Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Round-Up: April 13

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.

HODIE: Idus Apriles, the Ides of April! You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

MORE 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:
  • Camelus, the story of how the camel wanted horns but ended up with worse!
  • Tigris et Vulpes, the story of a tiger shot by an arrow.
  • Traha et Bufo, the sad story of a toad who was run over by a horse-drawn rake.
  • Olor et Anseres, the story of the swan among the geese.
  • Piscator et Pisciculus, the story of a little fish who thought he could persuade the fisherman to cast him back into the water.
I've picked out my favorite one, the sad story of the toad, Traha et Bufo, which the preacher Odo uses as a way to express the suffering of all the oppressed people of the world:
Traha semel trānsīvit super Būfōnem, et ūnus dēns percussit eam in capite, alius in corde, alius in rēnibus. Et ait Būfo: Deus confundat tot dominōs!
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.

3-Word Mottoes: Today's 3-word motto is Gaudet tentamine virtus (English: Excellence rejoices in the effort).

3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Audi alteram partem (English: Hear the other side... kind of the opposite of our political discourse nowadays, alas!).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Asinus ad lapidem non bis offendit eundum (English: A donkey does not stumble twice over the same stone... surely we can learn that much from the donkeys, eh?).

Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Nemo est qui semper vivat (Ecc. 9:4). 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 Conybeare: Asinus auriculas movet: The asse waggeth his eares. A proverbe applied unto them which although they lacke learninge, yet will they babble and make a countenance as though they knewe somewhat.

Today's Poem: Today's poem is one of the rhyming verses collected by Wegeler, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:
Qui non assuescit virtuti, dum iuvenescit,
A vitiis nescit desistere, quando senescit.
English: "Someone who does not get learn the virtues when he is growing up does not know how to refrain from vices when he grows old." English, alas, cannot quite manage that nice little rhyming word play of dum iuvenescit - quando senescit.

For an image today, here is Francis Barlow's illustration for the story about the tiger and the fox, Tigris et Vulpes - and look closely to see the man in the tree who shot the arrow!