Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Round-Up: May 18

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 quintum decimum Kalendas Iunias (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is VIA - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Omnes viae ad Romam ferunt, "All roads lead to Rome."

BESTIARIA PROVERBS: There are some new animal proverbs today for PEDICULUS, the louse, and PISCIS, the fish. Here's a nice one: Vivis piscibus aqua, mortuis vinum, "Water for the living fish; wine for the dead ones" (of course, the wine is for our benefit, not for the benefit of the poor fish!).

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Damon et Pythias, the famous story of loyalty between two friends.

FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Canis et Umbra, the story of the greedy dog fooled by his own reflection.

MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is Viatores Duo et Latro, the story of two travelers and what happened when they found a sack full of gold. (You can also a free PDF copy of the Mille Fabulae et Una book.)

MILLE FABULAE: ILLUSTRATIONS: The latest fables with images are Cyclops et Homo, the odd little story of a cyclops and his treasure, and Ranae et Ovis, a funny story about a sheep who fell into the mud of a swamp inhabited by frogs.

GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Hanson & Rolfe's A Handbook of Latin Poetry and Hamilton's Cornelius Nepos (the "Hamilton approach" involves the use of interlinear texts).

DISTICHA: Today's little poems are Aures fert paries, oculos nemus: ergo cavere / Debet, qui loquitur, ne possint verba nocere. (from Wegeler) and Servorum culpis cum te dolor urget in iram, / Ipse tibi moderare, tuis ut parcere possis. (from Cato's distichs).

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

3-Word Mottoes: Today's 3-word motto is Sape et tace (English: Be wise and keep quiet).

3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Sol omnia aperit (English: The sun reveals all things).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Nunc est dicendum, nunc cum ratione silendum (English: Sometimes you need to speak, and sometimes you need to wisely keep silent - kind of a rhyming variation on the same idea in today's motto).

Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Ego dico vobis: non resistere malo (Matt. 5:39). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Elizabethan Proverb Commentary: Here is today's proverb commentary, this time by Conybeare: Nudo vestimenta detrahere: To take rayment from a naked man. Proverbially used, to take or seke a thing of a man that he hath not, to take a brieche from a bare arste man.

Since the story of Damon and Pythias lives on in the "Knights of Pythias" (a fraternal organization founded in 1864 which can boast of several U.S. presidents as members, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt), here is a modern image to accompany the ancient story: Damon et Pythias tam fidelem inter se amicitiam iunxerant ut, cum alterum ex his Dionysius Syracusanus interficere vellet atque is tempus impetravisset, quo res suas ordinaret, alter vadem se pro reditu eius tyranno dare non dubitarit. Omnes igitur et in primis Dionysius novae atque ancipitis rei exitum speculabantur. Appropinquante deinde die, nec illo redeunte, omnes stultitiae tam temerarium sponsorem damnabant. At is, nihil se de amici constantia metuere praedicabat. Eodem autem momento et hora a Dionysio constituta, alter supervenit. Admiratus amborum animum, tyrannus supplicium fidei remisit insuperque eos rogavit ut se tertium in societatem amicitiae reciperent. (source)