Asinus ligna portāns lacumque trānsiēns et in lūbricō titubāns collābitur, cumque onere gravārētur neque resurgere posset, ēiulāre et lāmentārī coepit. Cuius querimōniam audientēs incolae lacūs illīus rānae, Heus tū, inquiunt, quid facerēs sī tantō tempore in hīs aquīs iacuissēs quantō nōs in ipsīs versāmur, cum vix hīc concideris et omnia miserābilī questū compleās.
SOURCE: This comes from the Latin translation that accompanies Camerarius's edition of the Aesopic corpus; the 1571 edition of Camerarius's Aesop is available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 113 in Camerarius; for other versions, see Perry 189.
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):
Ásinus ligna portans lacúmque tránsiens et in lúbrico títubans collábitur, cumque ónere gravarétur neque resúrgere posset, eiuláre et lamentári coepit. Cuius querimóniam audiéntes íncolae lacus illíus ranae, Heus tu, ínquiunt, quid fáceres si tanto témpore in his aquis iacuísses quanto nos in ipsis versámur, cum vix hic concíderis et ómnia miserábili questu cómpleas.
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:
Asinus
ligna portans
lacumque transiens
et in lubrico titubans
collabitur,
cumque onere gravaretur
neque resurgere posset,
eiulare et lamentari coepit.
Cuius querimoniam audientes
incolae lacus illius ranae,
Heus tu, inquiunt,
quid faceres
si tanto tempore
in his aquis iacuisses
quanto nos
in ipsis versamur,
cum vix hic concideris
et omnia
miserabili questu compleas.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration from the Medici Aesop, which is online at the New York Public Library website.
