Thursday, October 27, 2011

Round-Up: October 27

Here is a round-up of today's blog posts - and for previous posts, check out the Bestiaria Latina Blog archives. There are notices also at Twitter - look for Aesopus and AesopusEnglish.

HODIE: ante diem sextum Kalendas Novembres.

OWEN'S EPIGRAMS: The two new Owen epigrams, with Harvey's English versions, are Ad Amicum Divitem and Ad Amicum Avarum.

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Quintus Fabius Maximus, a story about a famous Roman consul, whose father had also been a consul before him - and the privileges of rank.

SCALA SAPIENTIAE: Today you can find sayings that go up to Diederich frequency ranking 154 - so the proverbs contain nothing but words found among the 154 most commonly used words in Latin. Here is one of the items in today's list: Multum legendum, non multa, "Read much - not many" (in other words, it's not the quantity of things you read, but the quality of your reading!).

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's NEW word is IUBEO - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Iubet igitur nos Pythius Apollo noscere nosmet ipsos, "Pythian Apollo therefore commands us to know ourselves."

VERBUM WIDGET: The word from the daily widget is SOL - which also has a brief essay at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in that essay: Cum sol oritur, omnibus oritur, "When the sun rises, it rises for everyone."

FABULAE FACILES: The NEW easy-to-read fable is Canes et Corium, a story about unintended consequences!

FABULAE FACILES WIDGET: The fable from the Fabulae Faciles widget is Feles et Venus, the story of the cat whom Venus turned into a woman!

MILLE FABULAE: ILLUSTRATIONS: The NEW fables with images are Gallus Vulpinam Pellem Fugiens, one of those "once bitten, twice shy" stories, and Columbae et Nisus, the story of the doves who elected the blustering "Duke bird" as their leader.

MILLE FABULAE: ILLUSTRATIONS: The fable from the Mille Fabulae et Una widget is Platanus et Viatores , the story of the plane tree and some ungrateful wayfarers.

GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Fongers' Nova Proverbiorum Farrago and Farrand's Course of Latin Studies.

TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at Schoolhouse Widgets.

Tiny Proverbs: Today's tiny proverb is: Disce gaudere (English: Learn to enjoy).

3-Word Mottoes Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Consilio, non impetu (English: By deliberation, not impulse).

Latin Animal Proverb: Today's animal proverb is Bos currum trahit, non bovem currus (English: The ox pulls the cart, not the cart the ox).

Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Melior est mors, quam vita amara (English: Better is death than a life which is bitter).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Μὴ ὢν Σύρος μὴ Σύριζε (English: If you're not a Syrian, don't play the Syrian - in other words: be yourself).

Proper Name Proverb from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Herculei labores (English: Herculei labores. The labors of Heracles; from Adagia 3.1.1). Below is a famous portrait of Erasmus by Hans Holbein the Younger; along the edge of the book facing the viewer the letters read "The Labors of Heracles" in Greek (ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟΙ ΠΟΝΟΙ = HERAKLEIOI PONOI), alluding to the amazing feats which Erasmus accomplished in his life as a scholar. I thought this would be a good image to include today, since October 27 (or perhaps October 28...) marks Erasmus' birthday in the year 1466. Happy Birthday, Erasmus!