Round-Up: January 17 - Hercules

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 Februarias. 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 FABLES: Here are today's fables from the Ictibus Felicibus project. These fables ALL have long marks, plus stress marks for easy reading, and the poems have meter marks, too, along with an easy-to-read prose presentation of the story:

• Leo Senex, Aper, Taurus et Asinus, this is the story of the old lion's humiliation as narrated by Phaedrus.
• Asinus Rubum Comedens, where Alciato uses the donkey as a moralizing emblem against misers.
• Tauri et Leo, the story of how a lion used the strategy of "divide and conquer" to defeat the bulls.
• Trabs et Boves, a story about assigning blame where blame is due.
• Leo et Asinus, the story of what happened when the lion and the donkey went hunting together (this is a rather long fable, adapted from LaFontaine).

Today's round-up on is a "special edition" since I don't normally do a Round-Up on Sunday - but I wanted to share the image of Hercules below, so here are some proverbs to go along with that!

Ne Hercules quidem adversus duos. Not even Hercules fights against two at once.

Haud ex quolibet ligno Hercules fit. You can't make a Hercules (a statue of Hercules) out of just any piece of wood.

Herculis cothurnos aptas infanti. You're trying to put the buskins of Hercules on a baby. (Needless to say, they don't fit!)

Amico Hercule. With Hercules as a friend. (A saying like "dis volentibus," with the gods willing - if you have divine assistance on your side, nothing can stop you.)

Amicus cupit esse alter Hercules. A friend is someone who wishes to be another Hercules. (That is, a friend who is someone as good as a god in a time of trouble.)

Frustra Herculi. It's a waste of time to criticize Hercules. (Hercules was so successful in his labors that it would be foolish to criticize him.)

Image for today: Hercules holding up the cosmos! Here's the story: I got an email from Mair Holker who wondered if the image from Santiago, Spain that I posted yesterday was perhaps actually Hercules holding up the cosmos rather than Atlas (the myth tells us how they traded places). She shared this marvelous image of a statue in Wales which shows someone who is clearly Hercules holding up the heavens (note the lion skin). Nice! Meanwhile, if anyone has any information about the statue in Santiago - is it really Atlas? or actually Hercules? - please let me know! For today, here is Mair Lloyd Houlker's photo of Hercules holding up the heavens: