HODIE: ante diem quintum decimum Kalendas Ianuarias, during the festival of Saturnalia! (And yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).
HOLIDAY SONGS: The Latin holiday songs for today are: Heu! quid jaces stabulo, a 15th-century hymn, and also Heri nocte prima, a Latin version of the Polish carol, "A wczoraj z wieczora."
VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is NATURA - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Natura non nisi parendo vincitur, "Nature cannot be defeated except by obeying her."
FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Asinus et Grammaticus, the funny story of the man who says he can teach a donkey to read and write.
BESTIARIA PROVERBS: There are some new animal proverbs today for GALLUS, the rooster, and CORVUS, the crow.
MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is Nux Secundum Viam Sata, the story of the much-abused nut tree. (You can also a free PDF copy of the Mille Fabulae et Una book - and there's an English fable of the day, too.)
AESOP SLIDESHOW: Today's Aesop slideshows are Fur et Mater Eius, the story of the thief who blamed his mother, and Ranae Duae et Puteus, the story of the two frogs, one cautious and one reckless. (For all the Aesop images, visit Flickr.)
GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Whitney's Choice of Emblemes and Faerni Fabulae Centum cum Imaginibus.
TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at SchoolhouseWidgets.com.
Tiny Mottoes: Today's tiny motto is: Ascendo (English: I rise).
3-Word Proverbs Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Sale nihil utilius (English: Nothing is more useful than salt - which is true for food, of course, and also true of the "salt of wit" as well.)
Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Noli irritare leones (English: Do not provoke the lions!). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.
Maxims of Publilius Syrus: Today's proverb from Publilius Syrus is: Necessitati quodlibet telum utile est (English: Necessity makes use of any weapon at hand).
Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is E cantu dignoscitur avis (English: You know the bird by its song; from Adagia 4.2.21).
For an image today, here is an illustration to go with that fable about the teacher and the donkey, 239. Asinus et Grammaticus: Grammaticus quidam gloriabatur adeo in arte sua se excellentem esse ut, si digna daretur merces, non modo pueros, verum etiam asinum docere profiteretur. Princeps, audiens hominis temeritatem, interrogabat eum an si quinquaginta ei daret aureos, intra decennium docere asinum confideret. Respondit vir impudens non recusare se ab eo interimi si hoc spatio temporis asinus ille legere et scribere nesciret. Amici, hoc audientes, admirabantur increpabantque hominem, qui non modo rem arduam atque difficilem, verum etiam impossibilem facere promisisset, timebantque ne exacto hoc tempore a principe occideretur. Quibus ille respondebat, “Antequam hoc tempus elabatur aut asinus morietur, aut princeps, aut ego.” (source - easy version):
