HODIE: Nonae Octobres, the Nones of October! 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 a dactylic hexameter passage from Horace about the educational value of humor, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com as usual:
[...] Quamquam ridentem dicere verumEnglish: "What forbids you from speaking the truth albeit with a smile? Just as gentle teachers sometimes give cookies to their pupils to make them want to learn their letters..." Of course, it's getting harder and harder to give children anything fattening in the schools (no more bake sales!) - but luckily a laugh and a smile are not fattening! :-)
quid vetat? ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi
doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima.
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 Caesar's envy of Alexander: et amicis causam quaerentibus dixisse: An non dolendum uobis uidetur, me cum id aetatis sim, qua Alexander tot nationibus imperauit, nihil dum memoratu dignum gessisse?.
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 which I posted in response to VerbaLatin's call for viscus: Glossa viperina est quae corrodit viscera textus (English: The interpretation which gnaws away at the guts of the text is like a viper).
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 Non scholae sed vitae discimus (English: We learn, not for school, but for life). 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: Male imperando summum imperium amittitur (English: By abuse of authority, the highest authority is lost).
Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb in Leonine verse form is: Cum stertit cattus, nunquam sibi currit in os mus (English: When the cat snores, no mouse ever runs into its mouth - okay, the rhyme is not extra strong, cattus-os mus... but it's such a charming image that I had to include this one!).
Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Homo homini deus (English: Man is a god to man).
Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Virtute doloque (English: By means of courage and craftiness... a motto I like very much!).
Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Optima citissime pereunt (English: The best things perish the most quickly... a kind of variation on "only the good die young"...).
Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Non litiges cum homine linguato, et non strues in igne illius ligna (Sirach 8:3). 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 Qui corvis natus est, non submergitur aquis (English: He who is born to the crows [i.e. born to be hanged!] does not drown in the water - which is absolutely one of my favorite Latin sayings about fate!).
Latin Animal Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb is Toto devorato bove, in cauda defecit (English: Having eaten the whole ox, he gave up at the tail.; from Adagia 3.3.68).
Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Dives, amico Hercule (English: A man becomes rich, when Hercules is his friend).
Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ὀυκ ἀεὶ ποταμὸς ἀξίνας φέρει (English: The river does not always bring forth axes - an allusion to the marvelous fable of Mercury and the man who lost his axe in the water).
TODAY'S FABLES:
Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Canis et Umbra, the famous story of the dog who was fooled by his own reflection in the water - kind of an animal variation on the theme of the axe in the water!
Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE PARTU MONTIUM, the proverb of the mountains giving birth turned into a tiny little fable.
For the image, I wanted to include one in honor of today's Greek proverb: Ὀυκ ἀεὶ ποταμὸς ἀξίνας φέρει. Here is an illustration for the fable of Mercury and the axes (image source) from an early 16th-century edition of Aesop - you can see one axe in the ripples of the water at their feet!
