Saturday, May 2, 2009

Round-Up: May 2

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 sextum Nonas Maias. 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 PROVERBS:

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

Proverbiis Pipilo: You can see my Twitter feed of Latin proverbs which I "tweet" while I am online each day (in English, too). Here's a recent one in praise of the power of reading: Bene legere saecula vincere (English: To read well is to conquer the ages).

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Agnos lupi vorant (English: The wolves devour the lambs). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is Comite Fortuna (English: With luck as my partner - a nice example of a Latin ablative absolute).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is Delectant alia alios (English: Some things please some people, other things please others - a sentiment I definitely agree with... in the spirit of cuique suum).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Si sitit inimicus tuus, potum da illi (Romans 12:20). 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 Cum adsit ursus, vestigia quaeris (English: When the bear is right there, you're looking for the tracks... a much more dangerous version of not being able to see the forest for the trees!).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Ulysses pannos exuit (English: Ulysses has shed his rags - in other words, he has put off his beggar's garments and sudden transformed himself, a proverbial saying for someone whose status does 180 degree turnaround for the better).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ἐπὶ δυοῖν ὁρμεῖ (English: He's moored on two anchors - which is doubly safe, of course; careful with the verb). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Aesopus Ning: Fables with Macrons: By popular request, I'm marking up the fables from Barlow's Aesop with macrons. So, today's fable with macrons is Dē Mīlvō Aegrōtō, the story of the deathbed repentance of the rapacious kite.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow's Aesop is DE LEAENA ET VULPE (the fox and the lioness debate quantity versus quality). You can use the Javascript to include the fable of the day automatically each day on your webpage or blog - meanwhile, to find out more about today's fable, visit the Ning Resource Page for this fable, where you will find links to the text, commentary, and a discussion board for questions and comments.

Florilegium Fabularum: I'm working my way, slowly but surely, through the amazing collection of fables by Irenaeus published in 1666. Today's fable is Piscatores, the story of some conniving fisherman who want to take advantage of the god Mercury. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source), commonly called the "Mercury dime." You can see why - although this is technically an image of "winged Liberty," it is very easy to mistake the head on this coin for the head of the god Mercury, hence the name:



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