HODIE: ante diem quartum Idus Septembres. 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 short poem, from the Poetry Widget. It is an intense little fable in iambic verse by Desbillons which tells the story of a pig who has a staggering realization when she wanders into the kitchen. There is a word list at NoDictionaries.com.
Forte in culinam Sus se opima contulit;Here's an English translation: "By chance a plump pig headed into the kitchen and, upon seeing the hams there and the bacon and the sausages, she said: These are made from pigs! - and she went away, weeping." Now here's a question to ask yourself: in general, the animals in Aesop's fables are usually metaphors for humans and for the human condition... so, just what human situation could this fable stand for, eh? All the possible metaphorical applications I can imagine are very heavy situations indeed!
Ibique pernas, larda, botulos, dum videt:
Haec sunt suilla, dixit; et abiit gemens.
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 describes how men must leave the house for the celebration of Bona Dea's rites: Eorum orgiorum tempus et celebrandi munus cum ad consulem vel praetorem deuenit, ipse et omne quod est masculum aedibus egrediuntur, uxor domo occupata eam exornat.
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 that I was prompted to post by my students observing Ramadan: Plenus venter facile de ieiuniis disputat (English: A full stomach finds it easy to talk about fasting).
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 Historia magistra vitae (English: History is the teacher of life). 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: Cuique suum (English: To each, their own... of all the Latin two-word sayings, this one is surely nearest and dearest to my heart: cuique suum in fact!).
Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Iacta alea est. (English: The die is cast ... Caesar's saying which is used so very nicely in The Emperor's Club - a film I watched again the other night in honor of the new school year - it's kind of a "Goodbye Mr. Chips" for our era!).
Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Responsio mollis frangit iram; sermo durus suscitat furorem (Proverbs 15:1). 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 Vindicta sicut leo insidiabitur impio (English: Vengeance, like a lion, lies in wait for the wicked man... what a great metaphor! That wicked man better watch out!).
Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Idem Accii, quod Titii (English: As for Accius, the same to Titius - a Latin saying dating to Varro, quote by Gellius, which shows the use of the names "Accius" and "Titius" by Roman lawyers to indicate two generic persons).
Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Μὴ κίνει κακὸν εὐ κείμενον (English: Don't move a bad thing which is well positioned - in other words: leave well enough alone, especially when it comes to bad or dangerous things!).
TODAY'S FABLES:
Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Columbae et Accipiter, the story of a farmer trying to teach a hawk the meaning of the "Golden Rule."
Aesopus Elegiacus: Today's elegiac fable is Lupus et Agnus, the story of a vicious wolf and his supposed justifications for devouring a lamb. There is also a word list, courtesy of NoDictionaries.com.
Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE ANU ET ANSERE , the story of the goose who laid the golden eggs.
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 Nona, the ninth in Anthony Gibbins's series of little stories about Gilbo and his family!
