HODIE: ante diem undecimum Kalendas Augustas (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).
LATIN AND ENGLISH FABLES: Here are today's fables in Latin AND English from the English Aesop project.
- The Dog and the Fox Who Played Dead = Canis et Vulpes Mortem Simulans.
- The Devil and the Old Woman = Daemon et Anus.
- The Fish and the Frying Pan = Pisces e Sartagine Exsilientes.
- The Fly and the Chariot = Musca et Quadrigae.
- The Stunted Tree = Arbor Pusilla.
In general when people through their own fault suffer some kind of setback, they say that it is the fault of bad luck or of the Devil, in order to escape being blamed themselves; that's how people take the easy way out. The Devil does not like this at all, so when he saw an old woman who wanted to climb a tree with her shoes on, he realized that she was going to fall out of the tree and put the blame on him, so he summoned some witnesses and said to them, "Observe that old woman who, without any advice from me, is climbing that tree from which I can see that she is going to fall. You are my witnesses that I did not urge her to climb that tree with her shoes on." The old woman soon fell down from the tree and when she was asked why she had climbed a tree with her shoes on, she said, "The Devil made me do it." Then the Devil summoned his witnesses and proved that the old woman had acted on her own, without his advice.TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at SchoolhouseWidgets.com.
Volunt homines ut plurimum, quando sua culpa aliquid sibi acciderit adversi, in Fortunam vel in Daemonem culpam conferre, ut se crimine exuant; adeo omnes sibi indulgent. Hoc Daemon aegre ferens, cum videret anum quandam arborem ascendentem soleatam, ex qua illam ruituram et in se culpam collaturam praeviderat, accitis testibus, dixit, "Videte anum illam absque meo consilio arborem ascendentem, unde eam casuram esse prospicio. Estote mihi testes, me ei non suasisse, ut soleata illuc ascenderet." Mox anus cecidit et, cum interrogaretur cur soleata arborem ascendisset, "Daemon," inquit, "me impulit." Tunc Daemon, adductis testibus, probavit id ab anu absque suo factum esse consilio.
3-Word Mottoes: Today's 3-word motto is Dei sumus adiutores (English: We are God's helpers).
3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Dies diem docet (English: One day teaches another - this is one of those "lifelong-learning" proverbs, and one of my personal favorites, as you can probably guess from all my "___ of the day" widgets!).
Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Sarcina magna nimis asinum prosternit in imis (English: A load that is far too large lays the donkey low - and the fact that this rhymes is probably of little comfort to the poor donkey!).
Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Nemo potest duobus dominis servire (Matt. 6:24). 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: Quod in animo sobrii est, id est in lingua ebrii: The thinge that lieth in a sobre mans harte, is in the tonge of the dronckarde. Dronkenfolke can kepe no counsaile. Wherfore it is wisedome both to kepe thy selt from that vice, lest thou utterest in they dronkenes the thinge, that afterwarde shall repent the, and also not to kepe companie with suchenot to disclose thy hart to them, that be subiecte to this foule vice, leste they happen to tourne the to displeasure.
Today's Poem: Today's poem is from one of the rhymes collected by Wegeler, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:
Si quis ab alterius visu vult tollere labem,English: "If someone wants to remove the blemish in someone else's vision, he must first pull out the beam from his own eyes." The rhyming couplet here is an expansion on the famous saying of Jesus in Matthew: Aut quomodo dicis fratri tuo: Sine eiiciam festucam de oculo tuo, et ecce trabs est in oculo tuo? Hypocrita, eiice primum trabem de oculo tuo, et tunc videbis eiicere festucam de oculo fratris tui.
A propriis primum detrahat ille trabem.
For an image today, here is a picture of a fox playing dead to go with the fable The Dog and the Fox Who Played Dead = Canis et Vulpes Mortem Simulans (image source). Of course, in this image things turn out as the fox wants, making it possible for her to catch a bird to eat. That is not at all what happens in the fable! :-)
