Monday, September 21, 2009

Round-Up: September 21

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.

NOVITAS: You will see that I have a new widget premiering today: a selection of proverbs in Leonine rhyme collected by Julius Wegeler. Unlike the other proverb widgets, this one comes with English in the widget. As I explained when I introduced the Polydorus widget, I don't like translating proverbs into English as it seems to me they lose their charm that way... but since I have quite a few all-Latin proverb widgets, I will create the next set of widgets as bilingual, and people can choose which one(s) they like best. Meanwhile, you can also find some two-line Leonine verses from Wegeler already collected in the Poetry Widget, too!

HODIE: ante diem undecimum Kalendas Octobres. 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 POEM: Here is today's little poem, from the Poetry Widget. It's another bit of dactylic hexameter from Horace (Sermones 2.6) about the transitoriness of life, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:
Dum licet, in rēbus iucundis vīve beātus,
vīve memor, quam sīs aevī brevis. [...]
English: "While you may, live happily in pleasant circumstances; live and be mindful how short-lived you are." This is a fine use of a genitive phrase in the predicate, which we usually have to translate with an adjective, as here. I've marked a couple of long vowels to aid in scansion, too. :-)

TODAY'S TWITTER:

Vita Caesaris: You can see my IVLIVS CAESAR feed with a sentence from Plutarch's Life of Caesar each day in Greek, Latin and English. Today's Latin portion explains that Clodius is in SERIOUS trouble now: Itaque ei quidam tribunorum plebis diem uiolatae religionis dixit, factaque est contra Clodium coitio potentissimorum senatorum, qui ei quum alia horrenda flagitia, tum incestum cum sorore Lucullo nupta obiicerent.

Proverbiis Pipilo: You can see my Proverbia feed of Latin proverbs which I "tweet" while I am online each day (in English, too). Here's one from today about knowledge NOT being for its own sake: Doctus sine opera ut nubes est sine pluvia (English: A learned man without works is like a cloud without rain).

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

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

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Frenis saepe repugnat equus (English: The horse often fights against the reins). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Nihil sacrum (English: Nothing is sacred).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb in Leonine verse form is: Omne quod exoritur, terra fit et moritur. (English: Everything which rises up, turns to earth and dies).

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Deus ulciscetur (English: God will be the avenger... even if human justice cannot do so!).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Cum bonis ambula (English: Walk with the good people... which is to say: not with the bad!).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Numquid ambulare potest homo super prunas et non conburentur plantae eius? (Proverbs 6:27-28). 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 Formicae sua bilis inest, habet et musca splenem (English: The ant has its bile, and the fly too has its spleen - we had a saying last week about the bile of the little insects, which accounts for their bad temper - so too with spleen, which makes you "splenetic").

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Sunt aliquid Manes (English: The Manes (ghosts of the dead) are something... in other words, they do exist, as Propertius claimed to finally realize in one of his elegies).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ἐξ τοῦ εἰσορᾷν γίνεται ἀνθρώποις ἐρᾷν (English: From gazing, people are prone to feel passion... so, if you don't want to inflame desire: don't look!).

TODAY'S FABLES:

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Equus et Leo, the story of how a lion pretended to be a doctor - but the horse was not fooled!

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE LEONE ET MURE, the story of a lion who needed the help of a mouse, much to his surprise.

Tar Heel Readers: Materials continue to accumulate at Tar Heel Reader (keep up with the latest items at the Libelli Latini blog). Today I decided to feature Gilbo, Pars Tertia Decima, the thirteenth in Anthony Gibbins's series of little stories about Gilbo and his family.




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