Sunday, November 6, 2011

Round-Up: November 6

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.

HODIE: ante diem octavum Idus Novembres.

OWEN'S EPIGRAMS: The two new Owen epigrams, with Harvey's English versions, are Adverbia Christiana and Adulator et Invidus.

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is Hannibal et Decem Captivi, a thought-provoking anecdote about prisoners of war in the Second Punic War.

SCALA SAPIENTIAE: Today you can find sayings that go up to Diederich frequency ranking 166 - so the proverbs contain nothing but words found among the 166 most commonly used words in Latin. Here is one of the items in today's list: Ne ignem ad ignem, "Don't (add) fire to fire."

VERBUM WIDGET: The word from the daily widget is AMBULO - which also has a brief essay at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in that essay: Tu dormis, et tempus ambulat, "You are sleeping, and time is on the move."

FABULAE FACILES: The NEW easy-to-read fable is Vulpes et Uva, the famous fable of the sour grapes.

FABULAE FACILES WIDGET: The fable from the Fabulae Faciles widget is Mors et Pauper, the story of the poor man who thought he wanted to die... but he was wrong about that.

MILLE FABULAE: The "chunk" of Mille Fabulae et Una today is Fable 1 through Fable 10, including Leo et Equus, the story of how the horse outwitted Dr. Lion.

NEW MILLE FABULAE: The NEW fables with images are Columba et Lupus, a story about the mutual insults exchanged between the dove and the wolf, and Columbae Duae, Maritus et Uxor, the sad story of a fatal misunderstanding between Mr. and Mrs. Dove.

MILLE FABULAE WIDGET: The fable from the Mille Fabulae et Una widget is Vulpes et Vermiculus , a "physician, heal thyself" type of fable.

GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Ritz's Florilegium Adagiorum et Sententiarum and Ray's Compleat Collection of English Proverbs.

TODAY'S MOTTOES & PROVERBS: Widgets available at Schoolhouse Widgets.

Tiny Mottoes: Today's tiny motto is: Meliora spero (English: I hope for better things).

3-Word Proverbs Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Ad Graecas calendas (English: On the Greek calends - which is to say, when hell freezes over!)

Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Qui gladio ferit, gladio perit (English: He who wounds by the sword, dies by the sword). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Maxims of Publilius Syrus: Today's proverb from Publilius Syrus is: Improbe Neptunum accusat, qui iterum naufragium facit (English: It's dishonest to blame Neptune for the second shipwreck).

Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is Asinus portans mysteria (English: The donkey carrying the icons; from Adagia 2.2.4).

In honor of that Erasmus proverb, here is the fable version: 249. Asinus Res Sacras Portans. Asinus quidam res sacras portabat, ratus sese venerari homines. Itaque erectus incedebat, tamquam sibi tus illud atque carmina acciperet. Cuius errorem cum mox vidit aliquis, “Mi asine,” inquit, “istam vanitatem tibi excute. Non te, sed istas res sacras caerimoniis colunt; isti divo haec religio debetur.” (source)

Asinus Sacra Portans