Round-Up: May 20

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 tertium decimum Kalendas Iunias. You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

MORE 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:

• Momus, the carping god Momus critiques the inventions of Zeus, Athena and Poseidon.
• Bubulcus et Taurus Amissus, the cowherd is terrified when he finds the lion he claimed to be seeking.
• Canis et Lepus, the rabbit is not sure about the intentions of the dog who is chasing him.
• Atheniensis et Thebanus, the Athenian and the Theban debate the merits of their respective gods, Theseus and Hercules.
• Equus et Homo, the horse rebukes the man who sells his barley.

I've picked out my favorite one, the story of the Boeotian's riposte to the Athenian, Atheniensis et Thebanus, to share with you here in the blog - again, it's a bit on the long side, but well worth reading!

Cīvis Athēniēnsis cum Thēbānō cīve viam carpēbat commūniter et, ut fit, confābulābātur; sermoque cum flueret, ad hērōās usque dēlapsus est: prōlixum quidem cēterō argūmentum, nec necessārium. Tandem Thēbānus nātum Alcmēnae hominum maximum et nunc deōrum quoque esse praedicābat. Quī autem Athēnīs oriundus multō praestantiōrem Thēseum fuisse repōnēbat, cum sortem vēre dīvīnam esset sortītus, servīlem Hercules. Et ita locūtus vincēbat; disertus enim fuit rhētor. Alter vērō, nōn aequā, quippe Boeōtus, ōrātōriae concertātiōnis arte pollēns, rūdā Mūsā dixit: Dēsine. Vincis. Igitur nōbīs Thēseus īrāscātur, Athēniēnsibus Hercules."

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 Sape et tace (English: Be wise and be silent).

3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Exercitatio potest omnia (English: Practice accomplishes everything).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Mos est stultorum reprehendere facta bonorum (English: It is the custom of fools to criticize good people's deeds - see, in this regard, the fable of Momus cited above!).

Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Ego dico vobis: non resistere malo ((Matt. 5:39). 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: Crocodili lacrimae: Crocodiles teares. A proverbe applied unto them which hating an other man, whom they woulde destroye or have destroyed, they will seme to be sorye for hem. It ys taken of the propertie of Crocodilus the monstre, who beholding a man comming whom he would devoure weepeth, and after he hath eaten the bodye, he washeth the head with his teares and then eateth it also.

Today's Poem: Today's poem is one of those elegant epigrams by Owen (4.190), with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:

Virtutem genii duo semper in orbe sequuntur,
Hic bonus, ille malus, || gloria et invidia.

English: "There are two guardian spirits that always follow excellence in this world, one good, and the other bad - they are renown and envy." So true: anyone who achieves fame in this world must bear the burden of jealouy, too.

Today's image is an illustration for the fable of the cowherd in pursuit of a lion, Bubulcus et Taurus Amissus - look closely and you'll see the cowherd terrified by his own success in tracking down the predator: