Saturday, May 1, 2010

Boves Pascere Sperantes (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 197 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:

Bubulcus stabulum ingressus, bovēs laetitiā exultantēs aspexit: interrogāvit igitur eōs, quaenam esset causā laetitiae? Cui illī, spērāmus, inquiunt, hunc diem absque labōre in laetissimīs pascuīs nōs esse ductūrōs. Quid vōs, inquit bubulcus, ut ita crēdātis indūxit? Illa, inquiunt, fore somniāvimus. Nōlī, ait bubulcus, huiusmodī somniō fidem adhibēre, quod falsum esse dēprehendētis: Egō enim somniāvī, vōs hodiē aratūrōs: hominum enim somnia, quam brūtōrum vēriōra esse cōnsuēvērunt. Fābula indicat, nihil mortālium spē esse fallācius.


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):

Bubúlcus stábulum ingréssus, boves laetítia exultántes aspéxit: interrogávit ígitur eos, quaenam esset causa laetítiae? Cui illi, sperámus, ínquiunt, hunc diem absque labóre in laetíssimis páscuis nos esse ductúros. Quid vos, inquit bubúlcus, ut ita credátis indúxit? Illa, ínquiunt, fore somniávimus. Noli, ait bubúlcus, huiúsmodi sómnio fidem adhibére, quod falsum esse deprehendétis: Ego enim somniávi, vos hódie aratúros: hóminum enim sómnia, quam brutórum verióra esse consuevérunt. Fábula índicat, nihil mortálium spe esse fallácius.


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:

Bubulcus
stabulum ingressus,
boves
laetitia exultantes aspexit:
interrogavit igitur eos,
quaenam esset
causa laetitiae?
Cui illi, speramus, inquiunt,
hunc diem
absque labore
in laetissimis pascuis
nos esse ducturos.
Quid vos, inquit bubulcus,
ut ita credatis induxit?
Illa, inquiunt, fore
somniavimus.
Noli, ait bubulcus,
huiusmodi somnio
fidem adhibere,
quod falsum esse
deprehendetis:
Ego enim somniavi,
vos hodie araturos:
hominum enim somnia,
quam brutorum
veriora esse consueverunt.
Fabula indicat,
nihil mortalium spe
esse fallacius.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing some ancient Greek oxen: