Monday, May 31, 2010

Prometheus et Homines (DeFuria)


Promētheus Iovis imperiō pārēns, hominēs et brūta finxit. Iuppiter vērō cum brūta multō plūra illīs esse vidēret, eī praecēpit, ut brūta nonnulla dēstruēns, inde aliōs hominēs efformāret. Hinc dum ille mandātum exsequitur, accidit, ut nonnullī formā quidem essent humānā, mente vērō et animō prorsus ferīnō.

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 320 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 240.

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):

Prométheus Iovis império parens, hómines et bruta finxit. Iúppiter vero cum bruta multo plura illis esse vidéret, ei praecépit, ut bruta nonnúlla déstruens, inde álios hómines efformáret. Hinc dum ille mandátum exséquitur, áccidit, ut nonnúlli forma quidem essent humána, mente vero et ánimo prorsus feríno.


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:

Prometheus
Iovis imperio parens,
homines et bruta finxit.
Iuppiter vero
cum bruta
multo plura illis esse
videret,
ei praecepit,
ut bruta nonnulla destruens,
inde alios homines efformaret.
Hinc
dum ille mandatum exsequitur,
accidit,
ut nonnulli forma quidem
essent humana,
mente vero
et animo prorsus ferino.



IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing Prometheus together with Hera: