Monday, November 16, 2009

Round-Up: November 16

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 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:
Quocumque incedis, sequitur mors corporis umbra.
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.'"

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:




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