Bestiaria Latina Blog: Round-Up: February 1

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. Plus, you can find some Latin "pipilationes" at my Proverbia Latina feed.

HODIE: Kalendae Februariae, the Kalends of February! 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:

Asinus in Pelle Leonis, a version of the famous story of the donkey in the lion's skin, told in elegiac couplets.
Scarabaeus et Aquila, the story of how the tiny beetle managed to defeat the mighty eagle.
Ranae Metuentes Proelia Taurorum, the story of the frogs observing a battle among the bulls.
Trabs et Boves, the dispute between the log and the oxen who were dragging it.
Senex et Filii eius, the story of the old man trying to teach his sons the value of unity.

I've picked out my favorite one, Ranae Metuentes Proelia Taurorum, to share with you here in the blog - providing, as it does, a warning for the dangers that await us all when the powers of the world are at war:

Humilēs labōrant, ubi potentēs dissident. Rāna, taurōrum pūgnam ē palūde intuēns, ait: Heu, quanta perniciēs nōbīs īnstat. Interrogāta ab aliā cūr hōc dīceret, cum illī dē gregis prīncipātū certārent et bovēs longē ab ipsīs vītam dēgerent. Statiō sēparāta sit, ac dīversum genus; quī profūgerit, nemoris rēgnō expulsus, in palūdis latibula sēcrēta veniet, et pede dūrō prōculcātās obteret. Ita furor illōrum ad caput nostrum pertinet.

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.

3-Word Mottoes: Today's 3-word motto is Persevera Deoque confide (English: Persevere and trust in God - which is a nice way to remember the use of the dative with confide).

3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Volentem bovem ducito (English: Lead the ox when it is willing - and notice that nice so-called future imperative).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Pax, pax! clamatur; sed pax per bella paratur (English: Peace! Peace! people shout, but peace is obtained through wars... a saying as sadly true as it was a thousand years ago).

Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Multi sunt vocati; pauci vero electi (Matt. 22:14). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Elizabethan Proverb Commentary: Here is today's proverb commentary, this time by Conybeare: Festina lente: Make slowe haste: Soft fier maketh sweete malte. It is good to be mery and wise. This is spoken when a man will signifie a thing to be doen, neither to hastily, nor to slowlye, but in a convenient temperaunce.

Today's Poem: Today's poem is from the rhyming verses collected by Wegeler, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:

Disce, puer, tenero dum flos tibi floret in aevo;
Transit fine brevi puerilis flosculus aevi.

English: "Learn, my boy, while your flower yet flourishes in the youthful age; the boyish blossom of life passes away in a brief span of time." (Notice how you need to use the medieval pronunciation of aevi to rhyme with brevi.)

Here is an illustration for the story of the ambitious donkey, Asinus in Pelle Leonis, by the 17th-century illustrator Francis Barlow: