Monday, November 9, 2009

Round-Up: November 9

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 quintum Idus Novembres. 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 one of the epigrams of Owen, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com, as usual:
Nemo repente bonus: lente properare memento,
Virtutis quamvis || ingrediare viam.
Utile consilium fit inutile festinanti.
Collige primo animum, || corrige deinde tuum.
English: "No one is good by acting quickly; remember to hurry at a slow pace, even if it is the path of virtue you are walking. A useful plan becomes useless when you're in a rush. First focus your mind, then point it in the right direction." What great advice! As you can see, the epigram amplifies the advice to Festina lente, "Make haste slowly." My favorite part is the last bit about Collige animum tuum, and then Corrige - it reminds me of one of my husband's remarks when someone does something foolish: "Ready, fire, aim." This proverb is more optimistic, and assumes we can be reminded to take things slowly, step by step.

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 tells us more about Caesar's alliance with Pompey: Pompeius nuptiis peractis statim armatis forum oppleuit, et in perferendis legibus populum adiuuit; Caesari Gallia omnis cis et trans Alpes lllyricumque decretum cum quatuor legionibus in quinquennium.

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 of my favorite proverbs about diversity and unity: Manus digiti coaequales non sunt, omnes tamen usui (English: The fingers of the hand are not equal to one another, but they are all useful).

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 Suam quisque pellem portat (English: Each carries his own skin). 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: Nil agere semper infelici est optimum (English: If you're unlucky, the best thing is always to do nothing... in other words: some days it really is better just not even get out of bed, ha ha).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's rhyming proverb is: Quam brevis est hora, quae labat absque mora! (English: How brief is the hour which slips by without tarrying).

Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Labores manuum tuarum manducabis (English: You will eat the works of your hands).

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Vitrea fortuna (English: Fortune is glass - which is to say it both sparkles and shatters).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: In libertate labor (English: In freedom, there is work... most of all, of course, there is the work required to keep your freedom!).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Comedamus et bibamus; cras enim moriemur. (Isaiah 22:13). 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 Quem taurum metuis, vitulum mulcere solebas (English: The bull whom you know fear you used to pet when it was a calf).

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb is Phoenice rarior (English: More rare than a phoenix; from Adagia More rare than a phoenix - according to at least some ancient accounts, there was only one phoenix at a time in the world, so to be more rare than the phoenix, well, that would be most rare indeed!).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb is Phani ostium (English: The door of Phanus; from Adagia 2.7.70 - the saying alludes to a certain blind man named Phanus, who made sure his door creaked so no one could sneak in, but his wife's lover simply entered the house by climbing up on the roof - the door of Phanus refers to some sort of precaution that fails in its purpose utterly).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Γέρων βοῦς ἀπένθητος δόμοισι (English: The old ox has no mourners in the household - you can find many sayings about the ungrateful attitude of people towards old oxen, old horses, old dogs, and so on... with the obvious metaphorical implications for the old of the human species as well!).

TODAY'S FABLES:

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE LEONE ET MURE, the hilarious story of the mouse who wanted to marry a lion.

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Leo et Socii Eius, the famous fable of the lion's share. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) by Aractingy:




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