Thursday, March 25, 2010

Canis et Cocus (Osius)

SOURCE: The poem comes from Phryx Aesopus Habitu Poetico, by Hieronymus Osius, published in 1574, and online at the University of Mannheim as page images and text scan. This is poem 48 in the collection. For parallel versions, see Perry 254.

READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons in verse form, or macrons in prose order, or accent marks in prose order, or focusing on the meter. You will find materials for all of these options below. :-)


VERSE MACRONS. Here is the verse text with macrons (note: short e in impune):

Rēs cūrante Cocō solitās intrasse culīnam
Dicitur, et pecudis cor rapuisse Canis.
Quem Cocus hāc sērō fugientem vōce secūtus:
Haec impūne fugae nunc ope furta facis:
Cautius ut redeās tamen observābere praedo,
Nōn adimis, sed dās crēde cor ipse mihī.
Quae nocuēre docent, cautōsque perīcula reddunt,
Et melius flammās ustus ab igne cavet.


PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:

Cocō rēs solitās cūrante, Canis dicitur culīnam intrasse et pecudis cor rapuisse. Cocus Canem fugientem sērō secūtus vōce hāc: praedo, haec furta impūne nunc facis, fugae ope: observābere tamen, ut cautius redeās; crēde cor ipse nōn adimis, sed mihī dās. Quae nocuēre, docent, et perīcula cautōs reddunt, et ab igne ustus melius flammās cavet.


STRESS (ACCENT) MARKS. Here is the prose text with accents, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):

Coco res sólitas curánte, Canis dícitur culínam intrásse et pécudis cor rapuísse. Cocus Canem fugiéntem sero secútus voce hac: praedo, haec furta impúne nunc facis, fugae ope: observábere tamen, ut caútius rédeas; crede cor ipse non ádimis, sed mihi das. Quae nocuére, docent, et perícula cautos reddunt, et ab igne ustus mélius flammas cavet.


ELEGIAC COUPLET METER. Below I have used an interpunct dot · to indicate the metrical elements in each line, and a double line || to indicate the hemistichs of the pentameter line.

Rēs cū·rante Co·cō soli·tās in·trasse cu·līnam
Dicitur,· et pecu·dis || cor rapu·isse Ca·nis.
Quem Cocus· hāc sē·rō fugi·entem ·vōce se·cūtus:
Haec im·pūne fu·gae || nunc ope· furta fa·cis:
Cautius· ut rede·ās tamen ·obser·vābere· praedo,
Nōn adi·mis, sed· dās || crēde cor· ipse mi·hī.
Quae nocu·ēre do·cent, cau·tōsque pe·rīcula ·reddunt,
Et meli·us flam·mās || ustus ab ·igne ca·vet.


IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story from the 1574 edition of Osius:

Here is another illustration from the Medici Aesop, which is online at the New York Public Library website.



What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches: Coco res solitas curante, Canis dicitur culinam intrasse et pecudis cor rapuisse. Cocus Canem fugientem sero secutus voce hac: praedo, haec furta impune nunc facis, fugae ope: observabere tamen, ut cautius redeas; crede cor ipse non adimis, sed mihi das. Quae nocuere, docent, et pericula cautos reddunt, et ab igne ustus melius flammas cavet.