8: Icarus effugit (escaped) from Crete with his father on alae machinatae (contrived wings), but he flew too near the sun, and now, cera liquefacta (wax melted), pinnae solutae (feathers loose), he plummets... #ClassicsTober23#MinimusLatin
5: Chiron is a centaurus sapientissimus (very wise centaur) who taught young heroes to use arcum sagittisque (a bow and arrows), herbae salutares (healing herbs) and music. #ClassicsTober23#MinimusLatin
3: Asterion is the Minotaur; part human, part taurus (bull) and all anthopophagus (man-eater), in labyrintho inclusus (imprisoned in the labyrinth). Theseus hunts him with a sword and a ball of string (so he doesn't get lost). #ClassicsTober23#MinimusLatin
2: Medusa is a Gorgon with serpentes pro crinibus (snakes for hair) and has a petrifying stare - Minimus lapidescit (turns to stone) when he looks at her! #ClassicsTober23#MinimusLatin
1: Cassandra - regis filia, sacerdos, divina (princess, priestess, prophet) - doomed to foretell the future but nemo eae credit (no-one believed her). Greek king Agamemnon snatched her from her temple after the fall of Troy. #ClassicsTober#MinimusLatin
fabulas narro: I tell stories
Minimus and Minima will be exchanging fabulae (stories) for verba (verbs) throughout October. We're taking part in #ClassicsTober with a character from Greek mythology every day!
tondeo: I shear
Minimus is tidying up the vellus (fleece) of this rather undersized ovis (sheep) with forfices (shears) and gathering the lana (wool) #LatinVerbs
colloquor: I hold a conversation
Minimus approves of the local festa messium (harvest festival) even though it's in September; the Roman festival of Cerialia was in April. He's chatting with the mus furnaceus (baked mouse) that's part of the special panis (bread) shaped like a manipulus tritici (wheatsheaf). #LatinVerbs
satago: I am busy
Minimus is multi-tasking! He has a malleolus (hammer) and a trulla (ladle) in his dexter (right) paw, a situla (bucket), a scopula (brush) and a poculum (cup) in his sinister left paw, and a tabula (writing tablet) in his mouth. He must have a long repertorium (list) of mandata (jobs) - too busy to chat! #LatinVerbs
vellico: I peck
More mythology - and this time Minimus is Prometheus ad saxum catenatus (chained to a rock) while vultur iecurem vellicat (a vulture pecks his liver). nota bene (NB) - no mice, livers or birds were harmed for this! #LatinVerbs
attingo: I reach
Minimus has been trying very hard to reach the fragum maturum (ripe strawberry), but he only has bracchia brevia (short arms)! Now he's waiting for Minima to bring him a scabellum (stool) to stand on while he keeps an eye out for limaces (slugs). #LatinVerbs
relaxo: I relax
Minimus relaxat animum (relaxes his mind) at bedtime with a ficta fabula (a fictional story) from his liber (book). He likes to read about mures callidi (clever mice) escaping from mustelae saevae (savage weasels) and accipitres esurientes (hungry hawks). #LatinVerbs
devoveo: I curse
Minimus is iratissimus (very angry) that someone involavit (stole) his cheese, so he's asking Aristaeus, the God of Cheese to intervene, scratching his message on a piece of plumbum (lead). He will roll up his defixio (curse tablet) and throw it in a fons sacer (sacred spring). Minimus is too kind to wish harm on the thief, he just wants his cheese back! #LatinVerbs