Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Puer et Coluber (Desbillons)

SOURCE: For a complete edition of the fables of Desbillons, the 18th-century Jesuit scholar and poet, see GoogleBooks. This is fable 2.42. For parallel versions, see Perry 176.

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:

Obambulandō repperit Colubrum Puer
Gelū rigentem; quem recēpit in sinum
Misericors, et refōvit, īnscius malī.
At ille, pristinus ubī redditus est vigor,
Furit, impiōque dente beneficum necat.
Homo vīvit, esse quī miser cum dēsiit,
Coepit salūtis laedere auctōrēs suae.



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

Puer, obambulandō, Colubrum repperit, gelū rigentem; quem, misericors, in sinum recēpit, et refōvit, malī īnscius. At ille, ubī vigor pristinus redditus est, furit et beneficum necat, dente impiō. Homo vīvit quī, cum miser esse dēsiit, salūtis suae auctōrēs laedere coepit.


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):

Puer, obambulándo, Cólubrum répperit, gelu rigéntem; quem, miséricors, in sinum recépit, et refóvit, mali ínscius. At ille, ubi vigor prístinus rédditus est, furit et benéficum necat, dente ímpio. Homo vivit qui, cum miser esse désiit, salútis suae auctóres laédere coepit.


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.

Obam·bulan·dō rep·perit· Colubrum· Puer
Gelū· rigen·tem; quem· recē·pit in· sinum
Miseri·cors, et· refō·vit, īn·scius· malī.
At il·le, pris·tinus u·bī red·ditus est· vigor,
Furit, im·piō·que den·te bene·ficum· necat.
Homo vī·vit, es·se quī· miser· cum dē·siit,
Coepit· salū·tis lae·der~ auc·tōrēs· suae.



IMAGE. HHere is an illustration for the story (image source) by Walter Crane:


What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Puer, obambulando, Colubrum repperit, gelu rigentem; quem, misericors, in sinum recepit, et refovit, mali inscius. At ille, ubi vigor pristinus redditus est, furit et beneficum necat, dente impio. Homo vivit qui, cum miser esse desiit, salutis suae auctores laedere coepit.