Friday, December 3, 2010

Round-Up: December 3

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 tertium Nonas Decembres (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).

HOLIDAY SONGS: The Latin holiday songs for today are: Angeli Canunt Praecones, a Latin version of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," along with Silentio noctis, a Latin version of the Polish carol, "Wśród nocnej ciszy."

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is THESAURUS - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Thesauri absconditi nulla est utilitas, "A hidden treasure has no use."

FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Simius et Circulator, the story of the monkey who gave up his freedom for some fancy clothes!

BESTIARIA PROVERBS: There are some new animal proverbs today for APES, the bee, and COCHLEA, the snail.

MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is one of my personal favorites Cera Lateri Invidens, the story of the wax who envied the brick. See the bottom of the post for a great illustration of this story! (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 Cornicula et Ovis, the story of the crow and the sheep, and Simius et Fabri, the monkey and the carpenters - another story where things do not turn out well for the ambitious monkey! (For all the Aesop images, visit Flickr).

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

Tiny Mottoes: Today's tiny motto is: Tuebor (English: I will keep protect).

3-Word Proverbs Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Optima medicina temperantia (English: Moderation is the best medicine)

Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Primordia cuncta pavida sunt (English: All beginnings are frightening). 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: Effugere cupiditatem regnum est vincere (English: To escape desire is to conquer a kingdom).

Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is Quam curat testudo muscam (English: As much as a turtle worries about a fly; from Adagia 2.8.100 - of course, given its shell, a turtle is not bothered by a fly at all).

Here is a marvelous illustration by Grandville for that fable of the wax: 753. Cera Lateri Invidens. Cera, videns se mollem et tractabilem, nimis dolebat conditionis suae vicem cupiebatque lateris cocti soliditate donari. Quod ut consequeretur, iecit se in fornacem ardentem. Sed, momento liquefacta et igne consumpta, documento fuit quemque in suo statu manere debere nec appetere quod sibi a Natura fuit negatum. (source)

Cera