Thursday, December 2, 2010

Round-Up: December 2

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. I'm Twittering again now at Aesopus and AesopusEnglish.

HODIE: ante diem quartum Nonas Decembres (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).

HOLIDAY SONGS: The Latin holiday songs for today are: O Hanukkah, a Latin version of "The Hanukkah Song" in honor of the beginning of Hanukkah, along with O Abies, a Latin version of "O Christmas Tree," and Resonet in Laudibus.

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is REGNUM - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Peritura regna omnia, "All kingdoms are going to pass away."

FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Rusticus et Coluber, a story of how no good deed goes unpunished.

BESTIARIA PROVERBS: There are some new animal proverbs today for COLUMBA, the dove, and BUBO, the owl.

MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is Lupus et Pastor, Compatres, the story of a foolish shepherd and his "compadre," the wolf. (You can also a free PDF copy of the Mille Fabulae et Una book - and there's an English fable of the day, too.)

AESOP SLIDESHOW: Today's Aesop slideshows are Vulpes et Asinus Pelle Leonis Indutus, the donkey in the lion's skin, and Vultures, Leo, et Aper, in which the vultures take an interest in the quarrel between the lion and the boar. (For all the Aesop images, visit Flickr.

TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at SchoolhouseWidgets.com.

3-Word Mottoes: Today's 3-word motto is Tempus fugit, utere (English: Time flies; make use of it - a good saying to keep in mind as the end of the year approaches!).

3-Word Proverbs: Today's 3-word proverb is Oportet adiuvare amicos (English: You should help your friends).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb with rhyme is: Ex minimo crescit, sed non cito fama quiescit (English: From a tiny thing the rumor grows, but it does not quickly come to rest).

Vulgate Verse: Today's verse is Bonorum laborum gloriosus est fructus (Wisdom 3:15). For a translation, check out the polyglot Bible, in English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek, at the Sacred Texts Archive online.

Elizabethan Proverb Commentary: Here is today's proverb commentary, this time by Taverner: Cibum in matellam ne immittas: Put not meat into a pispot. Plutarche expoudeth this saying thus. Cast not good sentences into the minde of a wicked person. So that it is all one in effecte with that sayeng of Christ. Cast not perles afore swine. For speeche is the meat of the minde. But this meate is corrupted and doth putrifie, if it fal into an unsounde minde.

Today's Poem: Today's poem is from the rhyming proverbs collected by Wegeler, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:
Vivamus puri, quasi simus cras morituri,
Discamus veluti simus de tempore tuti.
English: "Let us live a blameless life as if we were going to die tomorrow; let us keep learning as if we were safe from time." This is a wonderful saying: learning is a very optimistic undertaking, but we also need to keep in mind that memento mori, too. Compare also the motto above: Tempus fugit, utere. I definitely prefer to use my available time in learning! :-)

Today's image is a wonderful illustration for the fable of the fox and the donkey in the lion's skin: 56. Vulpes et Asinus Pelle Leonis Indutus. Asinus, pelle leonis indutus, per nemora, reliqua bruta perterrens, vagabatur. Vulpe autem conspecta, ipsi quoque timorem iniicere conatus est. Sed haec, ubi casu eius vocem audivit, “Scias velim,” inquit, “quod et ego te sane pertimuissem, nisi rudentem audivissem.” (source)