Friday, September 18, 2009

Round-Up: September 18-20

Here is a round-up of today's blog posts - and for previous posts, check out the Bestiaria Latina Blog archives. You can keep up with the latest posts by using the RSS feed, or you might prefer to subscribe by email.

HODIE: ante diem quartum decimum Kalendas Octobres. You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

TODAY'S POEM: Here is today's little poem, from the Poetry Widget. It's another one of Cato's distichs, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com.
Si tibi pro meritis nemo succurrit amicus,
Incusare deos noli, sed te ipse coerce.
In English: "If no friend comes to help you in return for your past services, do not blame the gods, but rather correct yourself." In other words: think about just what you might have done that have made your friends so slow to come to your aid. Perhaps your estimate of your merita is overrated!

TODAY'S TWITTER:

Vita Caesaris: You can see my IVLIVS CAESAR feed with a sentence from Plutarch's Life of Caesar each day in Greek, Latin and English. Today's Latin portion spreads the news of Clodius's outrageous behavior: Ea adhuc nocte matronae domum digressae maritis rem aperuerunt, interdiuque rumor per urbem dispersus est, Clodium infanda conatum non iis modo ad quos ea iniuria pertineret, sed ciuitati etiam diisque poenas debere.

Proverbiis Pipilo: You can see my Proverbia feed of Latin proverbs which I "tweet" while I am online each day (in English, too). Here's one from today about humble beginnings: E parvo semine multa messis (English: From a small seed a great harvest).

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Celerius quam asparagi coquuntur (English: Faster than asparagus is cooked). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Aut bibat, aut abeat (English: Let him either drink, or depart - an old Greek proverb which we know thanks to Cicero).

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Hora fugit (English: The hour is running away - a saying which Ovid puts to good use).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Memento semper finis (English: Always keep the end in mind - which is to say, your end, death, as you can see in this fuller version of the phrase from Thomas a Kempis: Memento semper finis, et quia perditum non redit tempus, "Always keep the end in mind, and the fact that time, once lost, does not return").

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Diligite iustitiam, qui iudicatis terram (Wisdom 1:1). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day: Today's animal proverb is has some intricate word order for great effect: Parva necat morsu spatiosum vipera taurum (English: The tin viper with its bite kills the enormous bull).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Tantali horti (English: The gardens of Tantalus - which is to say, tantalizing gardens whose fruits are unreachable; you can read about Tantalus's famous underworld punishment here at Wikipedia).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Γεύεται πίσσης ὁ μῦς (English: The mouse tastes the pitch - and, as you can imagine, things do not turn out well for the mouse: the mouse falls into the boiling pitch and perishes, all because he wanted to take just a little taste; a proverb we know thanks to Theocritus).

TODAY'S FABLES:

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Ranae et Iupiter, the story of the foolish frogs who thought they needed a king.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE SATYRO ET VIATORE, the wonderful story of the satyr who found a poor wayfarer in the snow.

Tar Heel Readers: Materials continue to accumulate at Tar Heel Reader (keep up with the latest items at the Libelli Latini blog). Today I decided to feature Gilbo, Pars Duodecima, the twelfth in Anthony Gibbins's series of little stories about Gilbo and his family. You can enjoy some Gilbo adventures this weekend!




Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.