HODIE: ante diem quintum Kalendas Martias. 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:
- Arundo et Olea, the story of an upright - and upright - olive tree.
- Vidua et Asinus, a Renaissance fable of public gossip and scandal.
- Cervus et Cornua, the sad story of the stag who admired his horns overmuch.
- Accipitres et Columbae, the story of the doves who foolishly brought about peace among the hawks.
- Hercules et Plutus, the story of a hero's scorn for material wealth.
Vidua quaedam, coelibātum exōsa, nūbere cupiēbat sed nōn audēbat, verita vulgī irrīsiōnēs, quī maledictīs eās solet incessere quae ad secundās trānseunt nuptiās. Sed commāter eius, quam contemnendae essent populī vōcēs hāc arte mōnstrāvit. Iussit enim asinum album, quem vidua habēbat, viridī colōre dēpingī et per omnēs vīcōs circumdūcī. Quod cum fieret, tanta admīrātiōne ab initiō omnēs invāserat, ut nōn sōlum puerī, vērum etiam senēs hāc rē īnsolita mōtī asinum animī grātiā comitārentur. Deinde cum huiusmodī animal quotīdiē per urbem dūcerētur, dēfiērunt admīrārī. "Itidem (inquit ad viduam commāter) ēveniet tibi. Sī enim virum accēperis, aliquot diēs eris fābula vulgī. Deinde hic sermo conticescet."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 Dum vivo, prosum (English: While I live, I am useful - a very civic-minded motto!).
3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Naturam Minerva perficit (English: Minerva puts the finishing touches on Nature - with Minerva here symbolizing wisdom and the skills of which she is the goddess).
Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Mutantur mores tum cum cumulantur honores (English: Characters change when public acclaim accumulates).
Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Thesaurizate vobis thesauros in caelo, ubi neque erugo neque tinea demolitur (Matt. 6:20). 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 Taverner: Optimum est aliena insania frui: It is best to use an others mans madnes. Wee use, enioje, or take the commoditie of other mens madnes, when the thing that other men do rashely or foolishlie, wee applie to our profite, pleasure and commoditie.
Today's Poem: Today's verses are from a wonderful epigram by Martial (V.58), with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:
Cras te victurum, cras dicis, Postume, semper:English: "You are always sayingthat you're going to start living tomorrow, Postumus, tomorrow - but tell me, Postumus, that tomorrow of yours, when will it get here? How far away that tomorrow is! Where can it be? Whence can it be sought? Surely it's not hiding among the Partians and Armenians?" And, of course, by referring to the Armenians and Partians, Martial means to say that the tomorrow is all the way on the other side of the world, as far away from here and now as can be.
dic mihi, cras istud, || Postume, quando venit?
Quam longe cras istud! ubi est? aut unde petendum?
Numquid apud Parthos || Armeniosque latet?
For today's image, here is an illustration for the story about the green donkey, Vidua et Asinus, by one of my very favorite painters, Marc Chagall:
