Latin Proverbs and Fables Round-Up: July 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 quintum decimum Kalendas Augustas.

MYTHS and LEGENDS: The art image for today's legend shows Odysseus and Circe; 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: Aedificate alterutrum! (English: Sustain one another!).

3-WORD MOTTOES: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Libertas in legibus (English: In law, liberty).

ANIMAL PROVERBS: Today's animal proverb is Currens per prata, non est lepus esca parata (English: As it runs through the fields, the rabbit is not a meal ready-to-eat).

POLYDORUS: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: In domo patris mei, mansiones multae sunt (English: In my father's house, there are many mansions).

PROPER NAME PROVERBS: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Ne e quovis ligno Mercurius fiat (English: You can't make a statue of Mercury out of just any block of wood; from Adagia 2.5.47).

GREEK PROVERBS: Today's proverb is Πρὸ τὰς νίκης ᾄδεις ἐγκώμιον (English: You're singing the victory song before the victory).

BREVISSIMA: The distich poster for today is Mortis Metus. 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 Asinus et Grammaticus, a hilarious little story about a donkey learning his letters (this fable has a vocabulary list).

MILLE FABULAE: The fable from the Mille Fabulae et Una widget is Feles et Gallinae, a story about a cat who pretended to be a doctor.

Greek Bible Art - and Latin and English, too. Below is one of my Greek Bible Art graphics; for the individual Greek, Latin and English versions of the graphic, see the blog post: ἐγὼ τὸ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ ὦ, ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος. Ego sum alpha et omega, primus et novissimus. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

Myth and Folklore Books. I'm accumulating some book recommendations for the classes I teach and wanted to share them here. Today's book is Curious Myths of the Middle Ages by Sabine Baring-Gould. This is a free Amazon Kindle eBook, and you don't need a Kindle to read it - you can read Kindle books on any computer or mobile device, or you can use the Amazon Cloud Reader in your browser.