Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Round-Up: November 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.

HODIE: ante diem tertium Idus Novembres. 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 POEM: Here is today's little poem, from the Poetry Widget. Today's verses are from the distichs attributed to Cato, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com as usual:
Successus nolito indigni ferre moleste:
Indulget Fortuna malis, ut vincere possit.
English: "Do not get upset by the successes enjoyed by an unworthy man; Fortune indulges the wicked in order to be able to conquer them." Note the use of that nice future imperative form, nolito. I wish they would give the future imperative a better name: I would happily call it the proverbial imperative, since it is a form you will find often in the proverbs. :-)

TODAY'S TWITTER:

Vita Caesaris: You can see my IVLIVS CAESAR feed with a sentence from Plutarch's Life of Caesar each day in Greek, Latin and English. Today's Latin portion describes the high regard in which Cato was held, forestalling Caesar's actions: sed cum tacitum ire, et non modo optimatibus id dolere factum, sed plebem etiam uerecundia uirtutis Catonis maestam uideret silentemque sequi, ipse clam unum de tribunis exorauit, ut Catonem eriperet.

Proverbiis Pipilo: You can see my Proverbia feed of Latin proverbs which I "tweet" while I am online each day (in English, too). Here's one from today: Nemo cum diabolo iocatur impune (English: No one jokes around with the devil and escapes unharmed).

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 Tanti homo est sine amico, quanti corpus absque spiritu est (English: A person without a friend is worth as much as a body without breath). 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: Benignus etiam causam dandi cogitat (English: The generous man even invents reasons for giving).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb in Leonine verse form is: Non vult scire satur, quid ieiunus patiatur (English: The well-fed man does not want to know what the hungry man feels).

Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Pullus de nido avolat (English: The chick flies away from the nest... although in human terms, a lot of people sure are living with their parents these days!).

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Cave paratus (English: Be ready and beware! - note the nice use of the participle together with the imperative; literally, "having readied yourself, beware").

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Credula res amor (English: Love is a gullible thing - and thus quite different from the English truism that love is a "many-splendored thing").

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Laetare, iuvenis, in adulescentia tua (Ecc. 11:9). 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 Qui dat gallinam, aliquando recipit bovem (English: Someone who gives a hen every once in a while receives an ox ... and, of course, you probably don't literally want an ox, but metaphorically it's a fine very generous return!).

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb is In saltu uno duos apros capere (English: To catch two boars in a single copse; from Adagia 3.6.63).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's proper name proverb is Cadmea victoria (English: A Cadmean victory; from Adagia 2.8.34 - this is a victory obtained at a great loss, referring to the men who sprang from the dragon teeth sown by Cadmus; they all attacked one another with savage ferocity so that in the end only a few were left to enjoy the victory).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Μισῶ μνάμονα συμπόταν (English: I hate a drinking companion who has a good memory).

TODAY'S FABLES:

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE URSO ET ALVEARI, the story of a very angry bear and some equally angry bees.

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Leo et Mus, a version of the story of the lion who did a favor for a mouse, and how the mouse returned the favor. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) by Aractingy:





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