Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Cerva, Leo et Pastor (DeFuria)


Cervam īnsequēbātur Leo: illa fugā ēvādit, dēnsōque quōdam abdit sē in nemore. Leo vērō, quī, quantum rōbore Cervam vincit, tantum vēlōcitāte ā Cervā vincitur, nemus adit, quaeritque ex Pastōre, sīcubi latitantem vīdisset Cervam. Negat Pastor, simulque manū prōtēnsā locum ostendit; atque ita Cervam miserrimam invādit Leo. Vulpēcula autem, Nae tū, inquit Pastōrī, imbellis simul improbusque es: cōram Leōne quidem imbellis, improbus vērō in Cervam.

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 399 in De Furia and, surprisingly, I haven't been able to find this in Perry - I'm guessing he considers it to be a variation on Perry 22, although it seems to me worth considering it to have a number of its own.

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):

Cervam insequebátur Leo: illa fuga evádit, densóque quodam abdit se in némore. Leo vero, qui, quantum róbore Cervam vincit, tantum velocitáte a Cerva víncitur, nemus adit, quaerítque ex Pastóre, sícubi latitántem vidísset Cervam. Negat Pastor, simúlque manu proténsa locum osténdit; atque ita Cervam misérrimam invádit Leo. Vulpécula autem, Nae tu, inquit Pastóri, imbéllis simul improbúsque es: coram Leóne quidem imbéllis, ímprobus vero in Cervam.


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:

Cervam insequebatur
Leo:
illa
fuga evadit,
densoque quodam
abdit se in nemore.
Leo vero, qui,
quantum robore
Cervam vincit,
tantum velocitate
a Cerva vincitur,
nemus adit,
quaeritque ex Pastore,
sicubi
latitantem vidisset Cervam.
Negat Pastor,
simulque
manu protensa locum
ostendit;
atque ita
Cervam miserrimam
invadit Leo.
Vulpecula autem,
Nae tu, inquit Pastori,
imbellis simul improbusque es:
coram Leone quidem imbellis,
improbus vero in Cervam.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing a lion in pursuit of a gazelle, which is something like the cerva in our story: