Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Round-Up: February 22

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. I'm Twittering again now at Aesopus and AesopusEnglish.

HODIE: ante diem octavum Kalendas Martias (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is REDIMO - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Sicut ager colitur, sic fructibus hic redimitur, "As the field is cultivated, thus is it redeemed by its fruits."

BESTIARIA PROVERBS: There are some new animal proverbs today for FERA, the wild beast, and HYAENA, the hyena.

PROVERB PODCAST: The latest podcasts are for Corrige praeteritum, rege praesens, cerne futurum , "Correct the past, direct the present, detect the future," and Vade ad formicam, o piger, et considera vias eius, et disce sapientiam, "Go to the ant, you lazy-bones, and study her ways, and learn wisdom."

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Simonides of Ceos, who achieved great success in his old age. Of course, Simonides is also featured in some Aesop's fables, too - such as Simonides and the Shipwreck and Simonides and the Twin Gods.

FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Minerva et Naufragus, the story of how the god (or the goddess) helps them that help themselves.

MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is Formica et Columba, the delightful story of friendship between an ant and a dove. (You can also a free PDF copy of the Mille Fabulae et Una book.)

MILLE FABULAE: ILLUSTRATIONS: The latest fables with images are Turdus Visco Captus, the thrush who brought about its own demise, and Canis et Asinus, Epistolam Legentes, the story of the donkey who read a letter to his friend the dog.

ENGLISH AESOP: The latest new fables are The Envious Man and the Miser and The Ape and her Young Ones. (Plus, there's an English "fable of the day" each day, too.)

GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Bennett's Easy Graduated Latin Passages and Walker's New Latin Reader .

TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at SchoolhouseWidgets.com.

Tiny Mottoes: Today's tiny motto is: In sublime (English: Upwards).

3-Word Proverbs Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Iniuriarum remedium oblivio (English: The remedy for injuries is to forget them).

Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Avarum irritat, non satiat pecunia (English: Money provokes the greedy person; it doesn't satisfy him). 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: Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere (English: To accept a favor is to sell your freedom).

Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is Piscis primum a capite foetet (English: The fish starts to stink from the head; from Adagia 4.2.97 - metaphorically, of course, this means that corruption starts from the "top," among the heads of state, those high in power).

For an image today, here is the story of the ant and the dove: 646. Formica et Columba. Formica, sitiens, cum ad fontem descendisset ut biberet, in aquam cecidit nec multum abfuit quin misera periret. Columba quaedam, in arbore sedens, misericordia tacta, ramulum in aquam iniecit. Hunc assecuta est formica, eique innatans, mortem effugit. Paulo post adfuit auceps, qui columbae insidiabatur. Formica, ut piae columbae opem ferret, ad aucupem arrepsit et tam vehementer eum momordit ut harundines prae dolore abiiceret. Columba, strepitu harundinum territa, avolavit ac periculum incolumis evasit. (source)

Formica et Columba