Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Murus et Vectis (DeFuria)


Mūrus violenter ā Vecte concussus, Quid ita, aiēbat, mē exagitās, nullā ā mē offēnsus iniūriā? At Vectis, nōn egō, inquit, huiusce reī causa sum, sed quī validīs ictibus mē rētrō impellit.

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 377 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 270.

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):

Murus violénter a Vecte concússus, Quid ita, aiébat, me exágitas, nulla a me offénsus iniúria? At Vectis, non ego, inquit, huiúsce rei causa sum, sed qui válidis íctibus me retro impéllit.


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:

Murus
violenter a Vecte concussus,
Quid ita, aiebat,
me exagitas,
nulla
a me offensus iniuria?
At Vectis,
non ego, inquit,
huiusce rei causa sum,
sed qui
validis ictibus
me retro impellit.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a wall being worked on: