Round-Up: August 13

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.

For the next couple weeks, I'm really busy trying to get my courses retooled for the Fall semester, so the Bestiaria blog will be on the short side. I should be able to get back up to speed later in the month:

HODIE: Idus Augustae, the Ides of August! You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is O quantum est in rebus inane! (English: Oh how much trivial stuff there is in the world!). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Intellegenti pauca (English: A few things for someone who understands - a variation on the famous dictum, "a word to the wise is enough").

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Mortui non dolent (English: The dead do not suffer).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Unus introitus est omnibus ad vitam, et similis exitus (Wisdom 7:6). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day: Today's animal proverb is Equo ne credite, Teucri! (English: Don't trust the horse, O Trojans... and that would be the wooden horse, of course!).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Fuimus Troes (English: We were the Trojans... what you might call the pathetic use of the perfect tense, sad words from Vergil's Aeneid).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Γνῶμαι πλέων κρατοῦσιν ἢ σθένος χερῶν (English: Reasoning abilities are far more powerful than the strength of the hands). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Milvus Aegrotus, the story of the kite's deathbed repentance.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is De Lupo et Sue, the wolf's false offer of friendship to the pregnant sow.

Tar Heel Readers: Materials continue to accumulate at Tar Heel Reader (keep up with the latest items at the Libelli Latini blog). Today I decided to feature Gallus et Gemma, the story of the rooster who found a jewel in the manure.

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Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.

Round-Up: August 12

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.

For the next couple weeks, I'm really busy trying to get my courses retooled for the Fall semester, so the Bestiaria blog will be on the short side. I should be able to get back up to speed later in the month:

HODIE: pridie Idus Augustas. You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Vacuum vas altius pleno vaso resonat (English: An empty pot makes a deeper noise than a pot that is full). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Cicatrix manet (English: The scar remains... even after the wound is healed!).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Fama crescit eundo (English: Rumor grows as it goes along - making wonderful use of the Latin gerund!).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Verba sapientium sicut stimuli. (Ecc. 12:11). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day: Today's animal proverb is Dum felis dormit, mus gaudet et exsilit antro (English: While the cat is sleeping, the mouse rejoices and leaps out of his mousehole).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Cyclopica vita (English: The life of a Cyclops - which is to say, an uncivilized, primitive life, like that of the notorious Polyphemus).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Κατόπιν ἑορτῆς ἥκεις (English: You've arrived after the festival... in other words: you've shown up after the party is over!). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is De Aucupe et Perdice, the story of a partridge willing to do anything to save her life!

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Asinus in Pelle Leonis Indutus, a wonderfully succinct version of this famous story! Here is an illustration for the story (image source) by Aractingy - look closely for the hidden donkey:

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Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.

Round-Up: August 11

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.

For the next couple weeks, I'm really busy trying to get my courses retooled for the Fall semester, so the Bestiaria blog will be on the short side. I should be able to get back up to speed later in the month:

HODIE: ante diem tertium Idus Augustas. You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Nummis potior amicus in periculis (English: A friend is preferable to cash in times of trouble). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Lauda finem (English: Praise the end - a line you can find in Mozart's Così fan tutte).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Amor tollit timorem (English: Love removes fear).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Sine ut mortui sepeliant mortuos suos (Luke 9:60). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day: Today's animal proverb is Qualis erus, talis et canis (English: Like the master, so too his dog).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Vincere scis, Hannibal, victoria uti nescis! (English: You know how to win, Hannibal; you don't know how to use victory - the words of Maharbal, Hannibal's cavalry commander, as reported by Livy).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Δρυὸς πεσούσης, πᾶς ἀνὴρ ξυλεύεται (English: When the oak has fallen, every man can cut wood). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Tubicen Captivus, the story of the trumpeter captured in war.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is De Vitula et Bove, the story of the carefree heifer who came to a bad end. You can see her being sacrificed if you look closely at the picture, up the upper right corner (larger view).

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Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.

Aesop's Crow in the News

Here's a special edition of Bestiaria Latina in honor of Aesop's fabled crow which has been very much in the news all over the world! For the past few days, my email inbox has been bursting with people sending me copies of the news report about some now very famous rooks. At last count, GoogleNews listed 198 online news articles about these remarkable birds. Here's the YouTube video for those of you who have not seen it:



The intelligent rooks. Scientists created a kind of intelligence test for these rooks: in order to get food out of a narrow-mouthed beaker containing both food and water, the rooks had to drop stones into the beaker to raise the water level, allowing them to reach the food. Not only did the rooks figure out that they needed to drop stones into the beaker, they even figured out that dropping in larger stones would help them accomplish the task faster. You can read a more detailed account in the New York Times online.

The Aesop's fable. In the traditional Aesop's fable the crow is thirsty, rather than hungry, and is dropping stones into a jar in order to take a drink by raising the water level. The story is well-represented in the long-lived Latin tradition of Aesop's fables thanks to the fact that the story was included by Avianus in his verse collection of fables. You can find links to about a dozen different Latin versions of the fable here; a version of the story appears as Fable #5 in my recent book of Aesop's fables in Latin.

The natural history tradition. The story is an unusual Aesop's fable, in that the crow does not speak. Instead, she seems to behave like a real crow, very much like the rooks in the experiment. Usually the animals in Aesop's fables are highly anthropomorphic creatures, but this fable has the feel of a natural history anecdote. In fact, the story of crows performing such a feat shows up in the natural history writings of Plutarch (De Sollertia Animalium X), Aelian (De Natura Animal. II.48) and Pliny (Nat. Hist. X.125: tradendum putavere memoriae quidam [corvus], visum per sitim lapides congerentem in situlam monimenti, in qua pluvia aqua durabat, sed quae attingi non posset; ita descendere paventem expressisse tali congerie quantum poturo sufficeret). So, while we cannot be certain, it seems most likely that the story began as a natural history anecdote, based on observation of an actual bird, and it then changed over time into a fable.

From natural history to fable. So, what makes the story we find in Aesop's fables something that deserves to be called a fable? Here is the crucial detail: the fable emphasizes the fact that the bird initially makes a MISTAKE, which is the hallmark of an Aesop's fable (whenever you read an Aesop's fable, a good question to ask yourself is just which character in the story has made a foolish mistake; the moral almost always hinges on that mistake and its correction or its punishment). So, at first, the crow thinks, mistakenly, that she can get to the water by using force. Only after she fails to accomplish the task by force does she use her intelligence instead. Hence the moral of the story: Intelligence succeeds where brute force fails. The bird makes a mistake, learns from her mistake, and finally gets the drink of water, thanks to her intelligence and persistence.

Read the story in simple Latin. Below you will find a very simple version of the story in Latin, in the form of an illustrated slideshow. If you are reading this via email, you probably cannot see the slideshow, so just click on this link to the full-screen version of the slideshow online. This slideshow is taken from a Tar Heel Reader, and you can see other versions of the story at Tar Heel Reader, including a bilingual Latin-English version. Enjoy!



A version of the story in English. For a version in English, here's a lovely limerick from Baby's Own Aesop (1887), illustrated by none other than Walter Crane!

How the cunning old Crow got his drink
When 'twas low in the pitcher, just think!
Don't say that he spilled it!
With pebbles he filled it,
Till the water rose up to the brink.

MORAL: USE YOUR WITS

Notice that here the story of the wise crow is paired with the story of a foolish crow, who makes the mistake of trying to imitate an eagle! (larger view of the image)

Round-Up: August 9

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.

For the next couple weeks, I'm really busy trying to get my courses retooled for the Fall semester, so the Bestiaria blog will be on the short side. I should be able to get back up to speed later in the month:

HODIE: ante diem quintum Idus Augustas. You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Multae manus onus levant (English: Many hands lighten the load). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Arenis sitientior (English: More thirsty than the sands - the sand being proverbially thirsty!).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Cuncta docet necessitas (English: Necessity teaches all things... something like the English saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention").

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Si potes credere, omnia possibilia credenti (Mark 9:23). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day: Today's animal proverb is Agnos lupi vorant (English: Wolves devour the lambs... which is the way of the world, alas for the lambs).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Numquid et Saul inter prophetas? (English: Surely Saul too is not one of the prophets? - a wonderful use of Latin numquid to describe people's amazed reaction to the scene in I Samuel 10, when the spirit of prophecy comes upon Saul).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Μὴ λόγους ἀντ' ἀλφίτων (English: Don't offer words in place of barley - in other words, if somebody is hungry, he needs food, not a discussion). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Rusticus et Silva, a wonderful fable about how we can be our own worst enemies, putting weapons in the hands of those who want to do us wrong.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is De Vulpe et Lupo, a story of a wolf who is offering "words instead of barley," to speak, when the fox is trapped down in a well.

Tar Heel Readers: Materials continue to accumulate at Tar Heel Reader (keep up with the latest items at the Libelli Latini blog). Today I decided to feature Octoginta et Octo Astra, a true magnum opus by Karen Budde, which does indeed describe 88 different constellations in Latin!

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Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.

Round-Up: August 8

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.

For the next couple weeks, I'm really busy trying to get my courses retooled for the Fall semester, so the Bestiaria blog will be on the short side. I should be able to get back up to speed later in the month:

HODIE: ante diem sextum Idus Augustas. You can add a Roman calendar as a widget in your blog or webpage, or display it as a Google Calendar: here's how.

TODAY'S PROVERBS:

You can get access to all the proverb of the day scripts (also available as random proverb scripts) at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website.

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Asinus balneatoris numquam particeps balnei (English: The bathhouse-keeper's donkey never gets to have a bath). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Tecum habita (English: Live with yourself - a nice variation on the more famous, Nosce teipsum, "Know yourself").

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: In libris libertas (English: In books, there is freedom - or, to catch the word-play in Latin, "in libraries there is liberty").

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Qui amat periculum, in illo peribit (Sirach 3:26). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day: Today's animal proverb is Incitas crabrones (English: You're stirring up the wasps... which is definitely not a good thing to be doing!).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Daedali opera (English: Works of Daedalus - a proverbial way to refer to works of great technical ingenuity - you can read more about Daedalus here).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Ὀυκ ἔστι πρὸς δαίμονα φωτὶ μάχεσθαι. (English: It is not for a mortal man to do battle against a spiritual power). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Fable of the Day: Today's fables of the day from Barlow is DE EQUO ET ASINO, the sad story of how the horse refused to help his comrade, the donkey.

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Senex et Mors, the wonderful story of the will to live, no matter what. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) by Aractingy:

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Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.