Fūrēs quī sē per ruīnōsum parietem in aedēs quāsdam īnsinuāssent, cum quod auferre possent nihil reperīrent, gallum forte strepentem et cantantem comprehendunt et sēcum asportant. Quem iugulātūrī ōrantur ab eō sibi ut parcant: suum enim cantum ūtilem hominibus esse quōs excitet dē somnō ad opera et labōrem. Tum fūrēs, Eō libentius, inquiunt, tē occīderimus, quī eōs suscitēs quōrum vigilantia obstet cōnātibus nostrīs.
SOURCE: This comes from the Latin translation that accompanies Camerarius's edition of the Aesopic corpus; the 1571 edition of Camerariu's Aesop is available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 96 in Camerarius; for other versions, see Perry 122.
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):
Fures qui se per ruinósum paríetem in aedes quasdam insinuássent, cum quod auférre possent nihil reperírent, gallum forte strepéntem et cantántem comprehéndunt et secum aspórtant. Quem iugulatúri orántur ab eo sibi ut parcant: suum enim cantum útilem homínibus esse quos éxcitet de somno ad ópera et labórem. Tum fures, Eo libéntius, ínquiunt, te occidérimus, qui eos súscites quorum vigilántia obstet conátibus nostris.
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:
Fures qui
se
per ruinosum parietem
in aedes quasdam
insinuassent,
cum
quod auferre possent
nihil reperirent,
gallum
forte strepentem et cantantem
comprehendunt
et secum asportant.
Quem iugulaturi
orantur ab eo
sibi ut parcant:
suum enim cantum
utilem hominibus esse
quos excitet de somno
ad opera et laborem.
Tum fures,
Eo libentius, inquiunt,
te occiderimus,
qui
eos suscites
quorum vigilantia
obstet conatibus nostris.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration from the Medici Aesop, which is online at the New York Public Library website.
