Sunday, June 6, 2010

Pediculi et Agricola (DeFuria)


Pedīculī arantem Agricolam morsibus infestābant. Ille subūculam ut purgāret, semel atque iterum arātiōnem intermīsit: sed cum dēnuō mordērētur, subūculam in ignem coniectam exussit, nē saepius opus interrumperet. Et egō victōs moneō, caveant sibi, nē tertiō peccātō ignis poena fiat.

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 386 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 471.

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):

Pedículi arántem Agrícolam mórsibus infestábant. Ille subúculam ut purgáret, semel atque íterum aratiónem intermísit: sed cum dénuo morderétur, subúculam in ignem coniéctam exússit, ne saépius opus interrúmperet. Et ego victos móneo, cáveant sibi, ne tértio peccáto ignis poena fiat.


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:

Pediculi
arantem Agricolam
morsibus infestabant.
Ille
subuculam ut purgaret,
semel atque iterum
arationem intermisit:
sed cum denuo morderetur,
subuculam
in ignem coniectam
exussit,
ne saepius
opus interrumperet.
Et ego
victos moneo,
caveant sibi,
ne tertio peccato
ignis poena fiat.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), from the Renaissance Histoire Naturelle des Indes: