Monday, February 28, 2011

Round-Up: February 28

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: pridie Kalendas Martias (and yes, you can have your own Roman Google Calendar).

VERBUM HODIERNUM: Today's word is POTUS - read a brief essay about the word at the Verbosum blog. Here's one of the sayings you can find in the essay: Ebibe vas totum, si vis cognoscere potum, "Drink the whole jug if you want to know the drink" (a nice rhyming proverb, which can easily be taken both literally and metaphorically!).

BESTIARIA PROVERBS: There are some new animal proverbs today for IUMENTUM , the beast of burden, and CHARADRIUS, the charadrius bird - most famous for its supernatural healing ability: if a charadrius bird looked at a sick person, the person would live (because the charadrius would take the person's illness unto itself), but if the charadrius refused to look at the sick man, that meant the man would die.

PROVERB PODCAST: The latest podcasts are for Litteris absentes videmus, "By means of writing, we see those who are absent," and Libri muti magistri sunt, "Books are silent teachers."

ANECDOTE OF THE DAY: Today's anecdote is a funny little story about Pyrrhus, Rex Epiri, where you can see the king's anger allayed by some quick-witted humor.

FABULAE FACILES: The new easy-to-read fable is Feles et Venus, the hilarious story of a cat who was turned into a woman.

MILLE FABULAE: FABLE OF THE DAY: The fable for today is Cantus Sacerdotis, a wonderful story about a singing priest and a braying donkey. (You can also a free PDF copy of the Mille Fabulae et Una book.)

MILLE FABULAE: ILLUSTRATIONS: The latest fables with images are Canes et Lupi Concolores, a story of how the wolves managed to fool the trusting dogs, and Scarabaeus et Stercus, a story about a dung-beetle who is very happy with his life in the dung.

ENGLISH AESOP: The latest new fables are The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner and The Lark and her Young Ones. (Plus, there's an English "fable of the day" each day, too.)

GOOGLE BOOKS: Today's Google Books are Moore's Porta Latina (the fables of La Fontaine in Latin prose) and Chickering's First Latin Reader, which I've also started transcribing over at the Anecdota blog.

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

Tiny Mottoes: Today's tiny motto is: Semper virens (English: Always flourishing).

3-Word Proverbs Verb-less: Today's 3-word verb-less proverb is Res immoderata cupido (English: Desire is a limitless thing)

Audio Latin Proverb: Today's audio Latin proverb is Alter frenis, alter eget calcaribus (English: One person has need of reins, another of spurs). 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: Qui pote celare vitium, vitium non fugit (English: He who can conceal his bad habit still does not escape it).

Animal Proverb from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb from Erasmus is Talpa caecior (English: More blind than a mole; from Adagia 1.3.55).

For an image today, here is an illustration for the funny story about the singing priest, 866. Cantus Sacerdotis. Sacerdos erat qui vocem asinariam et horribilem habebat et tamen se bene cantare putabat. Cum autem quadam die cantaret, mulier quidem audiens eum plorabat. Sacerdos vero credens quod suavitate vocis suae ad devotionem et lacrimas mulier incitaretur, coepit adhuc altius clamare, at illa coepit magis flere. Tunc sacerdos quaesivit a muliere quare fleret, credens audire quod libenter audiebat, at illa dixit, “Domine, ego sum illa infelix mulier cuius asinum lupus illa die devoravit, et quando vos audio cantare, statim ad memoriam reduco quod asinus meus ita cantare solebat.” (source)

Sacerdos Cantans