HODIE: pridie Idus Decembres.
GAUDIUM MUNDO: Here are some Latin holiday songs for you to enjoy - Musicus Parvulus (a Latin version of "Little Drummer Boy"), Avia Renone Calcabatur (not one but two Latin versions of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"), and Personent Hodie (a medieval Latin hymn for the season).
MYTHS & LEGENDS: The art image for today's legend shows Menelaus and Hector fighting over the corpse of Euphorbus; you can also see the legends for the current week listed together here.
OWEN'S EPIGRAMS: The two new Owen epigrams, with Harvey's English versions, are Nemo Laeditur Nisi A Seipso, Criminis est nemo, nemo discriminis expers; / Nos in discrimen crimina nempe vocant; and Exercitus, Gens ingens fidei malefida, immanis, amansque / Caedis, et humano sanguine tincta manus. (They each come a vocabulary list!)
CAMERARIUS'S EMBLEMS: The two new emblems are Morte Medetur, Vivens mortem homini instillo, moriensque medelam: / Quam mira alternant vitaque morsque vice! (the emblem features a scorpion), and Saevit In Omnes, Plures lutra necat pisces, quam condat in alvum: / Sic rabie tumidus saeva tyrannus agit. (These have vocabulary too!)
VERBUM WIDGET: The word from the daily widget is VENIO - which also has a brief essay at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in that essay: Multi ad fatum venere suum, dum fata timent, "Many people have come to their fatal end while they fear their fate."
GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Keith-Falconer's Kalilah and Dimnah and Bent's Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men .
TODAY'S FABLES & STORIES:
ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Utrum Anchilles an Homerus , which is Themistocles' reply to the question about whether he would prefer to have been Achilles or Homer.
FABULAE FACILES: The NEW easy-to-read fable is Apes et Pastor, a story about the high price the shepherd would have to pay for his honey (and the fable comes with a vocabulary list).
FABULAE FACILES WIDGET: The fable from the Fabulae Faciles widget is Corvus Aquilam Imitans, the story of the crow inspired to act like an eagle (this one also has a vocabulary list).
MILLE FABULAE: The "chunk" of Mille Fabulae et Una today is Fable 151 through Fable 160, including Cervus et Amici Eius, the story of the stag whose friends were worse than enemies.
NEW MILLE FABULAE: The NEW fables with images are Arbores Duae, a fable about the dangers of overprotective nurturing, and Rosa et Amarantus, a story about the rose's brief beauty.
MILLE FABULAE WIDGET: The fable from the Mille Fabulae et Una widget is Testudo et Iuppiter, the story of the turtle who was late for Jupiter's wedding.
AESOP IN ENGLISH VERSE: Today's fable from the English verse widget is The Captured Weasel, a fable that dates back to Roman times, when the Romans kept weasels around the house to control the mice, before people started keeping cats.
TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS:
Tiny Proverbs: Today's tiny proverb is: Fluctus numeras (English: You are counting the waves - one of those proverbial fool's errands).
3-Word Mottoes Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Absque virtute nihil (English: Without excellence, nothing).
Latin Animal Proverb: Today's animal proverb is Fele absente, mures choreas ducunt (English: When the cat is away, the mice dance).
Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Leges bonae ex malis moribus procreantur (English: Good laws are born of bad habits).
Proper Name Proverb from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Harmodii cantilena (English: The song of Harmodius; from Adagia 2.10.93 - this refers to something utterly sad, such as the song Aristogeiton sang upon the death of his lover Harmodius, before he, too, died in the famous assassination attempt on the tyrants Hippias and Hipparchus).
Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Τέφραν φεύγων, εἰς ἀνθρακιὰν ἔπεσον (English: Fleeing the ashes, I fell into the hot coals).
For an image today, here is that ambitious crow: 431. Corvus Aquilam Imitans. Aquila, celsa de rupe devolans, agnum e grege eripuit. Quod cum corvus videt, aemulatione movetur. Vehementi strepitu, in arietem irruit atque ungues in vellere ita implicat ut se iam motu alarum nequeat explicare. Hunc pastor videns, prehendit; pennis alarum succisis, pueris praebet ludibrio. Ingemens, corvus secum ait, “Hei mihi! Prius, aquilam me esse putavi; nunc vero, me corvum esse cognosco.” (source - easy version)
