HODIE: ante diem sextum decimum Kalendas Decembres. 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 one of the distichs popularly attributed to Cato, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com as usual:
Tempora longa tibi noli promittere vitae:English: "Do not count on having a long lifetime: wherever you go, your death follows you (like) the body's shadow." Of course, the metaphor of death as a shadow that never leaves you is a powerful one that has been used in proverbs and poetry throughout the ages - very brilliantly in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, to take a modern example, where everyone has a death that comes into the world of the living with them, and follows behind them unseen, until finally it takes them away: "Your death taps you on the shoulder, or takes your hand, and says, Come along; it's time.'"
Quocumque incedis, sequitur mors corporis umbra.
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 returns the scandalous Clodius to the forefront: Omnium autem factorum id turpissimum uidebatur, quod Caesare consule Clodius ille tribunus plebis est factus, qui coniugium Caesaris et arcana peruigilia polluerat.
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: Magnus liber magnum malum (English: A big book is a big evil - a saying made famous by the Greek poet and scholar Callimachus, μέγα βιβλίον μέγα κακόν).
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 Ditior Croeso (English: Richer than Croesus). 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: Late ignis lucere, ut nihil urat, non potest (English: A flame's light cannot be seen from afar without it burning something - a saying that always reminds me of Herostratus, who set fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus in a quest to achieve fame, even if for a notorious crime).
Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb in Leonine verse form is: Casus dementis correctio fit sapientis (English: The downfall of the witless person becomes a lesson for the wise man).
Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Fallacia alia aliam trudit (English: One trick supplants another - in other words, turn-about is fair play!).
Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Veritas elucescit (English: The truth shines forth).
Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Divitiae pariunt curas (English: Riches give birth to worries - this is the negative sense of Latin cura, as concern, worry).
Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Numquid potest caecus caecum ducere? Nonne ambo in foveam cadent? (Luke 6:39). 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 Lupi alas quaeris (English: You're looking for wings on a wolf… which is definitely a fool's errand, as you will not find any!).
Latin Animal Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb is Homo homini lupus (English: Man is a wolf to man; from Adagia 1.1.70 - and it is a saying famous enough to have its own Wikipedia article).
Proper Name Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb is Midae divitiae (English: The wealth of Midas; from Adagia 1.6.24 - and it's a paradoxical proverb, of course, since wealth did not bring happiness to Midas; rather, as in the proverb cited above, it just brought him worries, as everything he touched turned to gold).
Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ἀιθίοψ οὐ λευκαίνεται (English: The Aethiopian does not turn white… as the leopard does not change his spots; you can find both sayings in the Bible).
TODAY'S FABLES:
Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE PISCATORE ET PISCICULO, the story of the fisherman and the little fish.
Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Cervus in Aquas Inspiciens, the story of a stag with a serious body-image problem. Here's an image from one of the Tar Heel Readers I composed for this fable:
