Saturday, May 26, 2012

Round-Up: March 26

Here is a round-up of today's proverbs and fables - and for previous posts, check out the Bestiaria Latina Blog archives. I'm using Google+ a lot these days - highly recommended as a thought-provoking place to hang out online!

HODIE: ante diem septimum Kalendas Iunias.

MYTHS and LEGENDS: The art image for today's legend shows The Flight of Aeneas; you can also see the legends for the current week listed together here.


TODAY'S MOTTOES and PROVERBS:

TINY PROVERBS: Today's tiny proverb is: Exempla docent (English: Examples teach).

3-WORD MOTTOES: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Pro mundi beneficio (English: For the good of the world).

ANIMAL PROVERBS: Today's animal proverb is Pastor bonus animam suam dat pro ovibus (English: The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep).

POLYDORUS: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Lupum auribus teneo (English: I've got the wolf by the ears - which means it's dangerous to hang on... and dangerous to let go!).

PROPER NAME PROVERBS: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Ne mihi Suffenus essem (English: I would not be my own Suffenus; from Adagia 2.5.12 - Suffenus was a poet quick to criticize others with no awareness of his own faults).

GREEK PROVERBS: Today's proverb is Ἄκρον λάβε, καὶ μέσον ἕξεις (English: Grab the top and you'll have the middle - in other words, it's better to aim high, because then you can afford to settle for less).

TODAY'S FABLES and STORIES:

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Regulus, a story of one of Rome's legendary heroes.

FABULAE FACILES WIDGET: The fable from the Fabulae Faciles widget is Mustela et Lima, the story of the weasel and the metal file (this fable has a vocabulary list).

MILLE FABULAE WIDGET: The fable from the Mille Fabulae et Una widget is Vultures, Leo, et Aper, the story of a quarrel between the lion and the boar, with vultures avidly looking on.

AESOP IN ENGLISH VERSE: Today's fable from the English verse widget is The Ox and the Toad, the story of a mother toad, fatally inflated with self-importance.

MILLE FABULAE: The "chunk" of Mille Fabulae et Una today is Fable 881, Philosophus et Cucurbita, through Fable 890, Divinator et Latrones, including Aesopus et Arcus, a great little fable about the need to relax (a perfect summer fable!): Cum quidam Atticus Aesopum in puerorum turba nucibus ludentem vidisset, restitit et quasi delirum risit. Quod simul sensit Aesopus (senex derisor potius quam deridendus) arcum retensum in media via posuit. “Heus,” inquit, “sapiens! Expedi quid fecerim.” Concurrit populus. Ille diu se torquet, nec quaestionis positae causam intellegit. Novissime succumbit. Tum sophus victor “Cito,” inquit, “arcum rumpes, si semper tensum habueris; at si laxaris, utilis erit cum voles.” Sic aliquando lusus animo dari debent, ut ad cogitandum melior tibi redeat.

Aesopus et Arcus