Friday, April 1, 2011

Round-Up: April 1

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. I'm Twittering again now at Aesopus and AesopusEnglish.

LATIN RIDDLE BLOG: I'm guessing a lot of readers here might be interested in a new Latin Riddles blog that Jason Barillaro has started - here's the link: Aenigmata Latine. Fun stuff!

HODIE: Kalendae Apriles, the Kalends of April (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is PLUS - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Capta avis est pluris quam mille in gramine ruris, "A captured bird is worth more than a thousand in the grass of the field" (yes, it's like "a bird in the hand" ... but the Latin rhymes!).

BESTIARIA PROVERBS: There are some new animal proverbs today for MANNUS, the pony.

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Tarpeia, the story of the woman who betrayed Rome to its enemies.

FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Milvus Aegrotans, the story of the kite on his deathbed - or in his deathnest, I guess you could say.

MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is Harundo et Quercus, the famous story of the oak and the reed. (You can also a free PDF copy of the Mille Fabulae et Una book.)

MILLE FABULAE: ILLUSTRATIONS: The latest fables with images are Draco et Vulpes, the story of the fox and the greedy dragon, and Coclea et Simia, a funny little story about a snail and a mirror, as observed by a monkey.

GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Kühner's Elementar Grammatik der Lateinischen Sprache and Thomas's First Latin Translation Book .

TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at Schoolhouse Widgets.

3-Word Mottoes: Today's 3-word motto is Omnia superat diligentia (English: Persistence overcomes all things).

3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Memor esto maiorum (English: Remember your ancestors).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Quod male lucratur, male perditur et nihilatur (English: What is badly earned is badly lost and comes to nothing).

Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Non erit memoria sapientis, similiter ut stulti (Ecc. 2:16). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Elizabethan Proverb Commentary: Here is today's proverb commentary, this time by Taverner: Qui e nuce nucleum esse vult, frangit nucem: He that will eate the carnel out of the nutte, breaketh the nutte. He that loke for profite, may not flee labours. This Proverbe therfore is against idle personnes, whiche flee paines, who be very well resembled to cattes by the English Proverbe, saieng thus, The Catte wil fish eate, but she will not her feete wette.

Today's image goes with the story of Tarpeia, who you can see here making her fatal deal with Titus Tatius and the Sabines: Sabini ob virgines captas contra Romanos bellum sumunt. Prope urbem Tarpeiam virginem inveniunt, quae extra fines murorum aquam petit. Huius pater est arcis imperator. Titus Tatius, Sabinorum dux, Tarpeiam corrumpit. "Volo te," inquit, "exercitum meum in Capitolium perducere. Ampla munera tibi offero." Illa petit ornamenta sinistrarum manuum. Sic Sabinos in arcem patris perducit, ubi hostes scuta conicientes eam statim obruunt; sic iubet rex, ea enim ornamenta laevarum sunt. Haec est poena proditionis. (source)