Cȳcnōs aiunt circā mortis tempus canere solēre. Quīdam igitur cum in Cycnum vēnālem incidisset, eumque simul mānsuētum ac mīte animal esse audīvisset, īlico ēmit. Is deinde cum convīvium aliquando ageret, Cȳcnum, ut caneret, accīvit. At ille tunc omnīno siluit. Posteā vērō, cum moriendum sibi esse intelligeret, ac flēbiliter caneret, Mehercle, eī herus ait, sī tū nōn cantās, nisi cum sīs moritūrus, plānē stultus egō fuī, quod tē ad canendum anteā impulī, nōn occīdī.
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 288 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 233.
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):
Cycnos aiunt circa mortis tempus cánere solére. Quidam ígitur cum in Cycnum venálem incidísset, eúmque simul mansuétum ac mite ánimal esse audivísset, ílico emit. Is deínde cum convívium aliquándo ágeret, Cycnum, ut cáneret, accívit. At ille tunc omníno síluit. Póstea vero, cum moriéndum sibi esse intellígeret, ac flebíliter cáneret, Mehércle, ei herus ait, si tu non cantas, nisi cum sis moritúrus, plane stultus ego fui, quod te ad canéndum ántea ímpuli, non occídi.
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:
Cycnos
aiunt
circa mortis tempus
canere solere.
Quidam igitur
cum in Cycnum venalem
incidisset,
eumque simul
mansuetum ac mite animal
esse
audivisset,
ilico emit.
Is deinde
cum convivium
aliquando ageret,
Cycnum, ut caneret,
accivit.
At ille
tunc omnino siluit.
Postea vero,
cum moriendum sibi esse
intelligeret,
ac flebiliter caneret,
Mehercle, ei herus ait,
si tu non cantas,
nisi cum sis moriturus,
plane stultus ego fui,
quod te
ad canendum antea impuli,
non occidi.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing a lovely swan:
