Sunday, March 22, 2009

Round-Up: March 22

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 undecimum Kalendas Apriles. 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 PODCAST:

Heri Hodie Cras Podcast: Today's audio podcast is Latin Via Proverbs: Group 35, which features this fine saying about the "cosmopolitan" person: Omne solum viro patria est (For a real man, every land is a homeland - careful with solum, which is a neuter second-declension noun here).

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.

Proverbiis Pipilo: You can see my Twitter feed of Latin proverbs which I "tweet" while I am online each day (in English, too). Here's a recent one from the Bible: Si regnum in se dividatur, non potest stare regnum illud (English: If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand).

Audio Latin Proverbs: I've added a NEW blog essay and audio for this Latin proverb: Agnos lupi vorant (The wolves devour the lambs), which is a great little example of the freedom of Latin word, with stylistic options that are just not available in English.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is Momo mordacior (English: More biting than Momus - and you can read about the mythological Momus in this great Aesop's fable about Momus criticizing the inventions of the gods themselves).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is Malleus sapientior manubrio (English: The hammer is wiser than the handle - a saying found in the Roman comic playwright Plautus).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Qui festinus est, pedibus offendit (Proverbs 19:2). 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 Veneri suem immolavit (English: He offered a pig to Venus/Aphrodite - a big mistake, since Aphrodite was famous for her hatred of the pig family, allegedly because her lover Adonis was killed by a wild boar).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Diomedis et Glauci permutatio (English: An exchange of Diomedes and Glaucus - an allusion to the famous incident in Homer's Iliad, when the Greek Diomedes and the Trojan ally Glaucus acknowledged their ancestral connections on the battlefield and exchanged gifts - but Diomedes gave only a bronze gift in exchange for the gift of gold from Glaucus, hence the full force of the saying: in this exchange, Diomedes came out way ahead!).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Προβάτων οὐδὲν ὄφελος, ἐὰν ποιμὴν ἀπῇ (English: The sheep are not any use, if the shepherd is gone). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow's Aesop is DE ASINO LEONIS PELLE INDUTO (the story of the donkey who pretended to be a lion). You can use the Javascript to include the fable of the day automatically each day on your webpage or blog - meanwhile, to find out more about today's fable, visit the Ning Resource Page for this fable, where you will find links to the text, commentary, and a discussion board for questions and comments.

Latin Via Fables: Simplified Fables: I'm now presenting the "Barlow Aesop" collection, fable by fable, in a SIMPLIFIED version (same story, but in simpler sentences) - with a SLIDESHOW presentation to go along with it, too. Today's Simplified fable is De Cane Vetulo et Magistro, the story of the old dog who was no longer able to hunt. If you look carefully at the picture, you can see the stag that the dog let get away!




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