc repente huic domus ianua clausa est. Praedo ferox sic sustinet omnes laniare et carpere atque harum carne gulam pascere. Cui sua magna voluptas est deliciis vacare saepe facit perire mali vis inopina.
