Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Round-Up: October 13

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 tertium Idus Octobres. 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 POEM: Here is today's little poem, from the Poetry Widget. Today's verse is another one of Owen's elegant little epigrams, with a word list at NoDictionaries.com:
Vir sapiens plerumque bono est sapientior, esto
Dummodo sit melior || vir sapiente bonus.
English: "The wise man is generally wiser than the good man, so be it - provided that the good man is better than the wise man." A very sly rebuke on people who think might think that knowledge can be valuable if it is value-free... :-)

TODAY'S TWITTER:

Vita Caesaris: You can see my IVLIVS CAESAR feed with a sentence from Plutarch's Life of Caesar each day in Greek, Latin and English. Today's Latin portion hails Julius Caesar as "emperor" for the first time: Parta his factis gloria ex prouincia discessit, dilatus ipse et a militibus, qui eo duce rem et ipsi fecerant, imperator dictus (Plutarch's Greek term there is αὐτοκράτωρ).

Proverbiis Pipilo: You can see my Proverbia feed of Latin proverbs which I "tweet" while I am online each day (in English, too). Here's one from today about the "zero-sum game": Lucrum sine damno alterius fieri non potest (English: There cannot be profit except at someone else's loss).

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.

Audio Latin Proverb of the Day: Today's audio Latin proverb is Multae regum aures atque oculi (English: Many are the ears of kings, and their eyes). 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: Malus animus in secreto peius cogitat (English: The thoughts of an evil man are even worse when secret).

Rhyming Proverbs: Today's proverb in Leonine verse form is: Hic offendit herum, qui vult nimis edere verum (English: The man who wants to utter truth in excess offends his master - a kind of "emperor's new clothes" type of saying, and one which explains how I ended up in my own lowly career, ha ha).

Proverbs of Polydorus: Today's proverb from Polydorus is: Grex saginatur ad victimam (English: The flock is fattened for the slaughter... perhaps a commentary on America today, eh?).

Proverbium Perbreve of the Day: Today's two-word proverb is: Sibi quisque (English: Each man for himself! Although it's more gender neutral in Latin: each person for him- or herself!).

Proverbium Breve of the Day: Today's three-word proverb is: Invidus vicini oculus (English: Your neighbor's eye is envious... although the English misses the etymology of Latin invidia, envy and its evil eye, literally speaking).

Vulgate Verse of the Day: Today's verse is In quo iudicio iudicaveritis, iudicabimini (Matt. 7:2). 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 Lepore timidior (English: More scared than a rabbit... a cliche that is brought to life in Aesop's fable about the rabbits who were so depressed by their lives of terror that they decided to commit mass suicide... until, that is, they found a creature even more scared than they were!).

Latin Animal Proverb of the Day from Erasmus: Today's animal proverb is Mustelae crocoton (English: Like a wedding dress for a weasel; from Adagia 1.2.72 - which is to say something, something that is out of place or totally inappropriate; this proverb is also an allusion to an Aesop's fable, about the weasel who failed to get married - although most English versions tell the story about a cat, rather than a weasel).

Proper Name Proverb of the Day: Today's proper name proverb is Iovi fulmen eripit (English: He's snatching the lighting away from Zeus himself - a very bold act indeed, and it reminds me of the fabulous saying in Latin about Benjamin Franklin: Eripuit Fulmen Caelo Sceptrumque Tyrannis - see the image below!).

Greek Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is Θάρσει λέγων ταληθὲς, οὐ σφαλῆ ποτέ (English: Be bold in speaking the truth, and you will never ever falter... a less cynical variation on the theme of the rhyming Latin proverb above!).

TODAY'S FABLES:

Ictibus Felicibus: Today's fable with macrons and accent marks is Alauda et Pulli Eius, the story of a lark who had a lot of insight into human behavior.

Fable of the Day: Today's fable of the day from Barlow is DE VULPE ET PARDO, the story of the debate between the leopard and the fox about the meaning of beauty.

For an image today, I wanted to share this monument to Ben Franklin which features the verse cited above: Eripuit Fulmen Caelo Sceptrumque Tyrannis - the verse is inscribed on the pedestal (larger view of the image):




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