Thursday, May 6, 2010

Turdus et Viscus (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 178 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:

Turdus viscō captus ab aucupe, sēipsum afflictābat, dīcēns: nōn tantum mortis dolōre excrucior, quantum quod meae rēs mē perimunt. Aiunt enim viscum ex turdōrum stercore prōcreārī. Fābula indicat hominēs tunc vehementer commovērī, cum rēbus suīs intereunt.


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):

Turdus visco captus ab aúcupe, seípsum afflictábat, dicens: non tantum mortis dolóre excrúcior, quantum quod meae res me périmunt. Aiunt enim viscum ex turdórum stércore procreári. Fábula índicat hómines tunc veheménter commovéri, cum rebus suis intéreunt.


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:

Turdus
visco captus ab aucupe,
seipsum afflictabat, dicens:
non tantum
mortis dolore excrucior,
quantum
quod meae res me perimunt.
Aiunt enim
viscum
ex turdorum stercore procreari.
Fabula indicat
homines
tunc vehementer commoveri,
cum rebus suis intereunt.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing a thrush from the Bestiaria Zoo: