Readings From Lucretius In Latin

    Happy to report that last night I heard from a long time forum member - Bryan - who was just staying in touch, as makes for good friends who have been in touch since older Facebook forum days. ;)


    I recall that Bryan recorded and posted some excellent readings in Lucretius from the original Latin, so I am hoping that we can get him (and perhaps others) to let us set up a thread with sample readings. The effect of these readings in Latin is very unique and worthwhile, so if any of our regulars who have studied how to do this have made any recordings, please post links to them here and perhaps we can compile a list of some of the more important passages.

    Thank you for your kind encouragement! There are some very good recitations of Lucretius around, but I love it too much not to add more. I just found that Zoom lets me record like this, so I read the intro as a test/starter. This can be read in many different ways. I also made a few mistakes.

    Nicely done, Bryan! You've inspired me to think again about going back and trying to record the Philodemus epigram of the invitation to Piso to join in the 20th!

    You might be interested in these, too:

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    So the second of those two videos is using the double slashes to indicate separations while the first video does not seem to use such separations when reading(?) Is one more clearly correct than the other?


    It would be nice to have audio versions of the openings of each of the six books!

    Quote from Cassius

    So the second of those two videos is using the double slashes to indicate separations while the first video does not seem to use such separations when reading(?) Is one more clearly correct than the other?

    Dactylic hexameter - Wikipedia

    That double bar is a caesura. It's there whether it's marked or not. Luke Ranieri just didn't mark the scansion. Ranieri's is more fluid, but the the second is just emphasizing or demonstrating the meter far more. They're both "correct." :

    "Almost every hexameter has a word break, known as a caesura /sɪˈzjʊərə/, in the middle of the 3rd foot, sometimes (but not always) coinciding with a break in sense. In most cases (85% of lines in Virgil) this comes after the first syllable of the 3rd foot, as in ca/no in the above example. This is known as a strong or masculine caesura."

    See also:

    Scansion | Dickinson College Commentaries

    Help with Latin texts: Introduction to scansion
    Although we now approach ancient texts primarily through the written word, they were originally meant for performance. Poetry in particular was probably…
    libraryofantiquity.wordpress.com


    If you're interested at all in Latin and Ancient Greek, I **highly** recommend Ranieri's YouTube channels Scorpio Martianus and PolyMathy (and now there's a PolyMathy+).


    PS. I also just realized that the first, Ranieri's, is using the Classical pronunciation while the second is using the Ecclesiastical pronunciation. Note the difference in those as you're listening. Personally, I prefer the Restored Classical pronunciation.

    I still can't get past in my mind that there ought to be a combination of meter and emphasis, because just like we read a poem with meaning by emphasizing certain words, does that not also apply to the Latin reading? Otherwise does it not come out as a "monotone?"

    There are little differences in tone and emphasis even within languages, and certainly between them.


    In American English we often mark a question with rising intonation toward the end of the sentence. Somewhere in the 80's to mid-90's it began to be observed that young Australians were using rising intonation in non-question sentences.


    This is called High Rising Terminal or "uptalk" and is getting more prominent in English speaking countries around the world.

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    And scanning exercise into the details!

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    Great stuff all around guys!


    Don, I agree, Restored Classical pronunciation is the way to go, hearing "chaylee" for CAELI will always sound exotic to me!


    How much to emphasize the meter is far less clear to me. With the three first recitations we have above, I can sympathize with Cassius' concern that there is a tendency for people reciting Latin poetry to be somewhat slavish in their relationship with the meter. Ranieri is more "natural / conversational" sounding but still seems to me to be more focused on the meter. PolyMathy's performance seems right on the mark - fully bringing out the meter, but not sacrificing thematic focus. I am not seeing any DRN on his youtube page however.


    Mελετᾶν οὖν χρὴ τὰ ποιοῦντα τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν.

    It is necessary to study what produces wellbeing.

    Like 1

    This post may be slightly off topic but all the talk about Latin pronunciation and Ranieri's work made me write this entry. It probably will only be useful for people considering learning Latin. I started with the intent of being able to read 'De Rerum Natura' in its original form one day. I didn't go far as yet but here's something to get people started if they are in similar position to mine.


    Quote from Don

    If you're interested at all in Latin and Ancient Greek, I **highly** recommend Ranieri's YouTube channels Scorpio Martianus and PolyMathy (and now there's a PolyMathy+).

    I completely agree with that recommendation. I'll just add that Ranieri's video on book 'Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata' convinced me to go with it as my main study book and I have no regrets. It's quite brilliant.

    Another YouTube channel I find very helpful is called: latintutorial


    Quote from Don

    Personally, I prefer the Restored Classical pronunciation.

    I also agree with the choice of pronunciation. That's the main reason I decided to write this post. I've created few pages long all-I-need-to-know about Classical Latin Pronunciation guide for myself. It's a complication of stuff I found online and stuff from several grammar books presented in a form digestible to me. I never had intention of sharing it but I decided it may be of use to some of you here. Feel free to use it and I hope you find it helpful.


    classical_latin_pronunciation.pdf

    Yes I agree TauPhi, Hans Ørberg's PER SE ILLVSTRATA series is very helpful and also extremely fun. I love that his commitment to making everything in Latin extended to the copyright page.


    It always perplexed me how so many texts intended for new readers.... do not mark the long vowels! If I had started with Ørberg and not Wheelock, I would have saved so much time that I spent looking constantly at a dictionary just to see the vowel length.