Wednesday, December 30, 2020

audio: Leo Senex et Vulpes

As readers of this blog might know, I am not a fan of teaching with macrons, but I do think it's important to have a sense of word stress in oral Latin given that word stress is such an important marker in English. So, I'm going to be adding some audio for the Latin fables when I have time to do that, and I'll publish a text with accent marks for words of three syllables or more (this is a style sometimes used in printed ecclesiastical Latin also). 

So, here's a recording of Leo Senex et Vulpes, with the accented text below. You can see the post with dictionary help, etc. here: Centum Verba 6: Leo Senex et Vulpes

Nota bene: I see Latin audio as a learning tool, just as this whole centum verba project is meant as a learning tool. The fable below is not written as a Roman would write (it's admittedly Tarzan-esque in its simplicity), and the audio is not spoken as a Roman would speak. Still, I hope it can be helpful for Latin learners — and I imagine it would be more or less comprehensible to an actual Roman; if there were any of them around, I would be curious to find out!




Leo, rex bestiárum, senex est. 
Venári non potest, quod vires desunt. 
Esúriens, in spelúnca récubat.
Alta voce ad béstias clamat, 
"O béstiae, audíte omnes: 
aeger sum! 
Solus in spelúnca mea récubo. 
Quare me non visitátis? 
Ad me adveníte, béstiae omnes! 
Ego, rex bestiárum, vos ádvoco!"
Leo aeger non est, sed símulat.
Béstiae multae regem vísitant, 
et leo illas prótinus dévorat!
Etiam vulpes regem vísitat, 
sed vulpes áliis béstiis caútior est. 
Ante spelúncam procul stat, et dicit, 
"Rex regum, te salúto!"
Leo intérrogat, 
"Et ego te, vulpes! 
Cur in spelúncam non intras?"
Vulpes respóndet, 
"Quod vestígia intrántium multa vídeo, 
exeúntium nulla."