Iuppiter hominem et fēminam cum finxisset, Mercuriō praecēpit, ut eōs in terram dēdūceret, locumque indicāret, ubī effodientēs opēs plūrimās reportarent. Mandāta exsequente Mercuriō, Terra primō quidem impediit. Ut vērō Mercurius, Iovem hoc aiēns mandāsse, ad id coēgit, Fodiant licet, Terra ait, quantum libuerit; cum flētū enim et ēiūlatū cuncta reddent.
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 269 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 102.
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):
Iúppiter hóminem et féminam cum finxísset, Mercúrio praecépit, ut eos in terram dedúceret, locúmque indicáret, ubi effodiéntes opes plúrimas reportárent. Mandáta exsequénte Mercúrio, Terra primo quidem impédiit. Ut vero Mercúrius, Iovem hoc aiens mandásse, ad id coégit, Fódiant licet, Terra ait, quantum libúerit; cum fletu enim et eiulátu cuncta reddent.
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:
Iuppiter
hominem et feminam
cum finxisset,
Mercurio praecepit,
ut eos in terram deduceret,
locumque indicaret,
ubi effodientes
opes plurimas reportarent.
Mandata exsequente Mercurio,
Terra primo quidem impediit.
Ut vero Mercurius,
Iovem
hoc aiens mandasse,
ad id coegit,
Fodiant licet,
Terra ait,
quantum libuerit;
cum fletu enim et eiulatu
cuncta reddent.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing the Greek goddess Gaia:
