You'll see some alterations to the blog format for this month, since each post will end with Latin holiday songs from the Gaudium Mundo blog. :-)
HODIE: Kalendae Decembres, the Kalends of December! 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 elegant epigrams by Owen, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com as usual:
Stulta haec invidia est, cui cuncta recentia sordent.English: "It's a foolish sort of envy when someone thinks all new things are vulgar; it's also foolish when someone only likes new things." I think those of us who are classicists (either avidly or reluctantly) can relate to the paradox of new and old expressed in this little poem!
Invida stultitia est, || cui nova sola placent.
TODAY'S TWITTER: I've been swamped getting back to work today, but I will start the Twitter again tomorrow.
TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS
You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.
2-Word Mottoes: Today's 2-word motto is: Parta tueri (English: To defend what has been acquired - with parta as the neuter accusative plural of the participle of pario, here meaning to beget, acquire, etc.).
3-Word Mottoes: Nouns: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Sagax et audax (English: Keen and bold... although the English of course does not sound so good as the Latin, with the elegant pairing of those adjectives in -ax).
3-Word Mottoes: Verbs: Today's 3-word motto with verb is Flecti, non frangi (English: To bend, not to break - a principle illustrated very nicely in Aesop's fable about the reed and the oak).
2-Word Proverbs: Today's 2-word proverb is: Maneo nemini (English: I wait for no one; this is a fine little saying on its own - and just think about it in this context: as the inscription on a sun-dial! Nice! In that case the ego of the verb is Time itself).
3-Word Proverbs: Nouns: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Virtutis comes invidia (English: Envy is the companion of excellence... in this case, an unwelcome companion!)
Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Victrix fortunae sapientia (English: Wisdom is the conqueror of fortune). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.
Latin Animal Proverb of the Day: Today's animal proverb is Minervam sus docet (English: The pig is teaching Minerva - the idea, of course, is that the pig has no business teaching Minerva at all, seeing as she is the goddess of wisdom!).
Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Ultima mortiferum conservat cauda venenum (English: The tip of the tail has deadly venom in store - which may not be all that true of snakes, but metaphorically, it is very true of situations where you face the real peril at the end of the business, rather than at the beginning).
Maxims of Publilius Syrus: Today's proverb from Publilius Syrus is: Avaro acerba poena natura est sua (English: For the miser, his own nature is a bitter punishment - this is definitely one of the "karmic" sayings of Publilius).
Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Talis hominum oratio, qualis vita (English: As a man's life is, so is his speech - a saying built on the elegant Latin correlatives, talis-qualis).
Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Quis ex vobis patrem petet panem, numquid lapidem dabit illi? (Luke 11:11). 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 from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is Culicem colant, camelum deglutientes (English: They strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel; from Adagia 3.10.91 - but based, of course, on the Biblical saying).
Proper Name Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Iterum atque iterum ad Pythum via (English: Over and over again they keep asking the way to Pytho; from Adagia 2.10.57 - Pytho was the original name of the oracular site at Delphi, sacred to Apollo; as a site of pilgrimage, there was a constant stream of strangers traveling there, and having to ask for directions along the way).
Elizabethan Proverb Commentary: Here is today's proverb commentary, this time by Conybeare: Acesias medicatus est: Acesias, a foolishe and unlearned phesicion of whom riseth this proverbe, spoken of a thinge that waxeth worse and worse, and the more yt is tended the worse it is. (Conybeare learned about Acesias in Erasmus's Adagia 2.6.59).
Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Τῆς ὀξυθυμίας τὸ ἄνθος μανία (English: Insanity - Greek "mania" - is the blossom of a sharp temper).
TODAY'S FABLES:
Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Asinus Leonis Pelle Indutus, the famous story of the donkey in the lion's skin.
Gaudium Mundo: The Latin holiday songs for today are: Rudolphus, a Latin version of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" (actually, five different Latin versions!), along with Puer Natus in Bethlehem, a 15th-century Christmas hymn, for which I managed to find a nice YouTube audio presentation so you can listen online!
For those of you viewing this blog post online instead of in the email, here is the YouTube video performance of Puer Natus - it starts with church bells, followed by an organ introit, and then a choral performance of the hymn.
