Monday, April 26, 2010

Membra et Venter (Barlow)

SOURCE: You can find Francis Barlow's illustrated edition of Aesop's fables (1687 edition) available online at Michigan State University. I've also transcribed the fables at the Aesopus wiki, with page images at Aesopica.net. This is fable 54 in Barlow. For parallel versions, see Perry 130.

READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons or accent marks - and read the text out loud until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, try reading the unmarked text at the bottom. It should be easy for you after practicing with the marked texts. :-)


MACRONS. Here is the text with macrons:

Hūmānī artūs cum ventrem ōtiōsum vidērent, ab eō discordābant, et suum eī ministerium negāvērunt. Hōc factō, cum et ipsī quoque dēficerent, intellexērunt ventrem acceptōs cibōs per omnia membra dīvidere et cum eō in grātiam et mūtuum officium rediērunt. Magnae rēs discordiā pereunt, concordiā crescunt valentque.


ACCENT MARKS. Here is the text with ecclesiastical accents, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):

Humáni artus cum ventrem otiósum vidérent, ab eo discordábant, et suum ei ministérium negavérunt. Hoc facto, cum et ipsi quoque defícerent, intellexérunt ventrem accéptos cibos per ómnia membra divídere et cum eo in grátiam et mútuum offícium rediérunt. Magnae res discórdia péreunt, concórdia crescunt valéntque.


UNMARKED TEXT. Here is the unmarked text - after practicing with the marked text that you prefer, you should not have any trouble with the unmarked text:

Humani artus
cum ventrem otiosum viderent,
ab eo discordabant,
et suum ei ministerium negaverunt.
Hoc facto,
cum et ipsi quoque deficerent,
intellexerunt
ventrem
acceptos cibos per omnia membra dividere
et cum eo
in gratiam et mutuum officium
redierunt.
Magnae res
discordia pereunt,
concordia crescunt valentque.



IMAGE. Here is Francis Barlow's illustration for the story: