Basic Program in Latin
(in-person, June 12 to August 22, 2023)
In the first five weeks of the summer, students work through the entirety of Moreland and Fleischer's Latin: An Intensive Course, while completing short readings, extensive drills and prose composition assignments. These readings quickly progress from textbook sentences to literary texts; for example, students read their first Latin poem (Catullus 13) on day 9.
In the second half of the course, students read longer texts in the morning and selections from major poets and prose authors in the afternoon. They also have two opportunities each day for additional readings at sight. Core texts in the basic Latin program include Cicero's first Oration Against Catiline, Sallust's Bellum Catilinae, and the fourth book of Vergil's Aeneid. Supplementary lectures (e.g., on textual criticism, the history of the Latin language) provide further enrichment. The program concludes with a two-week elective in which students choose an author to read and analyze in even greater depth.
Latin Institute
Required of all students.
Classical Prose: Cicero and Sallust — A close translation and comparative examination of the syntax, style and rhetoric of Cicero's complete First Oration Against Catiline and of selections from Sallust's The Conspiracy of Catiline.
Augustan Epic: Vergil — Book IV of The Aeneid is read in its entirety with a view toward an appreciation of Vergilian style and poetic technique.
Survey of Latin Literature — Lectures and discussions on the development of Latin prose and poetry from Livius Andronicus through the Silver Age and into the medieval period and the Renaissance. Representative passages are translated and analyzed.
Latin Prose Composition — Simple and complex English sentences are translated into Latin with a threefold purpose: 1) to review basic rules of syntax, 2) to expand knowledge of Latin syntax by applying basic rules previously learned to more intricate constructions, and 3) to call attention to matters of word order, style and prose rhythm in order to create a sensitive response to the art of Latin prose.
Classical Lyric Poetry — Selections from the four books of Horace's Odesare read and analyzed in terms of themes, language and metrics.
Latin Institute Electives
Each student will choose one two-week mini-course (18 class hours). A minimum of three will be offered:
- Roman Historiography — Tacitus or Livy
- Pastoral Poetry — Vergil's Eclogues
- Augustan Epic — Ovid's Metamorphoses
- Philosophical Epic — Lucretius' De Rerum Natura
- Satirical Prose Fiction — Petronius' Satyricon
- Roman Elegy — Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid
- Religious Autobiography – Augustine's Confessions
