Saturday, May 1, 2010

Oves Segetem Depascentes (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 186 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 conquerente, quod ovēs ūniversam segetem dēpopulārentur: Iūppiter eīs praecēpit, ut modestē dēpascerent. Quae cum praeceptīs nōn obtemperārent, lupō iniunctum est, ut ovēs moderātē pūnīret. Sed pastōre conquerente, tōtum ovium gregem ā lupō occīsum, Iūppiter īrātus vēnātōrī imperāvit, ut lupum perimeret. Quod ille impigrē est execūtus. Fābula indicat, nullum immoderātum esse diūturnum.


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 conquerénte, quod oves univérsam ségetem depopularéntur: Iúppiter eis praecépit, ut modéste depáscerent. Quae cum praecéptis non obtemperárent, lupo iniúnctum est, ut oves moderáte puníret. Sed pastóre conquerénte, totum óvium gregem a lupo occísum, Iúppiter irátus venatóri imperávit, ut lupum perímeret. Quod ille impígre est execútus. Fábula índicat, nullum immoderátum esse diutúrnum.


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 conquerente,
quod oves
universam segetem depopularentur:
Iuppiter
eis praecepit,
ut modeste depascerent.
Quae
cum praeceptis non obtemperarent,
lupo iniunctum est,
ut oves moderate puniret.
Sed pastore conquerente,
totum ovium gregem
a lupo occisum,
Iuppiter iratus
venatori imperavit,
ut lupum perimeret.
Quod
ille impigre est executus.
Fabula indicat,
nullum immoderatum
esse diuturnum.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) - just think how much these sheep could eat!