Latin Proverbs and Fables Round-Up: June 18

Here is a round-up of today's proverbs and fables - and for previous posts, check out the Bestiaria Latina Blog archives. If you have not downloaded a free PDF copy of Brevissima: 1001 Tiny Latin Poems, it's ready and waiting, as is Mille Fabulae et Una: 1001 Aesop's Fables in Latin. If you prefer the heft of a book in your hand, you can get the books in printed form from Lulu.com.

HODIE (Roman Calendar): ante diem quartum decimum Kalendas Iulias.

MYTHS and LEGENDS: The art image for today's legend shows Hylas and the Nymphs; you can also see the legends for the current week listed together here.

TODAY'S MOTTOES and PROVERBS:

TINY PROVERBS: Today's tiny proverb is: Datum serva (English: Preserve what is given to you).

3-WORD MOTTOES: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Virtus propter se (English: Excellence for its own sake).

ANIMAL PROVERBS: Today's animal proverb is Sicut canis ad Nilum, bibens et fugiens (English: Like a dog at the Nile, drinking and fleeing - an allusion to the famous Aesop's fable).

POLYDORUS: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Dei laneos pedes habent (English: The gods have feet of wool - which is to say, you don't hear them coming).

PROPER NAME PROVERBS: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Aegypti nuptiae (English: The wedding rites of Aegyptus; from Adagia 3.1.3 - this refers to any tragic and unlucky event, like the sad wedding when King Aegyptus married off his fifty sons to the fifty daughters of his brother, Danaus, whereupon all the sons but one were murdered by the Danaides).

GREEK PROVERBS: Today's proverb is Δυεῖν ἐπιθυμήσας, οὐδετέρου ἔτυχες (English: Wanting to grasp both, you managed to get neither).

BREVISSIMA: The distich poster for today is Parentum Errata. Click here for a full-sized view; the poem has a vocabulary list and an English translation, too.

And here are today's proverbial LOLcats:

TODAY'S FABLES:

FABULAE FACILES: The fable from the Fabulae Faciles widget is Accipiter Columbam Insequens, in which the tables are turned on a ruthless hawk (this fable has a vocabulary list).

MILLE FABULAE: The fable from the Mille Fabulae et Una widget is Oves Timidae et Pastor, a funny story about a shepherd trying to infuse some bravery into his flock of sheep.

GreekLOLz - and Latin and English, too. Below is one of my GreekLOLz; for the individual Greek, Latin and English versions of the graphic, see the blog post: Ἀρχὴ ἥμισυ παντός. Principium dimidium totius. To start is half of the whole.