Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Lupus, Vulpes et Tria Vera (Babrius-prose)

SOURCE: This is a Latin prose version of Babrius's Greek verse fables, as published by Jean François Boissonade in 1844; the book is available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 53 in Boissonade's edition; for other versions, see Perry 159.

READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons or accent marks - and read the text out loud until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, try reading the unmarked text at the bottom. It should be easy for you after practicing with the marked texts. :-)


MACRONS. Here is the text with macrons:

In lupum vulpes quae inciderat misella, vīvam sē ūtī caperet precābātur, neque vetulam interimeret. Quī: Sī mihi trēs, ait, eāsque verās dixeris sententiās, per Pānem vītae parcam tuae. Vulpes contrā: Utinam prīmum nōn fuisse obviam factus mihi! Dein, utinam occurrissēs caecus! Et super hīs habē, inquit, tertiam: utinam nōn ad seriōrem perveniās aetātem, nec mihi dēnuō obviam occurrās!


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):

In lupum vulpes quae incíderat misélla, vivam se uti cáperet precabátur, neque vétulam interímeret. Qui: Si mihi tres, ait, eásque veras díxeris senténtias, per Panem vitae parcam tuae. Vulpes contra: Útinam primum non fuísse óbviam factus mihi! Dein, útinam occurrísses caecus! Et super his habe, inquit, tértiam: útinam non ad seriórem pervénias aetátem, nec mihi dénuo óbviam óccurras!


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:

In lupum
vulpes quae inciderat misella,
vivam se uti caperet
precabatur,
neque vetulam interimeret.
Qui:
Si mihi tres, ait,
easque veras dixeris sententias,
per Panem
vitae parcam tuae.
Vulpes contra:
Utinam primum
non fuisse obviam factus mihi!
Dein,
utinam occurrisses caecus!
Et super his habe, inquit, tertiam:
utinam
non ad seriorem pervenias aetatem,
nec mihi denuo obviam occurras!



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing the defiant fox: