Monday, June 7, 2010

Bona et Mala (DeFuria)


Bona omnia ā Malīs, quod fluxa et cadūca essent, accūsābantur; quapropter sēsē in caelum recēpērunt. Mala vērō Iovem interrogārunt, quōmodo inter hominēs versārī dēbērent: quibus ille rēspondit, ut singula singulōs invāderent, et modo hunc, modo illum attingerent. Hinc itaque Mala, cum prope nōs dēgant, continuō hominēs premunt; Bona vērō tardius ē caelō dēscendunt.

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 347 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 274.

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):

Bona ómnia a Malis, quod fluxa et cadúca essent, accusabántur; quaprópter sese in caelum recepérunt. Mala vero Iovem interrogárunt, quómodo inter hómines versári debérent: quibus ille respóndit, ut síngula síngulos inváderent, et modo hunc, modo illum attíngerent. Hinc ítaque Mala, cum prope nos degant, contínuo hómines premunt; Bona vero tárdius e caelo descéndunt.


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:

Bona omnia
a Malis,
quod
fluxa et caduca essent,
accusabantur;
quapropter
sese in caelum receperunt.
Mala vero
Iovem interrogarunt,
quomodo
inter homines versari deberent:
quibus
ille respondit,
ut singula singulos invaderent,
et modo hunc, modo illum
attingerent.
Hinc itaque
Mala, cum prope nos degant,
continuo homines premunt;
Bona vero
tardius e caelo descendunt.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing the great Zeus himself: