Monday, June 7, 2010

Serpens, Felis et Mures (DeFuria)


Serpēns et Fēles in quādam domō pugnābant. Inquilīnī itaque Mūrēs, quī ab utrīsque continuō dēvorābantur, ubī dēcertantēs eōs vīdēre, cavīs īlico exiēre suīs. Ipsī vērō simul ac Mūrēs vīdēre, īrīs sēpositīs, proeliīsque dīmissīs, omnēs in illōs conversī sunt.

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 314 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 197.

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):

Serpens et Feles in quadam domo pugnábant. Inquilíni ítaque Mures, qui ab utrísque contínuo devorabántur, ubi decertántes eos vidére, cavis ílico exiére suis. Ipsi vero simul ac Mures vidére, iris sepósitis, proeliísque dimíssis, omnes in illos convérsi sunt.


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:

Serpens et Feles
in quadam domo
pugnabant.
Inquilini itaque Mures,
qui
ab utrisque
continuo devorabantur,
ubi decertantes eos videre,
cavis ilico exiere suis.
Ipsi vero
simul ac Mures videre,
iris sepositis,
proeliisque dimissis,
omnes
in illos conversi sunt.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a cat and snake at war: