Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Apis et Agricola Ictus (Abstemius)

SOURCE: You can find both the first and second "hecatomythia" of Abstemius in Nevelet's monumental Aesop published in 1610, available at GoogleBooks. You can find out more about Abstemius at the Aesopus wiki. This is fable 163 in Abstemius. Perry only includes a few sporadic fables from Abstemius in his index, and there is no Perry number for this fable.

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:

Agricola ictus ab ape, admīrābātur, ut ex eōdem ōre succus tam suāvis et stimulus tantī dolōris exīret. Rēspondit apēs: Quō beneficentior sum, eō māiōrī odiō prōsequor mihi inferentēs iniūriam. Fābula indicat quō magis hominēs beneficī sunt, eō minus iniūriās tolerāre.


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):

Agrícola ictus ab ape, admirabátur, ut ex eódem ore succus tam suavis et stímulus tanti dolóris exíret. Respóndit apes: Quo beneficéntior sum, eo maióri ódio prósequor mihi inferéntes iniúriam. Fábula índicat quo magis hómines benéfici sunt, eo minus iniúrias toleráre.


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:

Agricola
ictus ab ape,
admirabatur,
ut
ex eodem ore
succus tam suavis
et stimulus tanti doloris
exiret.
Respondit apis:
Quo beneficentior sum,
eo maiori odio prosequor
mihi inferentes iniuriam.
Fabula indicat
quo magis
homines benefici sunt,
eo minus
iniurias tolerare.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing a bee from the Bestiaria zoo: