Thursday, May 21, 2009

Round-Up: May 21

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 duodecimum Kalendas Iunias, the day of the Agonalia in ancient Rome. 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 87, which features this saying about nocturnal goings-on: Nox pudore vacat (The night is lacking in shame).

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 one from today: Aliena vitia in oculis habemus, a tergo nostra sunt (English: We keep other people's faults in view, but ours are at our back - a saying associated with the Aesop's fables of Jupiter and the two sacks).

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Nascimur uno modo, multis morimur (English: We are born one way, we die in many ways). 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 Certum pete (English: Strive for something you can count on).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is Vigilia pretium libertatis (English: Vigilance is the price of liberty... although people do indeed disagree on just what that vigilance entails!).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is Quis miserebitur incantatori a serpente percusso? (Sirach 12:13). 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 Suum custodit quasi thesaurum draco (English: He guards his treasure trove like a dragon... and dragons, of course, were proverbial for their vigilance in guarding their treasures).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Amazonum cantilena (English: The Amazons' silly song - a saying that is most remarkable for Erasmus admitting that he really has no idea exactly what it means, a situation that is more common than you might suppose for ancient proverbs and sayings: to the ancients the meanings were so obvious that they did not need to explain, leaving us sometimes at a loss as to what they might mean).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Λέγειν μὴν τὰ ἄριστα, πράττειν δὲ τὰ κάλλιστα (English: Say the best things, and do the most beautiful things). If you look at the Greek Proverb of the Day widget, you'll see it comes with a Latin translation, too.

TODAY'S FABLES:

AESOP'S FABLES BY CAMERARIUS. The Renaissance scholar Ioachim Camerarius wrote an appendix of original Aesop's fables, 60 in number, about half of which involve animal characters or animal motifs - you can find them transcribed here: Camerarius. My absolutely favorite is the one about the young lion who wanted to fight a man, much to the lion's later regret.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow's Aesop is DE LEONE AMATORIO (the marvelous story of the lion in love). 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 Vulpe et Gallina, a fine little fable of the fox wanting to play doctor to the hen. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) - from a Chinese fable on a very similar theme.




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