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Latin Letters | |||
2006 • 1-58510-198-2 • paper • 152 pages • 6 x 9 • $18.95 These engaging letters give students a slice of Roman life. The detailed notes, grammar explanations, and exercises make this text convenient for intermediate-level classes. Many favorite letters are here, from Cicero's birth announcement for his son, to Claudia Severa's party invitation from Vindoland. | About the Author | Table of Contents | Preface | | |||
Description A compilation of over thirty Latin letters with introduction, commentary and grammar review. The letters are focused on Cicero and Pliny, but include numerous other authors and a wide range of fascinating topics. Authors represented are Cicero, Seneca, Pliny, Augustus, Cornelia, Claudia Severa, Vergil, Sidonius, and Ausonius. Designed for use in the first- or second-year Latin college level course.
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Cecelia Luschnig is Professor Emeritus from the University of Idaho.
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Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction Part 1: Selections from Cicero’s Letters Ad Atticum I.2: Birth of Marcus, Catiline’s defense, Cicero’s campaign. Ad Atticum I.5: Death of Lucius Cicero; marital conflict between Atticus’ sister and Cicero’s brother; various business dealings and problems. Ad Atticum I.13: Sending letters; the Clodius affair; Pompey; provinces; editing the speeches. Ad Familiares VII.1: The games. Ad Quintum Fratrem II.10: Reading Lucretius. Ad Familiares XIV. 2; 14; 21; 8; 15; 23: Terentia: family dramas. Ad Familiares XVI.5: Tiro’s illness. Ad Familiares XII. 4: After the Ides are over. Selections for sight reading. Part 2: Selections from Seneca Epistulae Morales I.1: Time is of the essence. Epistulae Morales I.31: Strive for the good and avoid the Sirens’ songs. Part 3: Selections from Pliny’s Letters Epistulae I.1: Introduction to Pliny’s Letters and Life. Epistulae I.3: Life in the Country. Epistulae III.5: Pliny the Elder’s modus vivendi. Epistulae VI.20: Pliny and his mother survive the eruption of Vesuvius. Epistulae I.9: Escape from daily life in the city. Epistulae I.5: The informer Regulus. Epistulae VII.19: Illness of Fannia. Epistulae IV.13: Pliny helps endow a school in his hometown. Epistulae VI. 4 and VI.7: Calpurnia recuperates in Campania. Epistulae VII. 4: Pliny’s poetical history. Epistulae X. 90 and X.91: Water supply for Sinope and Trajan’s reply. Epistulae X. 120 and X.121: Pliny’s last letter and Trajan’s reply. Selections for sight reading. Part 4: Selections from Various Other People’s Mail Cornelia: Letter 1 (preserved in Cornelius Nepos): advice to her son C. Gracchus. Vergil: To Augustus (in Macrobius Saturnalia 1.24.11): the Aeneid is not ready. Augustus: Letter to his grandson Gaius (preserved in Aulus Gellius). Three letters about Claudius (preserved in Suetonius). Trajan Letters to Pliny (preserved in Pliny book X) X.93: Clubs in Amicus. X.98: Trials of Christians. Claudia Severa: Vindolanda Letter: Please come to my birthday party. Ausonius: Epistulae 22: A poem for his grandson. Sidonius Apollinaris: Epistulae VII.18: A summary of his letters. Appendices I Grammar Review A. Cases B. Notes on Pronouns: Relative, Interrogative, Indefinite C. Verbs: Constructions Using Verbs: Subjunctives, Conditions, Gerunds and Gerundives D. Deponents II Compound Verbs using Prefixes Suggestions for Further Reading | |||
Reading almost anything in Latin, even the old standards of the nineteen fifties high school curriculum, has been a great joy and adventure to me. At almost 15 I was reading Caesar in second year Latin and upon learning about the “forced march,” my best friend and I forced ourselves to walk from our school on 68th and Lexington home to Fort Washington Avenue and 184th. We made it, but never tried it again. The next year Cicero’s overblown rhetoric was another treat and the beginning of a long history of writing “memo bombs” full of anaphora and other choice oratorical devices that added excitement and occasionally peril to an otherwise routine teaching and writing career. Such was the curriculum at every high school in New York. In senior year, at sixteen or seventeen, we were mature enough to read Vergil, the classic of western civilization. It was later in life that I discovered lighter reading could be enjoyable and even rewarding, especially the pleasure of reading other people’s mail, that meant for publication, of course. My first year at Idaho—where I have spent most of my career—for the first time I taught a full course in Pliny’s letters and to my great satisfaction I found that the students actually enjoyed reading them and were able to make the transition from Wheelock’s sententiae to connected Latin with relatively little pain. Letters are good for this level, when the students have learned their forms, syntax, and basic vocabulary but now are faced with putting everything together. The letters are short and self-contained. The subject matter is varied and timely. And sometimes the writing is as fine as anything in Latin prose. The two hearts of the present collection are Cicero and Pliny, because these two epistolographers offer the most absorbing content and reveal the most engaging personalities. The texts are accompanied by notes and glosses to reduce the frustration of students in a first or second Latin reading course. Important vocabulary words are marked with an asterisk because students at this stage do not have the experience to know which words are common and which rare. A modest amount of vocabulary study, English derivatives, notes on word formation, and compounding rules, is included in the notes (and in Appendix II). Words that a student can easily figure out whether from a close English derivative or by separating the word into its elements are not glossed. I hope that this practice will give the students more confidence when faced with a page of Latin. Students who own the Collins Gem Dictionary (which is recommended as a convenient and inexpensive yet full and accurate dictionary) might consider using it to build their vocabulary by putting mark beside any word they need to look up; if a check mark is already beside the word in question, the student will know that it is time to learn that word. Ideally, the Oxford Latin Dictionary will be available in the school or college library for lexical investigations, which offer students entry into the world of primary research. Some grammar review is also encouraged. Suggestions for review are made in the notes to most of the longer letters of Cicero and Pliny. An appendix summarizes the points that I have found students most need to review in the third and fourth semesters: the uses of the cases; pronouns of nearly any kind; formation and use of the subjunctive; conditions; gerunds and gerundives. There is also a summary of deponent verbs used by Pliny. As reference grammar, I recommend Allen and Greenough (A&G).
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Latin Letters: Reading Roman Correspondence
