HODIE: ante diem septimum Idus 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 is from the Satires of Horace (dactylic), with a word list at NoDictionaries.com as usual:
Faenum habet in cornu, longe fuge; dummodo risumEnglish: "He's wearing hay on his horn; keep your distance - provided that he can get a laugh, he won't show any mercy to a friend" (or, in the elegant words of Ben Jonson, "he will sooner lose his best friend than his least jest"). The metaphor of someone with "hay on his horn" referred to the practice of tying a bit of straw or hay on the horn of an especially dangerous bull, a kind of "Cave Bovem."
excutiat sibi, non hic cuiquam parcet amico.
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 portion continues the inspiring effect Caesar had on his soldiers: In Britannia cum primos centuriones in palustrem et aqua repletum locum ingressos adorirentur hostes, quidam miles, ipso Caesare pugnam spectante, per medios se proripuit, cumque praeclara fortitudinis facinora edidisset, primipilis seruatis et fugientibus barbaris,.
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 a karma proverb from today: In caput auctoris facinus plerumque redundat (English: Many a crime bounces back on the head of the doer - or, to use a less well known English word derived from Latin redundare, the crime "redounds").
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: Virtute cresco (English: I grow in excellent - although that Latin virtus is notoriously difficult to render in English).
3-Word Mottoes: Nouns: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is In labore libertas (English: In hard work, freedom - or, to catch something of the Latin word play, "in labor, liberty").
3-Word Mottoes: Verbs: Today's 3-word motto with verb is Video et taceo (English: I watch and keep silent).
2-Word Proverbs: Today's 2-word proverb is: Gloria futuri (English: Glory belongs to the future - in other words, it is your reputation after your life is over, not while you are alive, that is the true glory).
3-Word Proverbs: Nouns: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Parietes amicitiae custodes (English: Walls are the guardians of friendship).
3-Word Proverbs: Nouns: Today's 3-word proverb with verb is Omnes terra sumus (English: We are all earth - and that's earth in the sense of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" earth).
Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Durum ad nutum alterius ambulare (English: It is a hard thing to walk according to someone else's nod). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.
Latin Animal Proverb: Today's animal proverb is Asinus in cathedra (English: Donkey on the throne - the Latin cathedra was especially associated with the seat or the chair from which professors lectured, or with the bishop's seat, so this is a saying that can be used to make fun of secular and/or religious and/or academic authorities).
Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Vivamus puri, quasi simus cras morituri (English: Let us live a pure life, as if we were going to die tomorrow - one of my favorite sayings; the Latin future active participle can be put to very good use in proverbs, as here).
Maxims of Publilius Syrus: Today's proverb from Publilius Syrus is: Formosa facies muta commendatio est (English: A fair face is a silent seal of approval - although of course there are plenty of proverbs that warn us that looks can be deceiving, too!).
Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Semen in petras cecidit (English: The seed has fallen among the stones - where, of course, it will not be able to grow).
Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Petite, et dabitur vobis (Matt. 7:7). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.
Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is In apes irruisti (English: You've rushed headlong into the bees; from Adagia 2.10.73 - a saying you can see illustrated in Abstemius's story of the bear and the bees).
Proper Name Proverb from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Iro pauperior (English: More poor than Irus; from Adagia 1.6.76 - you can find Ovid making use of this motif in the Tristia: Irus erit subito, qui modo Croesus erat).
Elizabethan Proverb Commentary: Here is today's proverb commentary, this time by Conybeare: Aethiopem lavas: Thou washest a Moore. A proverbe applied to hem that prayseth a thinge that ys naught, or teacheth a foole wisedome (this was also a popular motif in fables and emblems).
Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ἀισχύνη πόλεως, πολίτου ἁμαρτία (English: The shame of the community is the fault of the citizen).
TODAY'S FABLES:
Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Lupus et Agnus, one of the iambic fables of Phaedrus - and I've included some notes about the meter, too; I would be grateful for feedback have about this style of presentation.
Gaudium Mundo: Today's Latin holiday songs from the Gaudium Mundo blog are: Adeste Fideles, a Latin version of "O Come, All Ye Faithful," along with Quae stella sole pulchrior.
