Monday, March 23, 2009

Round-Up: March 23

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.

HODIE: ante diem decimum Kalendas Apriles. 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 PODCAST:

Heri Hodie Cras Podcast: Today's audio podcast is Latin Via Proverbs: Group 36, which features this famous saying from Ecclesiastes: Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas (Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity - with the Latin vanitas meaning literally "emptiness, futility").

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the Schoolhouse Widgets.com website.

Proverbiis Pipilo: You can see my Twitter feed of Latin proverbs which I "tweet" while I am online each day (in English, too). Here's a very sobering thought: Optant senectam omnes, adepti despuunt (English: Everybody desires old age and, once they have acquired it, they abhor it).

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Alius est amor, alius cupido (English: Love is one thing, desire another - with a great contrast between amor and cupido - also known as Cupid, of course). 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 Meliora supersunt (English: The best things remain - an optimistic perspective on what happens in time!).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is Extra chorum saltas (English: You're leaping outside of the dancing group - and be careful with chorus, a Greek word in Latin, which does not mean singers but dancers, as you can see in the related word, choreography).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Lata porta et spatiosa via quae ducit ad perditionem (Matt. 7:13). 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 Si manus est vacua, non accipitrem capit illa (English: If your hand is empty, it cannot catch a hawk - I'm guessing what you have to have in hand to lure a hawk would be a serious chunk of raw meat, but I'm not up on the literal details of falconry!).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Vincula Tyrrhena (English: Tyrrhenian chains - which is to say especially heavy and burdensome chains, as the Tyrrhenian pirates supposedly used to bind their captives).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ἔχει καὶ μυῖα σπλῆνα, ἔχει καὶ χολὴν ὁ μύρμηξ (English: Even a fly has its spleen, and the ant has its bile - in other words, even little folk are fully capable of very strong feelings, based on the ancient belief about the humours). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow's Aesop is DE URSO ET ALVEARI (the story of the bear who foolishly angered the bees). You can use the Javascript to include the fable of the day automatically each day on your webpage or blog - meanwhile, to find out more about today's fable, visit the Ning Resource Page for this fable, where you will find links to the text, commentary, and a discussion board for questions and comments.

Latin Via Fables: Simplified Fables: I'm now presenting the "Barlow Aesop" collection, fable by fable, in a SIMPLIFIED version (same story, but in simpler sentences) - with a SLIDESHOW presentation to go along with it, too. Today's Simplified fable is De Delphino et Smaride, the story of the dolphin who chased the little fish right up and onto the beach, as you can see in the illustration below:




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