This will be my last blog post until after the Thanksgiving holiday - I'll be back online on Monday, November 30... and among the various tasks I've set myself during the break, one of them is sprucing up the Latin Christmas Carol blog for 2009, so that it will be all ready to go starting on December 1 this year! :-)
Cunctis lectoribus quam laetissimum "Diem Cornucopiae" exopto!
HODIE: ante diem undecimum 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. This one is another of the elegant little epigrams from Owen, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com as usual:
Sanctorum vitas legere et non vivere frustra est.English: "To read the lives of the saints and not to live them is useless; lead the lives of the saints; don't just read them." I'm not going to claim to be living the life of a saint by any means... but I do like to think that some of these fables and proverbs have saved me from making even more mistakes in my life than I would have otherwise!
Sanctorum vitas || degite, non legite.
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 continues Plutarch's praise of Caesar accomplishments to come in Gaul: alio ob multitudinem deuictorum hostium et robur, alio ob insolentiam et perfidiam morum cum quibus ipsi communicandum erat, alio ob clementiam qua aduersus domitos usus est, alio ob liberalitatem et beneficia in commilitones, omnibus uero ob multitudinem depugnatorum proeliorum occisorumque hostium (all those comparisons are to the other men, alio...alio...alio, who were also military commanders of ancient Rome).
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 expresses how I feel at the end of the semester, ha ha: Post tot naufragia portum (English: After so many shipwrecks, the harbor).
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 Fortuna amicos parat, inopia amicos probat (English: Prosperity obtains friends, poverty puts them to the test). 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: Verum est, quod pro salute fit, mendacium (English: A lie told to save yourself is true… I guess you could call it a Darwinian truth: the lie of the survivor!).
Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb in Leonine verse form is: Temporibus brumae iuxta ignem pocula sume (English: In winter time, sit by the fire and raise your glass - a nice saying for the season, and note the medieval rhyme of brumae and sume).
Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Totidem nobis hostes esse, quot servos (English: We have as many enemies as we have servants).
Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Scientia potentia (English: Knowledge is power… a motto I wish I could persuade my students to adopt!).
Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Tempus edax rerum (English: Time is the eater of things).
Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Qui reddit mala pro bonis, non recedet malum de domo eius (Proverbs 17:13). 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 Cicada cicadae cara, formicae formica (English: One cricked is dear to another, and ant is dear to ant… kind of like "birds of a feather," but in the insect world).
Latin Animal Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb is Minervae felem (English: You're comparing a cat to Minerva; from Adagia 1.10.22 - which is a poor comparison, as Erasmus explains that while a cat and Minerva might have eyes that are supposedly the same color, that's about all they can be said to share!).
Proper Name Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb is Fortes Fortuna adiuvat (English: Fortune helps those with fortitude; from Adagia 1.2.45 - as you can see, the Latin offers possibilities for alliteration here that the English cannot match, alas).
Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Βραχεῖα τέρψις ἡδονῆς τίκτει λύπην. (English: A brief pleasurable delight gives birth to grief).
TODAY'S FABLES:
Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE LEPORE ET TESTUDINE, the famous story of the tortoise and the hare.
Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Agricola et Filii, a story of family quarrels overcome by a simple lesson - perhaps a good fable to keep in mind for the holidays when family quarrels might be looming! The fable offers good advice for parents who despair of their quarreling children, and for those of you who might squabble with your parents, remember the advice in one of Cato's monostichs: Parentes patientia vince. Meanwhile, here is an illustration for the fable of the father and his sons (image source) by Walter Crane:
