Thursday, May 26, 2011

Round-Up: May 26

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. I'm Twittering again now at Aesopus and AesopusEnglish.

HODIE: ante diem septimum Kalendas Iunias (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is the little particle O - you can read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: O nomen dulce libertatis! "O the sweet name of freedom!"

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Simonides et Hiero, about what happened when Hiero asked the wise Simonides to tell him what God is.

FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Pater, Filius, et Asinus, the hilarious story (Middle Eastern in origin) of what happened when a father and his son took their donkey to the market.

MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is Vultures, Leo, et Aper, the story of the vultures who gladly watched the lion and the boar fighting with one another - although luckily the mighty opponents come to their senses!

MILLE FABULAE: ILLUSTRATIONS: The latest fables with images are Doctissimi Tres et Tigris, a great story about three would-be wise men and a tiger (if anyone has any information about the origins of this story, let me know!), and Viatores et Pons, a story about a Boeotian, an Athenian and a Corinthian who were on a journey together.

GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Moore's Histories of Tacitus and Andrews's Agricola and Germania of Tacitus .

DISTICHA: Today's little poems are Ah! homo si sciret, quando mors atra veniret, Non sic dormiret, sed caeli regna sitiret. (from Wegeler, as you can tell by all the rhymes) and Dapsilis interdum notis et carus amicis, / Cum fueris felix, semper tibi proximus esto. (from Cato's distichs).

TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at Schoolhouse Widgets.

Tiny Mottoes: Today's tiny motto is: Conanti dabitur (English: To the one who strives, it will be given).

3-Word Proverbs Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Tempus vitae magister (English: Time is life's teacher)

Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Repetitio mater memoriae (English: Repetition is the mother of memory). 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: Metus cum venit, rarum habet somnus locum (English: With the onset of fear, there's little room for sleep).

Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is Habet et musca splenem (English: Even the fly has its spleen; from Adagia 3.5.7).

For an image today, here is that story of the vultures: 459. Vultures, Leo, et Aper. Aestatis tempore, dum ardor animalia siti vexat, ad angustum fontem leo et aper potaturi concurrerant, et uter eorum prior biberet decertare coeperunt. Hinc ad mutuam caedem insurrexere; mox vero, ut paululum respirarent, pugna relicta, nonnullos vultures conspexere, qui longe exspectabant ut victus eorum quis caderet et devorarent. Id animadvertentes, inimicitias solvere, melius sibi esse aientes amicitiam servare quam vulturibus et corvis escam fieri. (source)