Monday, May 18, 2009

Round-Up: May 18

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 quintum decimum Kalendas Iunias. 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 84, which features this saying about not going to extremes: In medio stat veritas (The trust is somewhere in the middle).

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 juridical proverb from today: Falsi testes peiores sunt latronibus (English: False witnesses are worse than thieves).

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Eloquentia sagitta (English: Eloquence is an arrow). To read a brief essay about this proverb and to listen to the audio, visit the Latin Via Proverbs blog.

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is Ubi sunt? (English: Where are they? i.e., where are they now... since all people and things of this world are transitory - here today, gone tomorrow).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is Litteris absentes videmus (English: By means of writing, we see those who are absent - a saying that applies not just to traditional letters, but to email also!).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Ego dico vobis: non resistere malo (Matt. 5:39). 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 Nobilis equus umbra quoque virgae regitur (English: If a horse is well-bred, even the shadow of the stick guides him).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Haudquaquam difficile Atheniensem Athenis laudare (English: It is not at all difficult when you are in Athens to praise an Athenian - a saying attributed to Socrates, which Aristotle cites as a reminder to always know your audience!).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Μὴ πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ (English: Don't add fire to fire). 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 AGRICOLA ET CICONIA (the story of a stork accidentally caught with some geese and cranes). 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.

Florilegium Fabularum: I'm working my way, slowly but surely, through the amazing collection of fables by Irenaeus published in 1666. Today's fable is De Hericio et Vipera, the wonderful story of the viper who suffered the painful consequences of having a hedgehog as her houseguest.

CLARKE'S AESOP. Some of you may be familiar with the wonderful Latin textbook of Aesop's fables - Fabulae Aesopi selectae or, Select fables of Aesop: with an English translation, more literal than any yet extant, designed for the readier instruction of beginners in the Latin tongue - published in 1787 in Boston. It's great fun to see just what schoolboys in America were using to learn their Latin in the year 1787! I've taken the page scans from the Internet Archive edition and transcribed the Latin, segmenting it to indicate the natural pauses. For each of the 202 fables, I have provided a link to the page image so that you can see the literal English translation published with the fable - in delightful 18th-century English. Here is where I have put the materials online: Clarke's Aesop. Enjoy!




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