Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Latin Proverbs and Fables Round-Up: April 2

Here is a round-up of today's proverbs and fables - and for previous posts, check out the Bestiaria Latina Blog archives. If you have not downloaded a free PDF copy of Brevissima: 1001 Tiny Latin Poems, it's ready and waiting.

HODIE (Roman Calendar): ante diem quartum Nonas Apriles.

MYTHS and LEGENDS: The art image for today's legend shows Penelope, Laertes and Telemachus; you can also see the legends for the current week listed together here.


TODAY'S MOTTOES and PROVERBS:

TINY PROVERBS: Today's tiny proverb is: Secura frugalitas (English: Being frugal is without worry).

3-WORD MOTTOES: Today's 3-word verb-less motto is Audacter et aperte (English: Boldly and openly).

ANIMAL PROVERBS: Today's animal proverb is Cochlea consiliis, in factis esto volucris (English: Be a snail in your planning and swift as a bird in your deeds).

POLYDORUS: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Ad Calendas Graecas (English: On the Greek Calends - which is to say: never... because it is the Roman calendar that has Calends; the Greek calendar has no such date).

PROPER NAME PROVERBS: Today's proper name proverb from Erasmus is Evitata Charybdi in Scyllam incidi (English: Having avoided Charybdis, I've fallen into Scylla; from Adagia 1.5.4).

GREEK PROVERBS: Today's proverb is Ἐκ τῶν ὀνύχων τὸν λέοντα (English: By the claws we know the lion).

BREVISSIMA: The distich poster for today is Spes Me Erigit. Click here for a full-sized view.


And here are today's proverbial LOLcats:




TODAY'S FABLES:

FABULAE FACILES: The fable from the Fabulae Faciles widget is Milvus, Rex Electus, the sad story of the chicks who elected the kite as their king (this fable has a vocabulary list).

MILLE FABULAE: The fable from the Mille Fabulae et Una widget is Canis et Paterfamilias Indignatus, the story of the farmer who forgot to lock the henhouse, and then blamed the dog for his mistake!

Rusticus et Canis

GreekLOLz - and Latin and English, too. Below is one of my GreekLOLz; for the individual Greek, Latin and English versions of the graphic, see the blog post; the words allude to the fable of Mercury and the Fishermen: Αὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίετε. Ipsi testudines edite. Eat the turtles yourselves.