Bestiaria Latina Blog: Round-Up: January 29

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. Plus, you can find some Latin "pipilationes" at my Proverbia Latina feed and at the IVLIVS CAESAR feed (Plutarch's Life of Caesar twittered trilingually).

GREEK PODCAST: Exciting news! Evan Millner, whom I'm sure many of you know from his Latinum Latin podcasts, has started a similar podcast project for ancient Greek. You can listen to his first Greek podcast online now! So, if you were thinking 2010 would be a good year in which to learn Greek, let Evan be your guide!

HODIE: ante diem quartum Kalendas Februarias. 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 FABLES: Here are today's fables from the Ictibus Felicibus project. These fables ALL have long marks, plus stress marks for easy reading, and the poems have meter marks, too, along with an easy-to-read prose presentation of the story:

Sus et Canis, in which the pig rebukes the dog for his obedient behavior, and the dog explains his reasoning.
Delphin et Neptunus, Alciato's emblem of the dolphin washed up on shore.
Asinus Inridens Aprum, the story of how the donkey insulted the boar.
Asinus Res Sacras Portans, the story of a donkey who thought he was being worshipped.
Aquila et Corvus, the story of a crow who thought he could imitate an eagle.

I've picked out my favorite one, the story of the proud donkey, Asinus Res Sacras Portans, to share with you here in the blog (its application to the academic world I will leave to everyone's imagination, ha ha):

Asinus quīdam rēs sacrās portābat, ratus sēsē venerārī hominēs. Itaque ērēctus incēdēbat, tamquam sibi tūs illud atque carmina acciperet. Cuius errōrem cum mox vīdit aliquis, "Mī asine" inquit "istam vānitātem tibi excute. Nōn tē, sed istās rēs sacrās caerimōniīs colunt; istī dīvō haec religiō dēbētur."

TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: You can get access to ALL the "proverb of the day scripts" (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.

Tiny Mottoes: Today's tiny motto is: Tramite recta (English: By the right path - or the straight path, which you can take literally or metaphorically!).

3-Word Proverbs Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Ex scintilla incendium (English: From a spark, a fire)

Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Dubium sapientiae initium (English: Doubt is the beginning of wisdom). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Maxims of Publilius Syrus: Today's proverb from Publilius Syrus is: Nemo timendo ad summum pervenit locum (English: No one ever reached the top by being afraid).

Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is Tacitus pasci si posset corvus, haberet plus dapis (English: If the crow could feed quietly, he would have more to eat; from Adagia 4.1.94).

Here's an illustration for the fable of the crow who wanted to imitated the eagle, Aquila et Corvus: