Monday, May 31, 2010

Asinus Ludens (DeFuria)


Asinus quīdam domum ingressus, cum in eā lūdere ac saltāre coepisset, vās fictile rūpit. Hoc vidēns quīdam accurrit, eumque fustibus inde abēgit. Sed Asinus ad eum, quī suōs humerōs fuste caedēbat, conversus, Atqui, inquit, herī, et prius etiam, hoc idem faciēns Sīmius, magnam vōbīs attulit voluptātem.

SOURCE: This comes from the Latin translation that accompanies De Furia's edition of the Greek Aesopic corpus, published in 1810 and available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 368 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 359.

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


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

Ásinus quidam domum ingréssus, cum in ea lúdere ac saltáre coepísset, vas fíctile rupit. Hoc videns quidam accúrrit, eúmque fústibus inde abégit. Sed Ásinus ad eum, qui suos húmeros fuste caedébat, convérsus, Atqui, inquit, heri, et prius étiam, hoc idem fáciens Símius, magnam vobis áttulit voluptátem.


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:

Asinus quidam
domum ingressus,
cum in ea
ludere ac saltare coepisset,
vas fictile rupit.
Hoc videns
quidam accurrit,
eumque
fustibus inde abegit.
Sed Asinus
ad eum,
qui
suos humeros fuste caedebat,
conversus,
Atqui, inquit, heri,
et prius etiam,
hoc idem faciens Simius,
magnam vobis attulit voluptatem.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) - I thought this old children's book cover matched the story very nicely!