Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Round-Up: July 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.

HODIE: Kalendae Iuliae, the Kalends of July. 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 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 is the first sentence of chapter 4 of Plutarch's Life, when Caesar returns to Rome after his studies in Rhodes : 4.1 Romam reversus, Dolabellam repetundarum postulavit, multarum Graecarum civitatum testimoniis adiutus.

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 for all of you out there enjoying some summer leisure, as I am: Otium est pulvinar diaboli (English: Leisure is the devil's pillow - something like "idle hands are the devil's workshop").

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 Ne Hercules quidem adversus duos (English: Not even Hercules fights against two). 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: Lupus hiat (English: The wolf is left gaping - an allusion to the Aesop's fable about the wolf and the crying baby).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Spes dabit auxilium (English: Hope will bring help... a very optimistic motto which I often call to mind!).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Quid proderit homini, si lucretur mundum totum et detrimentum faciat animae suae? (Mark 8:36). 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 Leonis catulum ne alas (English: Don't raise a lion's cub... advice that makes good sense both literally and metaphorically!).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Hecatae cena (English: A dinner worthy of Hecate - this was a proverbial way to refer to a frugal and spare meal, on the assumption that the meals in hell were not very opulent!).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Τὰ πέρυσι ἀεὶ βελτίω. (English: The things of yesteryear are always better... which is why we speak of the "good old days"). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Ictibus Felicibus: Based on the good response I've gotten to the use of accent marks at Tar Heel Reader, I'm collecting fables now with macrons AND accent marks in this blog. Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Ursus et Viatores, the story of what happened when two friends ran into a bear!

Aesopus Elegiacus: For my next book project, I'm collecting Aesop's fables told in the form of elegiac couplets, two per day so that I'll plenty piled up for next summer. Today's elegiac fables are Tauri et Leo, which tells how the lion was able to defeat the united bulls, and Caecus et Claudus, the story of mutual aid between a man who could not see and a man who could not walk. There are also word lists included, courtesy of NoDictionaries.com!

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow's Aesop is DE VULPE IN PUTEO (the story of how the fox tricked the goat in order to make her escape from a wall). 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 Agricola et Fortuna, the story of a farmer's failure to thank the goddess for his good fortune.

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 Lūdī Circēnsēs, a wonderful explanation of the ancient Roman chariot races, contributed by Laura Joyner.




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