Monday, September 7, 2009

Round-Up: September 7

Well, I completely forgot that there is this marvelous three-day weekend at the beginning of the semester. That gave me the extra little window of time I needed to actually finish up the Poetry Widget, something I did not think I would manage until the end of the month. So, you can view the all 366 poems at the wiki pages, and I'll be including the "poem of the day" each day in the round-up here. I hope you will enjoy them! I had a lot of fun putting together this collection of brief Latin poems to go with the little fables and proverbs, too.

HODIE: ante diem septimum Idus Septembres: Ludi Romani. 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. You can find a word list at NoDictionaries.com. It's the opening lines of Satires 1.1 by Horace, in dactylic hexameters, reflecting on how rare it is to find someone satisfied with his life:
Qui fit, Maecenas, · ut nemo, quam sibi sortem
seu ratio dederit
· seu fors obiecerit, illa
contentus vivat,
· laudet diversa sequentis?
Note that qui here is like quomodo, and that sequentis is masculine accusative plural, the object of laudet, while diversa, neuter accusative plural, is the object of sequentis. Here's a rough English translation: "Maecenas, how does it happen that no one lives happy with his lot, whether it was deliberate planning that awarded it to him or whether luck cast it his way, and instead praises people who are following ways of life different from his own?"

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 tells us about the goddess Bona Dea, who will be an important part of this episode in Caesar's life: Colitur Romae dea, quam Bonam appellant, ut Graeci Muliebrem. Hanc Phryges Midae regis matrem fuisse putant, Romani Nympham Dryadem, Fauni uxorem, Graeci de nutricibus Bacchi unam, eam scilicet quam nominari nefas est.

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 the sinister dangers of wealth: Bibit venenum in auro (English: He's drinking poison in a golden goblet).

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 E verbis fatuos, ex aure tenemus asellum (English: We hold a donkey by the ear; we hold fools by their words). 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: Fortissima virtus (English: Virtue is the strongest thing of all).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Abluit manus manum (English: One hand washes another).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Si dormierint duo, fovebuntur mutuo; unus quomodo calefiet? (Ecc. 4:11). 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 Noctuae pullus suus pulcherrimus (English: To the owl, her offspring is the most beautiful of all... a proverbial expression which takes story form in the Aesop's fable about the animal baby beauty pageant).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Croeso ditior (English: Richer than Croesus... alluding to the proverbial wealth of King Croesus of Lydia.

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ὄνου οὐρὰ τηλίαν οὐ ποιεῖ (English: You cannot make a sieve out of a donkey's tail... something like our saying about not being able to make a silk purse from a sow's ear). 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: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Rusticus et Coluber, the story of a man who foolishly took pity on a snake.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE LUPO ET AGNO, the story of the wolf's supposed justification for devouring a lamb.

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 Caecilia et porca, a wonderful new reader contributed by Ann Martin!




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