Round-Up: May 6

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: pridie Nonas Maias. 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:

• Vulpes et Gallus Callidus, a great story about a rooster who outfoxed a fox.
• Asinus, Canis et Lupus, funny story about a dog who is disappointed by his donkey ally.
• Grammaticus et Asinus, the story of a man who promised to teach a donkey to read.
• Pastores, the wolf's rebuke to the shepherds for enjoying just what he wants to enjoy, too - a lamb supper.
• Mors et Rusticus, the farmer who thought, at least briefly, that he wanted to die.

I've picked out my favorite one, the story of the useless donkey, Asinus, Canis et Lupus, to share with you here in the blog:

Canis molossus cognoscēns sē lupō, cum quō magnās exercēbat inimīcitiās, imparem, statuit aliquem sibi socium adsciscere, ut mūtuō auxiliō lupum superāret. Vidēns autem asinum lupō vōcāliōrem, māiōrem clītellīsque velut thōrāce armātum, magnāsque pilās pōdice cum magnō tonītrū ēmittentem, ratus est eum strēnuum esse bellātōrem. Quārē contractā societāte, lupum ad pugnam prōvocāvit. Sed ubī ad prīmum lupī cōnspectum asinum fugientem vīdit, nīlque aliud quam inconditōs clāmōrēs et magnōs ventris crepitūs ēdentem, ipse quoque fugiēns, socium in ipsā pugnā dēseruit, pābulum lupō, vulturibusque futūrum.

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 Ne cede malis (English: Yield not to evils).

3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Sol omnibus lucet (English: The sun shines on everyone - a simple physical truth, and a powerful metaphysical symbol!).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Saepe ferox iuvenem mors rapit ante senem (English: Cruel death often snatches the young man before the old).

Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos (Matt. 8:22). 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: Nostris ipsorum alis capimur: We be taken with our own fethers. This Proverbe riseth of the fable that sheweth howe the Egle which was striken through with an arow, whan she sawe the arowe made of birdes fethers, wherewith she was wounded, said, Wee be now caught not of others, but even of our owne fethers. It is applied uppon them, which minister the occasion of theyr owne mischiefe and trouble, like to the English Proverbe, he hath made a rod for his owne arse.

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

Quisquis amat ranam, ranam putat esse Dianam,
Quisquis amat cervam, cervam putat esse Minervam.

English: "Whoever loves a frog thinks that his frog is the goddess Diana; whoever loves a doe thinkgs that his doe is the goddess Minerva." Well, as you can see, without the rhyme it doesn't work so well - but with the rhyme, it's very cute!

For an image today, here is an illustration for the story of Death and the peasant, Mors et Rusticus: