JUN 141910
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Class
THE TEACHING OF LATIN
IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
By EUGENE A. HECKER
Master in the Roxbury Latin School
THE SCHOENHOF BOOK COMPANY
128 Tremont Street
BOSTON (MASS.)
GENERAL
Copyright 1909
by
Eugene A. Hecker
Caustic Claflin Company
Cambridge, Mass..
OF T HE
UNIVERSITY
OF
CHAPTER I
The keynote of modern pedagogy is a protest against
tradition, whether in subject-matter or in methods of
presentation. I"?o subject of instruction has, when com-
pared with other studies of the curriculum, so long a
tradition behind it as has Latin. Inasmuch as every
study in our modern system of education must, as is
fitting, prove its ability to secure a definite result of
actual worth, we shall first attempt to ascertain what
credentials it needs to present to prove its right of ad-
mission as a subject of instruction.
Unless a study can be correlated with something in
the lives of our pupils we are dealing with boys and
girls of high-school age then that study is useless;
as idle as the inquiries of Tiberius at Capri when he
wished to discover what song it was that the Sirens
sang. It is true, that the mere fact of knowing some-
thing All! la belle chose que de savoir quelque chose!
may enthuse a student for the moment, no matter
whether the thing learned has some connection with
vital matters or not; but later, when he perceives its
isolation, 'the reaction may take the form of a violent
protest against the whole subject of which the mental
gymnastic was a part. Of this fact the writer can recall
two instances, the one connected with arithmetic, the
ottier with English grammar. His teacher in arithmetic
insisted that in a case of division of fractions he must
not invert the divisor and multiply, but work instead by
the method of finding a greatest common divisor. The
case in grammar was that complex system of " diagram-
ming " a sentence by countless lines and sub-lines until
the thing looked like a railroad map ; wherein the gram-
matical interest of the sentence had long since yielded
to its possibilities as a model in drawing. Studies and
the methods employed in their elucidation must pro-
duce a definite and practical result; if their aim is men-
tal gymnastic alone, they have no place in secondary
schools. They may yiel a return in dollars and cents ;
or they may explain the laws of nature and their rela-
tions to our bodies; or they may present the evolution
of the races; or mould character, inculcate ideals, and
develop a feeling for the beautiful; and the like. But
some definite and practical result, bearing directly on
life, each study must effect before we can admit it.
The study of Latin will yield no particular financial
return. Its possible benefits may be embraced under
the fojjowing headings:
~~ T. A thorough knowledge of grammatical principles.
II. A correct use of English, 'botlji by a clearer in-
sight into grammar and by the accurate and faithful
translation of the acknowledged masterpieces of a tongue
quite different in its idioms from ours.
IJI. An appreciation of good literature.
IV. An understanding of the political, social, and
religious institutions of the Roman Empire in its native
vehicle, the Latin ''tongue ; and any insight into a differ-
ent civilization, especially through its own medium of
expression, necessarily broadens the view.
V. An idea of the profound influence of Rome on
modern literatures, languages, and institutions; a grasp
of the continuity of history and the evolution of the
races. \
[t is evident that such benefits are acceptable in a
modern system of education; inasmuch as they may
mould character ; inspire ideals ; assist correctness in the
use of the mother-tongue and of modern foreign lan-
guages; and develop the logical and historical faculty.
Nevertheless, we must confess at once that the ad-
vantages enumerated are not peculiar to Latin. The
accurate study of a modern foreign tongue may pro-
duce the first three effects described above; and the
benefits mentioned under IV and V may be procured
fairly well by means of good translations. We must
inquire, then, in what respect the study of Latin may
have special advantages.
A knowledge of Latin is not only profitable, but in-
dispensable to two classes of students: I. Those who
wish to study any European literature and ^language
with reference to its growth and sources; II. Those
who intend to study history from the original sources.
The truth of my first assertion I take as obvious. A
It might be objected to my .second statement, how-
ever, that here translations would do. So, indeed, they
might, if they existed. But we must remember that the
use of Latin in diplomacy did not die out until the close
of the seventeenth century, when French took its place ; B
that long after this date the German empire insisted that
negotiations with itself be conducted in Latin; and that
not until 1825 did Magyar displace Latin in ; the debates
of the Hungarian Diet. Latin is still the medium of
communication of the Roman Catholic Church. The
A " For myself," remarks Mr. P. W. H. Myers, " I am
no fanatical advocate of a classical education, a form of
training which must needs lose its old unique position now
that there is so much else to know. But for one small class
of students such an education still seems to me essential,
for those, namely, who desire to judge the highest poetry
aright."
B The following great scientific works were written in
Latin :
Newton's Principia 1689.
Burnet's Theoria Telluris Sacra 1694.
Ray's Synopsis Methodica 1693.
Linnaeus Systema Naturae 1760.
Leibnitz [1646-1716] was the last great philosopher who
habitually employed Latin in his works.
student will hardly find translations of all the Lathi
above mentioned ; although he could have them made
if he were a millionaire; but in this case we should
hardly consider him a great authority.
So much for those students for whom Latin is very
necessary. The two groups are obviously only a mi-
nority. We shall inquire next what benefits the pur-
suit of Latin may hold for a pupil who would like to
know if, for example, he should take German and
French, or one of these languages and Latin.
A correct use and adequate command of English is
as desirable in business as in literature; and there is
no vehicle more fit to give this practical benefit than
the study of Latin. For Latin is severely logical; one
may not read without taking in and weighing each word.
This is a mental stimulus of the first rank. If now a
faithful attempt is made to render as adequately as
possible' the elegance and directness of Caesar, the
rhythm and periodic flow of Cicero, the harmony and
majesty of Vergil, one's English vocabulary will be
enormously broadened and the command of expression
and the style bettered many fold. It seems more than
an accident that the great masters of style of English
literature j were steeped in Latin Milton^ De Quincey,
Burke, Macaulay, Gladstone, Carlyle, Gibbon. French
and German cannot be as valuable here as Latin, for
the simple reason that they are too like our idiom
and demand no particular mental, effort, if the dic-
tidnary js 'handy. ; That even a limited study of Latin
is of great help in' understanding English grammar,
I am confident that no one will deny.' .And there
can be no doubt that one who has mastered his Latin
grammar can grasp French, Italian, and Spanish gram-
mar in short order; so that some Latin will do no harm
even to the student who, without any particular liking
for it, yet purposes to enter any trade or profession
where the knowledge of a modern tongue will be of
assistance.
A knowledge of Latin is certainly a powerful help
in the comprehension of the various terminologies and
methods of classification of the natural sciences, of law,
of medicine, of logic, and of philosophy; although I do
not agree with those who would make Latin compulsory
for prospective students of those sciences. But the
language is assuredly of assistance in many ways. The
student of Latin need not run to the dictionary to find
out the meaning of words like horticulture, apiculture,
magnanimous, craniology, cervical, cardial, labial, lingual,
carnivorous, and the like. ^And Latin, which has fur-
nished English with a vast per- cent of its words, is also
an aid to correct spelling; as in words like " separate,"
" missile," " discern."
Having now enumerated the advantages of Latin, we
shall inquire next whether it should be a compulsory
study at any time or throughout the course. Will it
be beneficial to every boy and girl without distinction?
No one study is fitted for every mind. The aim of
education should be, to find that combination of studies
which shall develop each individual character to the
end for which Nature has fitted it. It is evident that
certain subjects are so intimately bound up with every
branch of human activity that they must be compulsory;
for, lacking them, the child has not the tools for ad-
vancement. Such are reading and writing of English,
arithmetic, geography, and American history (including
Civics). When we get outside the range of these
foundation studies, we must begin to exercise a choice;
a wide field is presented; and, as I have already re-
marked, the individual needs now to work out the place
for which Nature has destined him in the social order.
It is for this reason that Industrial Education is the
greatest pedagogical movement of the last decade. There
is no point in forcing Latin upon a boy whom Nature
has intended for a blacksmith. There are some who
would prescribe Latin for such a one for " culture "
whatever that is. But the boy who is taught black-
smithing thoroughly, who is inspired with a desire to
produce the very best work, who is led to contemplate
his trade as a whole which he may be privileged to
develop further; the boy, in short, who has, by the
study of blacksmithing, acquired the power to produce
and to express himself; that boy has a fair culture.
Others believe in forcing Latin upon all alike on the
ground that the fact of wrestling with a repugnant study
strengthens the will. They ought to prescribe Sanskrit
or Hebrew. The remedy for the prevalent search after
easy studies is not to prescribe one particular sort, but
to make all subjects which the pupil may take the basis
of thorough work, demanding real and earnest effort.
Latin should be an optional study; and in practice
it is generally so in our public schools, since the student
has a choice of several courses, such as the Classical,
the Scientific, the Business, some of which require Latin
and some of which do not include it. Educators are
fond of attacking non-classical courses for their lack
of results in system and mental training. This is not,
however, the fault of non-classical courses per se, but
because, unfortunately, the subjects of those courses
have not in the past been taught with the thoroughness
that has, on the whole, characterized instruction in the
Classics. Any subject that has some connection with
life is valuable and useful if taught accurately and
thoroughly. The lack of scholarly training which re-
sulted for a time in Harvard College under the elective
system was not due to that system in itself, but simply
to the fact that courses other than the Classics and
Mathematics were not yet adjusted to scientific peda-
gogy and undergraduates therefore did a minimum of
work in them. However, it is not out of place for
6
teachers to point out to all students at the beginning of
their high-school career that Latin will not hurt any
one, no matter what he intends to be; it will benefit,
even if taken but one year.
Since we have determined what the advantages . of
Latin are and have argued that it should not be a com-
pulsory study, it will now be our purpose, in the fol-
lowing pages, to discuss the grammar to be mastered,
the authors to be read, and those methods of presenta-
tion which shall develop the subject in its highest degree
of usefulness and inspiration. -It must be our aim to
emphasize the essential and to pass lightly over the less
important Wic ivolltc ciner als Meister in seinem Fach
crschcincn, ivenn er nichts Unnutzes lehrte! [Goethe:
Spriiche in Prosa.] Our ideal is, to develop the greatest
amount of interest in the pupil and to have him derive
the greatest profit, without, at the same time, losing
sight of the fundamental principles of accuracy and
thoroughness. Nothing can stand without these elements
as a foundation.
CHAPTER II
Before we comment on the teaching itself of Latin,
it w,ill be well to consider representative schedules in
that subject as they exist to-day in Germany, in France,
in England, and in the United States; and to these pro-
grammes we shall append the courses of study of three
great schoolmasters of the Renaissance Vittorino da
Feltre, John Sturm, and Roger Ascham. This will pave
the way more clearly for a discussion of authors to be
read and methods to be employed to-day.
I. GERMAN SCHOOLS
The programs of German schools in which Latin
is taught may well be illustrated by the following
examples :
PROGRAM OF THE " GYMNASIEN " IN PRUSSIA
VI
V
IV
#
U III
*
OIII
t
UII
t
on
UI
t
OI
j
1
Religion
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1<
German and His-
torical Anecdotes
:i-
2)
J 3
3
2
2
3
3
3
3
26
Latin
8
8
8
8
8
7
7 ]
7 1
7 1
6
Greek
6
6
6
si
6]
el
3(
French
4
2
2
3
3
3
3
2C
History
2
2
2
2 1
3
3 ]
3
17
Geography
2
2
2
1
1
;l
i
S
Mathematics
4
4
4
3
3
4 i
4
4
4 ]
34
Natural Sciences
2
2
2
2
2
2J
2
2
2J
18
Writing
2
2
, _
4
Drawing
2
2
2
2
8
TOTAL
25
25
29
30
30
30
30
30
30
259
* U III = Unter-tertia ; O III = Ober-tertia.
t U II = Unter-secunda ; O II = Ober-secunda.
tUI = Unter-prima; O I = Ober-prima.
The course is nine years long.
PROGRAM OF THE " REALGVMNASIEN " IN PRUSSIA
VI
V
IV
UIII
OHI
UII
Oil
UI
01
j
1
Religion
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
19
German and His-
torical Anecdotes
3)
J 4
2)
J 3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
28
Latin
8
8
7
5
5
4
4
4
4
49
9Q
English
3
3
3
3
18
History
2
2
2
2
I 3
I 3
I 3
17
Geography
2
2 '
2
2
2
1
1
j
1
11
Mathematics
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
42
Natural Science
2
2
2
2
2
4
5
5
5
29
Writing
2
2
4
Drawing
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
16
TOTAL
25
25
29
30
30
30
31
31
31
262
General Aim: A. For the Gymnasium: the acqui-
sition of a knowledge of the most important classical
writers of Rome, based on a firm grammatical founda-
tion; and by these means an appreciation of the genius
of antiquity. B. For the Realgymnasium : a firm gram-
matical foundation and the reading of the easier works
of Roman literature.
In the kealgymnasium Caesar alone of prose-writers
is read for three successive years, from Untertertia to
Untersecunda. In Untersecimda a few selections of
Ovid's Metamorphoses are read; but not until Ober-
secunda, that is, after six years of Latin, may Caesar
give way to selections from Curtius or Livy or one of
the easier orations of Cicero. In Prima, passages from
Vergil's " Aeneid," the easier " Odes " of Horace, and
selections from the " Germania " of Tacitus are read.
The Gymnasium presents a somewhat wider range.
But here also Caesar and selections from the Metamor-
phoses are alone read for two years. The program
for the last four years is as follows:
Untersecunda: Easier Orations of Cicero [e.g., pro
S. Roscio, in Catilinam, de imperio Cn. Pompei] ; selec-
tions from the First Decade of Livy; Ovid who may
be replaced, in the second half-year, by Vergil's
" Aeneid." Translation at sight, 'also from Caesar.
Obersecunda: Selections from Livy's Third Decade;
Cicero's Orations [e.g., pro Archia, pro Ligario, pro
rege Deiotaro, in Caecilium] , and the Cato Maior ; Se-
lections from Sallust ; Vergil's " Aeneid " in such se-
lections as shall be complete in themselves and yet give
an idea of the whole work. Sight reading to suit the
occasion. Memorizing of verses from Vergil.
Unter-und-oberprima : Cicero's Orations [e.g., in Ver-
rem IV or V, pro Plancio, pro Sestio, all with portions
omitted, pro Murena] ; selections from Cicero's letters
and philosophical and rhetorical works ; the " Germania "
of Tacitus at least as far as ch. 27 also the
" Agricola " or parts of the " Dialogue," as well as
selections from the " Annals " especially the portions
dealing with Germany and from the " Histories " ;
selections from Horace and memorizing of some of his
odes.
In the Gymnasien of Bavaria Curtius and the Elegiac
Poets are found with Caesar and Ovid as early as the
10
fifth class obertertia while in the eighth Quintilian
appears with Cicero; in the highest class Terence and
Plautus accompany the Satires and Epistles of Horace.
It must be borne in mind, of course, that the last two
years of the Gymnasium are equivalent to the first two
years of our college work. People are not usually
aware, that the study of the Classics has been violently
assailed in Germany during the past decade; and the
whole curriculum has undergone, and is still undergoing,
fundamental changes. Particularly has the old regime,
which made grammar and composition ends in them-
selves, suffered the keenest onslaughts ; and the emphasis
tends more and more to be placed on the reading of
the authors with the purpose of gaining an appreciation
of the genius of Rome ; while grammar and composition
are pursued only so far as they serve as tools for such
study. The professional student will find the following
three books most useful to consult on the matter books
which combine a clear and interesting style with profound
knowledge of the whole history of classical studies :
I. Das Unterrichtswesen im Deutschen Reich. Aus
Anlass dor Weltausstellung in St. Louis unter Mitwir-
kung zahlreicher Fachmanner herausgegeben von W.
Lexis. Zweiter Band : Die hoheren Lehranstalten und
das Madchenschulwesen. Berlin. Verlag von A. Asher
und Co. 1904.
II. F. Paulsen : Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts
auf den deutschen Schulen und Universitaten vom Aus-
gang des Mittelalters bis zur Gegenwart. Leipsig. Ver-
lag von Veit u. Comp. 1896.
III. P. Dettweiler : in A. Baumeister's Handbuch der
Erziehungs-und Unterrichtslehre fur hohere Schulen ;
vol. Ill Didaktik und Methodik der einzelnen Lehr-
facher. Miinchen, 1898. C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuch-
handlung.
ii
II. LATIN IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF FRANCE
The following is a typical program. Child begins
at eleven years of age.
First year, 10 hours per week: Latin Grammar. Ex-
planation and Recitation of Latin authors.
(Great importance is attached to the preparation and
explanation of the texts.) Latin exercises, especially
oral, and written composition. Accent and quantity.
Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs. Instruction in
best methods of translation. Exercises for immediate
translation into Latin (the teacher reads slowly a pas-
sage of French, of which the words have already been
seen in Latin, and the pupils render it into Latin).
Authors: Epitome Historiae Graecre (edition adapted
to the gradual progress of the pupils).
De viris illustribus urbis Romae (second semester).
Second Year : 10 hours per week during first semester ;
8 hours per week beginning January i.
Grammar syntax completed; word formation (prim-
itive and derived words). Elements of prosody (hex-
ameter, pentameter, iambic). French translated into
Latin, oral and written themes. Biographies of authors
studied. Memory work.
Authors: De viris illustribus Urbis Romse (first
semester) .
Selectae a profanis scriptoribus historiae (edition
adapted to gradual progress of pupils).
Cornelius Nepos (second semester).
Phaedrus: Selected Fables (second semester).
Justin: Extracts.
Third Year: 5 hours per week.
Grammar review, and comparison of Latin and
French constructions. Prosody, word-formation, com-
position, biography of authors continued. Pupils are
12
encouraged to read additional Latin out of class, es-
pecially to read further in the authors of the preceding
year.
Authors: Cornelius Nepos (first semester).
Caesar: de Bello Gallico.
Cicero : de Senectute.
Quintus Curtius : Selections.
Vergil : Aeneid I, II, and III.
Ovid: Metamorphoses (selections).
Fourth Year: 5 hours per week.
Grammar review. Prosody and composition. Brief
instruction in literary history in connection with the
texts read. Written and oral criticism of passages taken
from Latin writers of prose and verse.
Authors: Narrationes (reading of extracts, taken
chiefly from Livy).
Cicero : Catilines I, II, III, IV. Archias.
Sallust: Extracts.
Dramatic Writers: Extracts.
Vergil: Georgics (chiefly the Episodes); Aeneid -
IV and VIII.
Anthology of Latin Poetry (excluding works com-
prised in the program).
Fifth Year: 9 hours per week.
Exercises in prosody; study of the principal metres
of Horace. Themes and exercises in Latin. Outline of
the history of Latin Literature 10 lectures of an hour
apiece arranged as follows:
1. Earliest times of Latin Literature; first attempts
at poetry under the influence of Greece.
2. The comic poets.
3. Cicero.
4. Poetry in the time of Cicero.
5. The great historians.
13
6. The poets of the Augustan Age.
7. Seneca the two Plinys Quintilian.
8. Epic poets after Vergil.
9. Satirists (poets) after Horace.
10. Last period of Latin literature Christian Lit-
erature.
Authors: Cicero: de Suppliciis, de Signis. Somnium
Scipionis.
Livy : One book of the Third Decade.
Tacitus: Agricola. Germania.
Pliny the Younger : Selected Letters.
Latin Dramatists: Selections.
Vergil: Aeneid IX to XII. Bucolics.
Horace : Odes.
Anthology of Latin Poetry (excluding works already
comprised in the program).
Sixth Year : 4 hours per week.
Composition and themes in Latin. Literary criticisms
of Latin authors.
Authors: Cicero: Select Letters. Milo. Murena.
Selections from his rhetorical and philosophical works.
Livy : A book of the Third Decade.
Seneca: Selections from his Letters to Lucilius and
Ethical Treatises.
Tacitus: Annals. Histories. Dialogus de Oratoribus.
Lucretius : Selections.
Vergil.
Horace : Satires and Epistles.
Lucan: Selections.
Anthology of Latin Poets as above.
Pupils finish the above course at the age of sixteen.
Ought it not give food for thought to teachers of
Latin? If boys can do that between the ages of eleven
and sixteen, doesn't it seem a pretty feeble result that
the American student effects so little between the ages
of fourteen and nineteen? Note, too, the fact that in-
struction in Latin in France does not consist merely in
translating and doing nothing else day after day; a
knowledge of the authors and their places in literature
receives reasonable attention. Perhaps that is one rea-
son why no German or American doctor's thesis can
usually compare in artistic excellence and scholarly treat-
ment with the thesis of the Docteur-es-Lettres.
Before discussing the subject further, I shall men-
tion some books which will give the teacher an authori-
tative and minute account of the status of Latin in the
secondary schools of France :
I. Instructions concernant les programmes de 1'En-
seignement Secondaire Classique Paris, Delalain Freres
56 Rue des Ecoles.
II. Programmes de 1'Enseignement Secondaire.
Delalain Freres (as above).
III. La Reforme de 1'Enseignement Secondaire
par A. Ribot. Armand Colin et Cie. Paris, 5 rue de
Mezieres (see especially pp. 71-88).
IV. La Reforme de 1'Enseignement Secondaire ex-
pliquee aux Families, par H. Vinbert. Paris, Librairie
Nony et Cie., 63 Boulevard Saint-Germain.
From the report of the Minister of Education I wish
to translate certain passages which shall show clearly
the revolution which is going on in the teaching of
Latin. It is but a question of time when these new
ideas must prevail in the United States. " The essential
aim of secondary education," writes M. Leon Bourgeois,
" is obviously the harmonious development of the mind.
Between primary instruction, which is immediately con-
cerned with the acquisition of knowledge directly use-
ful, and the higher instruction, which aims to produce
scholars, that is, men capable of research in a particular
line of studies, secondary education occupies a middle
place. It strives to form good minds (de bons esprits)
strengthened by a very general culture. It does cer-
15
tainly give the pupils knowledge both exact and useful,
but above all, it teaches good habits. It has no particu-
lar profession in view ; but it allows them to touch upon
all with a basis of intellectual and moral soundness which
alone permits one to excel in any of them.
The study of ancient languages in secondary educa-
tion must, therefore, be subordinated to these essential
ideas. We are not concerned about making professional
Latinists and Hellenists. We demand of Greek and
Latin only that they contribute their share to the general
education of the mind.
The methodical study of a language necessarily com-
prises three kinds of exercises and tasks : ( I ) the study
of grammatical theory; (2) written exercises in transla-
tion and composition; (3) reading and explanation of
texts. It is clear that the reading of the texts is the
capital point. The study of grammatical theory can
doubtless, in skilful and discreet hands, become by itself
a useful instrument of intellectual culture; it accustoms
the mind to reflect, to grasp, to compare ; but it is above
all a practical means of getting at the literary apprecia-
tion of the texts. Written exercises, again, are indis-
pensable in order to give to knowledge of grammar all
its solidity, all its precision, all its nicety; they are, be-
sides, a powerful instrument of formal culture for the
intelligence; but they cultivate and refine the mind
rather than nourish it. This necessary nourishment is
given to youthful minds above all by the reading of the
texts and by the various exercises connected therewith.
The profit derived from the texts is two-fold. In the
first place, they are the ever-living tradition of the human
mind, by means of which the present is connected with
the past; they cause the child to see the road that all
humanity has traversed ; and by making him acquainted
with his ancestors they confer on him, literally, their
true titles of intellectual nobility. In the second place,
they are, for a large part, models; they initiate into an
16
acquaintance with the true, the good, the beautiful ; they
awaken in his soul a feeling of active and fruitful love
for all the things comprised in these three words; they
enrich and strengthen his very being, that is to say, they
accomplish to an eminent degree the work which is the
essential object of secondary education."
Thus does the keen Frenchman rise above the ideal
of a gerund-grinder; and the results justify him. If
there be a doubting Thomas, let him compare the work
of French and German scholars; for example, Renan
and Harnack, Croiset and Christ. In both German and
Frenchman we note that profound and minute scholar-
ship, the painstaking research to which humanity must
be forever indebted. But the German is heavy in style,
not always clear in arrangement; the Frenchman com-
bines with his learning the elegance, the perspicuity, and
the artistic form which makes the perusal of his work
an inspiration even to the uninitiated.
III. ENGLISH SCHOOLS
I. shall take Harrow as the type of an English Classical
School. No boy may enter before twelve nor after
fourteen ; and the rudiments of Latin are supposed to
have been studied before entrance. Just as in Germany
Latin is pursued more extensively in the gymnasien,
which keep the old classical tradition, than in the real-
gymnasien, which omit Greek and take more science and
modern tongues instead ; so the program at Harrow is
divided into the Classical Side and the Modern Side.
The schedule of the Classical Side runs as follows:
Upper Sixth : 7 to 8 hours for all boys ; 2 to 3 hours
more for some boys. Cicero in Verrem Actio I.
Vergil Aeneid VIII. Composition exercises one
or two hours. Average age of boys, eighteen.
17
Lower Sixth: the same. Age (average), 17 years.
Fifth Head Remove: 4 hours. Vergil Aeneid XL
Livy I, 1-26. At least 3 hours of prose composition.
Average age, 16 years.
Fifth Second Remove : 4^/2 hours Vergil and Livy the
same. Horace, Odes IV, i-io. Average age, 16
years.
Fifth Third Remove : 4 hours Vergil and Livy the same.
Arnold's Prose (Bradley), ex. 29-43. Weekly
Grammar Paper. Also one hour prose composition.
Average age, 16 years.
Upper Remove: 6 hours Walford's Cicero, 20 pages.
Horace, Odes I or 800 lines of Vergil. Prose com-
position, i l / 2 hours. Average age, 15 years.
Lower Remove : 7 hours Cicero and Horace the same.
Prose composition, 2^ hours. Champney and
Roundell's Easy Passages. Arnold's Prose. Gram-
mar, iJ/2 hours. Verses, 2 hours. Average age,
15 years.
Upper Shell : 7 hours. Horace, Odes I, or Caesar de
Bell. Civ. I. Two grammar lessons. Prose and
Exercises, 2 l /> hours. Average age, 15 years.
Second Shell: 7 to 7^ hours. Prose, i^4 hours. Caesar,
Bell. Civ. I, 2 hours 21 chapters. Ovid, 300 or
400 lines 2 hours. Grammar, y z hour. Unseen
translation, y 4 to \y 2 hours. Average age, 15 years.
Third Shell : 6 hours. Same. Age, 14 years.
Fourth Head Remove : 6 l / 2 hours. Translation, Hardy's
Reader, pp. 28-38, 3 hours. Ovid, one hour (Tay-
lor's Selections, 200 lines). Prose, 2 hours easy
continuous passages short sentences. Grammar,
V 2 hour Accidence and Elements of Syntax. Av-
erage age, 1 4, years.
Fourth Second Remove: Same, except less translation.
Age, 14 years.
Fourth Third Remove: Same. Age, 14 years.
18
The Schedule of the Modern Side is as follows:
Modern Sixth : 4 hours. Vergil, Eclogues and part of
Georgics IV. Lucretius, part of Book I. Latin
Prose. (Also i or 2 hours with Tutor.) Average
age, 17 years.
Modern Fifth Head Remove: Same. Age, 17 years.
Modern Fifth Second Remove: 3 hours. Vergil -
Aeneid, XII. Latin Prose. (Also I or 2 hours with
Tutor.) Age, 16 years.
.Modern Fifth Third Remove: Same. Age, 16 years.
Modern Remove: 3 hours. Vergil Aeneid II. (Also
Ovid's Fasti, i hour with Tutor.) Age, 15 years.
Modern Upper Shell: 3 hours. Ovid: Metamorphoses.
Latin Prose. (Also i hour of Ovid's Fasti with
Tutor.) Average age, 15 years.
Modern Second Shell: 2% hours. Crustula, 20 pages.
(Fasti with Tutor, i hour.) Age, 16 years.
Modern Third Shell : Same. Age, 15 years.
Modern Fourth Head Remove: 3^4 hours. Epitome
Historic Graecse, ch. 64-82. Prose and Grammar.
Selections from Ovid. (One hour also with Tutor.)
, Age, 14 years.
Modern Fourth Remove: Same. Age, 14 years.
IV. AMERICAN SCHOOLS
I shall give representative schedules of public, private,
and Jesuit Schools in the United States.
A. Program of the Boston Latin School a six years
course.
Class VI: 5 hours a week. i. Regular forms, with
simple exercises illustrating their use. 2. a. Oral and
written translation of easy Latin into English, b. Un-
prepared translation of easy Latin with the help of the
teacher. 3. a. Reading aloud^ copying, and writing
from dictation Latin simple in construction and com-
19
posed of words familiar to the pupils, b. Simple oral
and written translations of English into Latin.
Class V: 5 hours per week. i. Forms and construc-
tions with exercises thereon. 2. Oral and, occasionally,
written translation into idiomatic English of (a) easy
Latin, (6) books I, II, and III of Caesar's Gallic War.
(c) Unprepared translation of easy Latin. 3. (a)
Reading aloud, copying, and writing from dictation fa-
miliar passages from Caesar. (b) Repeating aloud or
writing passages from Caesar that have been carefully
studied and committed to memory. 4. English into
Latin, including simple oral and written exercise based
upon passages from Caesar.
Class IV: 5 hours per week. i. Oral, and, occa-
sionally, written translation, at least (a) of books IV
and V of Caesar's Gallic War; (b) of 1000 lines of
Ovid,; and (c) of book I and part of II of the Aeneid.
(d) Unseen translation of average passages from
Caesar and of the easier passages from Ovid. 2. (a)
Writing from dictation and committing to memory pas-
sages from Caesar, (b) Reading metrically and com-
mitting to memory passages from Ovid. 3. English
into Latin, including oral and written exercises based
upon passages from Caesar or upon other Latin prose
that the pupils have translated into English.
Class III: 5 hours per week. Oral and, occasionally,
written translation (a) of the remainder of book II and
the whole of III, IV, and V of the Aeneid; (b) of
Sallust's Catiline; and (c) of at least one of Nepos's
Lives, (d) Unprepared translation of average pas-
sages from Caesar, and of the easier passages from Sal-
lust, Nepos, and Vergil. 2. (a) Writing from dic-
tation and committing to memory passages from Sallust
or Nepos. (b) Reading metrically and committing to
memory passages from, Vergil. 3. English into Latin,
including oral and written exercises based upon passages
from Caesar, Sallust, or Nepos.
20
Class II : 4 hours per week. Oral and, occasionally,
written translations (a) of at least three more books of
the Aeneid and the Eclogues of Vergil; (b) of at least
four orations of Cicero; and (c) some of Nepos's Lives.
(d) Unprepared translation of average passages from
Caesar and Nepos, and of the easier passages from Ver-
gil and Cicero. 2. (a) Writing from dictation and
committing to memory passages from the prose writers
studied; and (b) reading metrically and committing to
memory passages from Vergil. 3. English into Latin,
including oral and written translation based upon pas-
sages from Caesar or Cicero.
Class I: 4 hours per week. i. Prepared and unpre-
pared translation, oral and written, from Vergil and
Cicero. 2. (a) Writing from dictation and commit-
ting to memory passages from Cicero; (b) reading met-
rically and committing to memory passages from Vergil.
3. English into Latin, including oral and written ex-
ercises based on passages from Nepos, Caesar, or Cicero.
B. Of boarding or private schools, some have Latin
four years, some five. Phillips-Exeter has four, ar-
ranged as follows (candidates for entrance must be at
least fourteen years old) :
(a) Junior Class: 8 hours per week. Beginners' Book.
Fabulae Faciles. Nepos about fifteen Lives.
Caesar, Gallic War II. Grammar, composition, and
sight translation.
Lower Middle Class : 5 hours. Caesar, Gallic War I,
and either III and IV or their equivalent. Ovid
about 1000 verses. Sallust Catiline. Grammar,
composition, and sight translation.
Upper Middle Class: 5 hours. Selections from Caesar's
Civil War. Cicero Manilian Law. Vergil,
Aeneid, I, II, III, IV. Grammar, composition, and
translation at sight.
21
Senior Class : 5 hours. Aeneid V and VI, and selections
from VII through XII, and the Bucolics. Cicero
the Catilines, Archias, Milo, Marcellus, Ligarius,
Philippic XIV, and Selected Letters. Grammar,
composition, and translation at sight.
(b) The Latin Course at the Hill School is one of
five years; it begins in the second form:
Second Form : Grammar and Lessons. Viri Romae.
Third Form: Caesar, Gallic War, I, II, III, IV. Com-
position and sight reading.
Fourth Form : Cicero Catilines, Archias, Manilian
Law. Ovid. Composition and sight reading.
Fifth Form: Nepos. Ovid. Caesar. Cicero. Reviews.
Composition. Sight Reading.
Sixth Form : Varies by years : either Cicero r- Catilines,
Archias, Ligarius, Manilian Law, Marcellus ; or
Vergil. Composition and translation at sight.
(c) Course of study of Jesuit Academies of the
Middle West:
First Year: 8 periods a week in two terms.
Precepts :
First Term : Etymology as far as deponent verbs.
Second Term : Brief review of etymology ; deponent
and irregular verbs. Principal rules of syntax.
Text-book: Bennett's Foundations of Latin."
Authors : First Term : Translation of exercises in text-
book, pp. 1-83.
Second Term: Exercises, Fables, and Roman His-
tory in text-book, pp. 83-168.
Composition: First and Second Terms: Exercises
given in text-book, and constant oral and written
themes on the matter seen.
Memory: Second Term: One hundred lines at least.
(Half of the Latin exercises and half of the " Se-
22
lections for Reading " should be seen thoroughly,
the other half should be read and translated at
sight.)
Second Year : 6 periods per week in two terms.
Precepts :
First Term : Thorough review of etymology, with
principal notes and exceptions. Syntax agree-
ment, questions and answers, accusative and
dative.
Second Term : The genitive, ablative, adjectives,
Roman dates.
Text-book : Bennett's Grammar. First Term : Par. i
to 193. Second Term: Par. 194-241.
Authors : Fables of Phsedrus, Aulus Gellius, Viri
Romse for the first term.
Second Term: Nepos, Caesar (de Bell. Gall.) Sight
reading both terms. (Miller and Beeson's Second
Year Latin Book to be used in second and third
years.)
Composition :
First Term : Bennett's Preparatory Latin Writer
lessons I to X.
Second Term: id. XI to XXII.
Both Terms : One written composition a week in
imitation of the author. Daily oral themes.
Memory: About 200 lines.
Third Year : 5 periods a week in two terms.
First Term : Etymology reviewed with all exceptions
and irregularities. Syntax brief review of mat-
ter seen preceding year. Pronouns, tenses, sub-
junctive, purpose clauses, causal and temporal
clauses.
Second Term : Substantive clauses, conditional sen-
tences, indirect discourse, participles, gerund and
supine.
23
Text-book :
First Term: Bennett: Par. 242-293.
Second Term : Bennett : Par. 293-347.
Authors :
First Term: Caesar, de Bello Gallico.
Second Term : Ovid's Metamorphoses and Cicero's
Letters. Sight reading, both terms.
Composition :
First Term: Bennett's Preparatory Latin Writer,
lessons XXIII to XXXII.
Second Term: id., lessons XXXIII to XLIV.
Both Terms : One written composition a week in
imitation of the author. Daily drill in oral themes
and Latin conversation.
Memory: About 200 lines.
Fourth Year: 5 periods a week in two terms.
Precepts :
First Term : Thorough review of the whole gram-
mar, including all exceptions and irregularities.
Word-order, sentence structure, style, Julian Cal-
endar. Figures of Syntax and Rhetoric.
Second Term : Prosody.
Text-book: Bennett's Grammar.
Authors :
First Term: Cicero's Letters, de Senectute, and de
Amicitia. Vergil's Eclogues and Georgics. Sal-
lust's Catiline.
Second Term: Vergil, Aeneid I. Cicero in Catilin-
am I, III, and IV. Quintus Curtius.
Sight reading both terms.
Composition :
First Term: Bennett's Supplementary Exercises in
Continued Discourse. Weekly composition in
imitation of author.
Second Term: Two compositions a week in imita-
tion of author. Exercises in verse-making.
24
Both Terms : Daily drill in oral themes and Latin
conversation.
Memory: About 200 lines.
[NOTE. The best monograph on Jesuit Education,
from the Jesuit point of view, is that by Robert Schwick-
erath, S.J., of Woodstock College, Md. Published by
Herder, St. Louis 1903.]
V. PROGRAMS OF THE HUMANIST SCHOOLMASTERS
A. School of Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446.) The
best monograph on Vittorino is that of Woodward
Cambridge University Press. 1897.
Grammar was treated under four heads, which had
to be mastered thoroughly before reading of authors or
continuous composition was entered upon. The master
first provided sufficient vocabulary by dictation, and with
the words themselves their inflexions. Then easy pas-
sages from the poets were delivered, explained, trans-
lated, and treated as exercises in accidence. Parallel
with this ran a similar course in historical narrative or
moral anecdote, in which more stress was laid upon the
matter in view of subjects for elementary composition
or disputation. Accent, quantity, and enunciation were
taken in hand as an integral part of every lesson. These
quattuor officia grammaticorum were, in the eyes o'f
Vittorino, the foundation of good teaching.
Inasmuch as practically nothing better in the way of
grammars existed than elementary treatises like the
Erotemata of Chrysoloras, it was necessary for the pupil
to accumulate both vocabulary and syntax by gradual in-
duction from the usage of authors. Observation and
practice were a sine qua non. There was much reading
aloud.
Cicero and Vergil were the corner-stones of the read-
ing. Passages from both were committed to memory as
the basis of style and aids to vocabulary and prosody.
25
With these Lttcan and Ovid were associated. Yittorino
dealt first of all with the exact meaning of each word
and its construction in the sentence; this was followed
by an exposition of style. Explanations of allusions
and characters succeeded ; and all these points were illus-
trated from other passages of the same or of different
authors. The matter thus given out was taken down by
each pupil, who thus formed for himself his own written
vocabulary and collected examples of syntax and
prosody.
Among other authors studied in entirety or in selec-
tions, were Horace, Juvenal, Seneca (Tragedies), Caesar,
Livy, Q. Curtius Rufus, Valerius Maximus, Pliny's
Natural History, Phsedrus, Statius, Claudian, Justin,
Florus, Quintilian, Boethius, Jerome, and Lactantius
the last four were mainly for advanced students.
Latin was the regular medium for conversation; there
was a vast amount of memory work such as commit-
ting whole orations of Cicero ; and much original com-
position and verse writing in Latin.
B. The program of John Sturm (1507-1589).
Joannis Sturmii de institutione scholastica opuscula
selecta. I. de literarum ludis recte aperiendis liber
Joannis Sturmii ad Prudentissimos Viros, ornatissimos
homines, etc., 1538. II. Joannis Sturmii Classicarum
Epistularum libri III sive Scholar Argentinenses restitu-
tae 1565. This is the plan I have abridged and trans-
lated opposite.
The works of Sturm will be found in " Die evangelis-
chen Schulordnungen des sechszehnten Jahrhunclerts,"
PP- 653-745, herausgegeben von Reinbold Vormbaum
Giitersloh, C. Bertelsmann, 1860.
Boys entered at six or seven; and the course lasted
ten years, after which they were supposed to go to the
university.
I Year: Memorize declensions and conjugations.
26
II Year: (a) More declensions and conjugations, tak-
ing up irregular forms; (&) begin definite construction
of vocabulary, each pupil building his own dictionary.
Review of I.
III Year : Review. Grammar systematically arranged.
Select Letters of Cicero, with reference to grammatical
construction throughout.
IV Year: Review. Syntax expounded by examples
from Cicero. Daily reading of Cicero. Exercises in
style alteration and changing of sentences. Transla-
tion of Catechism into Latin.
V Year : Review. Cicero translated into German.
Memory work. Latin poems for style. Letters of St.
Jerome. Catechism in Latin.
VI Year: Review. Vocabulary Latin names of ob-
jects of which the German names were previously un-
known ; dictionary of Latin words and phrases com-
pleted. Prosody. Cicero (Cato, Lselius). Vergil (Ec-
logues). Mythology. Style double translation of
Latin into German and vice-versa. Versification: (a)
restoring to proper metre w r ords disarranged; (b) in-
vention in a specific metre.
VII Year : Review. Practice in style as above. Cicero
Verres. Epistles and Satires of Horace. Pauline
Epistles.
VII1 1 Same methods of style, etc. Rhetoric added.
IX L Cicero. Vergil. Sallust. Pauline Epistles.
XJ All the plays of Plautus and Terence many
of these were acted by the pupils.
C. Method of Roger Ascham (1515-1568).
The Scholemaster by Roger Ascham. London,
posthumously published, 1570. Edited by Edward
Arber, and reprinted as in the original. London, 1870.
After the child had learned the eight parts of speech,
as well as the joining of noun and adjective, noun and
27
verb, and noun and antecedent, he was to be given
Sturm's Selections of Cicero's Epistles. This to be care-
fully construed, parsed, etc., by the teacher first and
then by the pupil. The text was translated into English ;
the translation was laid aside for a while, and then
translated back into Latin; and the pupil's version com-
pared with the original. Thus the student studied gram-
mar in direct connection with the original text, instead
of as an isolated subject. After this, he was given
longer lessons, and taught what was proprium and trans-
latum, what synonymum, what diversum, etc. ; and a
course of reading in Cicero, Caesar, Livy, and Terence or
Plautus followed.
Six points were to be observed : I. Translatio ; II.
Paraphrasis; III. Metaphrasis ; IV. Epitome; V. Im-
itatio ; VI. Declamatio. Special stress was laid on
translatio and imitatio; and double translation (Latin
into English and vice-versa) insisted upon. Paraphrasis
was to " take some eloquent Oration or some notable
commonplace in Latin and express it with other wordes."
Metaphrasis consisted in taking " some notable place
out of a good Poete and turning the same sens into
meter, or into other wordes in Prose."
CHAPTER III
We are now in a position to lay down some general
principles on the question of Latin which shall guide
us in presenting the subject to its best advantage.
I do not believe that a child should undertake the
study of Latin before the twelfth year at least. The
judgment before that age is not yet mature enough to
grasp the complexities of a language so highly inflected
when compared with the English. It is true, that in
Vittorino da Feltre's school children of ten recited their
28
own Latin compositions, and pupils of fourteen memor-
ized and recited with taste whole orations of Cicero.
But I cannot be convinced that the introduction of Latin
into the grammar school grades is desirable; though it
has been attempted in several quarters. The reasons of
my objection are several. Firstly, immaturity, as I have
said above. Again, I believe that the grammar school
is the place to acquire a thorough grounding in such
essentials as reading, writing, arithmetic, geography,
English grammar, and history, including civics. It is
the general experience of those who teach beginners of
Latin in the high school, that the first two or three
weeks must be spent in driving home such facts as, for
example, that a noun may not be conjugated nor a vert
declined with impunity. The next year, when Caesan
is taken up, time must needs be wasted in proving to
pupils that Hungary is not in Asia. Then a Roman
numeral occurs, and nobody in the class can interpret it.
When a translation is asked for, the amount of ignorance
displayed in spelling makes the teacher shiver. All this
is by the way, to support my contention that the grammar
school is no place for Latin, but for vital fundamentals.
It is better, too, for a boy to study elementary civics and
learn how his municipality is governed, than to take his
dead language before he knows some living facts ; one of
the worst faults of education has always been a tendency
to live too much in the past. In Vittorino's school his-
tory was a subject for style; any idea of strict investiga-
tion of truth was quite beyond his horizon, as it was
also for his model, Livy ; but happily times have changed.
A third objection to beginning Latin in the grammar
school is the danger of forcing a pupil to plod at a
subject so long that the very monotony of it will kill
his interest. I think that five years is quite enough for
Latin before college; but if it is to be begun in grammar
grades, the unfortunate boys and girls will have six and
seven years ahead of them. Moreover, it has been my
29
experience that the boys or girls in the high school have
the maturity to go ahead just about twice as fast in Latin
as they could advance when they were in the gram-
mar grades; so that for them to take up the language
in, say, Grade VIII, where they could do only half the
amount of work, is time wasted which might better have
been devoted to other things.
Before passing to a consideration of the first year of
Latin, I shall make some comments in the form of
general principles to be observed in the teaching of the
various parts of our subject, such as grammar. I shall
touch them briefly; for I propose to discourse more
minutely upon them when I take up the course year
by year.
Of Correlation
It is in the highest degree undesirable that Latin
should be taught as an isolated study. It should be cor-
related throughout the course with English. It should
be correlated with French or German; for these lan-
guages often present grammatical peculiarities similar to
those of Latin; and a reference to such aids to a better
understanding of them all. It should be correlated with
History; in Roman History instruction in the use of
primary sources may be given by the Commentaries of
Caesar, the Catiline of Sallust, and the Orations and
Letters of Cicero, for example; and in Medieval His-
tory attention may be called to simple works like
Einhard's " Life of Charles the Great " in the original.
Of correlation with English I shall have considerable
to say later; but for the present I subjoin a list of
various works which illustrate diverse aspects of Roman
history. Some of them may assuredly be with profit
made a part of the prescribed "reading in English ; and
they furnish much admirable material for themes. At
any rate, the pupil should be encouraged to read those
30
that his teacher may select as most suited to his age
or tastes. Here are some of the books :
Quo Vadis Sienkiewicz
Last Days of Pompeii Bulwer-Lytton
Lays of Ancient Rome Macaulay
Ben Hur Wallace
Julius Caesar Shakespeare
The Young Carthaginian Henty
Coriolanus Shakespeare
Sisters Eber
The Emperor (time of Hadrian) Eber
Prusias (story of Spartacus) Eckstein
Callus Becker
Two Thousand Years Ago A. J. Church
(third Mithridatic War)
Roman Traitor (time of Catiline)
Neaera (Tiberius at Capri)
Quintus Claudius (time of Domitian)
Letters
Meditations
Enchiridion .
Marius the Epicurean
Callista (persecutions of Decius)
Ward^, of Plotinus
Zenobia
Aurelian
Fabiola, or, The Church of the Catacombs
Hypatia
Herbert
Graham
Eckstein
Pliny
M. Aurelius
Epictetus
Pater
Newman
Mrs. John Hunt
William Ware
William Ware
Wiseman
Kingsley
The Count of the Saxon Shore
Antonina ; or, The Fall of Rome
Felicitas
Stories from Vergil
Parallel Lives
A. J. Church
Wilkie Collins
Dahn
Church
Plutarch
Of Grammar
The first two years of Latin should give such a thor-
ough knowledge in the fundamentals of grammar by
3 T
constant drill and repeated review, that the emphasis
during the other years may be put more on the litera-
ture as literature. I see no valid reason why, after two
years of grammar, a pupil should not have absorbed
enough not to be balked by any syntactical difficulty that
may be encountered in the reading of the next three
years.
I believe most firmly in the method used by the
Humanists, that each pupil write his own grammar up
to a certain point. During the first two years this ought
to be the case; and no formal printed grammar should
be given until the third year. For the presentation of
all possible cases and the- mention of every exception,
such as necessarily occurs in a good grammar, is con-
fusing to the student who has but lately begun the
language. Inasmuch, also, as our text-books insist on
explaining every point by copious references not to one,
but to half a dozen grammars, it will be well to adopt
a plan more simple and much more profitable. The best
way to learn syntax is by seeing it in .the authors read.
Therefore, after the pupil has mastered forms from a
good beginner's book but not until then he should
at once be put to reading; and each construction should
be explained and taken down, with simple concrete ex-
amples, in a notebook. Let us suppose that the first
construction met is a purpose clause. The teacher ex-
plains by examples in English what that means; the
pupils are then asked to give examples of their own ;
the teacher now points out or asks the students to find
other examples in the text; and finally the child is led
to deduce the fact that in Latin purpose is expressed
by the subjunctive with " ut." Next, the law of se-
quence of tenses may be similarly developed. The teacher
may then state the rules as simply as possible and the
pupil should record them, with concrete examples, in
his notebook. Other methods of expressing purpose may
in like manner be explained and noted. If the pupils
32
are studying German or French also, it will help to an
understanding of all the languages concerned if the use
of " dass " in German or of " afin que " in French to
express purpose be similarly brought to the attention.
A teacher may even go further and explain zvhy a pur-
pose clause takes the subjunctive; it expresses desire,
one of the two primary functions of that mood. Teachers
who don't realize that grammar is something more than
rules will doubtless assert that fifteen-year-old children
cannot reason out that much; but if they will try the
experiment, they may learn considerable themselves. If
this deductive method is employed to a reasonable ex-
tent, the student will begin to use his logical faculty;
and that is one reason why Latin is taught.
It is obviously important to guard against an abuse
of either inductive or deductive methods. It is well to
start at once by giving a rule in a case where time
would be lost in an attempt to get by deduction a gram-
matical principle quite foreign to the student's experi-
ence or grasp. So with the inductive process also ; a
student can easily be induced to build up the perfect,
pluperfect, and future perfect of a verb after he has the
perfect stem and the personal endings; but it is waste
of time to try that process in the matter of case-endings,
for example, of a declension ; here it is better to present
the whole paradigm at once in its entirety and have it
memorized. I do not believe that, as a rule, either in-
ductive or deductive method should be attempted until
the declensions and conjugations have been mastered ;
it is only after you have been provided with hammer and
nails and timber that you can build a house.
Very important in grammar it obviously is, to let the
unessentials pass and not give exceptions or rare forms
which the student will never see in his reading during
his high-school course. In word formation the impor-
tance of knowing the force of sco attached to a verb
or of the suffix ia to a noun is evident; but it is deaden-
33
ing and unprofitable to give elaborate rules about the
precise force of suffixes alis, aris, elis, His, and ulis at-
tached to adjectives. These the pupil gets readily by
observation.
Of Prose Composition
Prose composition is usually the bugbear of the teach-
ing of Latin. Many a pupil who takes a real pleasure
in the reading of Latin has his interest deadened by it.
The usual arguments adduced for it are that it is superb
training for the logical faculty, that it leads to a better
appreciation of an author, that it makes syntax clearer,
and that it helps the understanding of English because
the student must weigh carefully the exact meaning of
the English before rendering it into an idiom so different
as the Latin. Of these reasons, I can accept only the
last two as valid. For a close and logically conducted
study of grammar will develop the reasoning faculty
much more than composition ; and careful translation of
Latin into English, with particular attention to the force
of each word and phrase and characteristics of style, is
by all odds the best way to appreciation.
The prime aim of prose composition, then, is to drive
home grammatical principles and, indirectly, to help the
pupil's English. Here it is well to reason out the limits
to which this work should be confined. In the first
place, any insistance on " style " is quite out of place
in a secondary school. We have heard of an English-
man who would never read the Vulgate because it might
spoil his style. But very few men indeed who are fa-
miliar with the classic writers would be so self-com-
placent. One who reads modern Latin as written by
the greatest scholars knows very well that he is not
reading Caesar or Cicero. It is not fair, therefore, to
distract a high-school pupil by such .considerations. As
a single illustration, let us take the matter of word
order. Teachers are very prone to make a fuss about
34
putting verbs at the end of the sentence, and forming
correct periods of all composition, and the like . Yet
there are many sentences in Cicero's Letters which run
along as in English ; which would prove that the natural
order of speech was very much the same in the Roman's
conversation as in the Englishman's ; for which the
Vulgate, which is certainly very excellent Latin, fur-
nishes additional arguments. And is the periodic sen-
tence the only possible arrangement in Latin? Are not
Sallust and Tacitus as great stylists as Caesar?
Again, the best composition is only a piracy of words,
phrases, and constructions which actually occur in ex-
tant authors. When a' stude"ht uses any other, the
teacher doesn't know whether the Romans may have
used it or not. Suppose you give the pupil this sen-
tence : " Caesar made me write the letter." The boy
translates literally : " Caesar fecit me scribere hanc
epistolam." " Wrong," says the teacher ; " you should
say, ' Caesar coegit' " etc. But observe :
qui nati coram me cernere letum fecisti
- Vergil, A en., II, 539.
mel ter infervere facito.
-Col. 12, 38, 5.
Nulla res magis talis oratores videri facit
Cicero, Brutus, 38, 142.
Or suppose you have the sentence, " Horace is worth
reading." I believe that the majority of teachers
would here insist on a qui clause, because the composition
book says so and they don't remember ever seeing an
infinitive used in this construction. But see Quintilian,
X, i, 96: "At Lyricorum idem Horatius fere solus legi
dignus." And isn't Quintilian "classical"?
What teacher would not insist on omitting the prepo-
sitions before names of cities? Nevertheless, the Em-
peror Augustus did not omit them : praecipuamque curam
duxit, sensum animi quam apertissime exprimere. Quod
quo facilius efficeret aut necubi lectorem vel auditorem
35
obturbaret ac moraretur, neque praepositiones urbibus
addere neque coniunctiones saepius iterare dubitavit, quae
detractae afferunt aliquid obscuritatis, etsi gratiam augent
Suetonius, divus Augustus, 86. Teachers insist that
" dum " meaning " while " takes the present indicative ;
but Caesar and Nepos make it take the perfect, also.
Nepos uses " quamvis " with the indicative ;' so does
Cicero, once. But the teacher insists that " quamvis "
takes the subjunctive always. Nepos often, and Cicero
and Caesar occasionaly, break the " law " of the sequence
of tenses and use the perfect instead of the imperfect
with " ut " in result clauses. What is truth, indeed ?
See also Cicero ad Atticum: 7, 3, 10. And note the
anecdote on " odivit " in Phil. 13, 19, 42.
As Latin is, furthermore, no longer the language of
diplomacy, of science, or of history, more than a limited
amount of time devoted to speaking or writing it is very
idle; about as ridiculous as" the English habit of writing
verse.
I repeat, then, that only so much time should be de-
voted to prose composition as shall drive home gram-1
matical principles. The vital mistake in this matter is
to expect too much. Sentences should be simple and
based on the text read in the daily lesson. It is also
better, I believe, to spend five minutes a day on com-
position, than to set one whole period apart for this on
some particular day.
It is my conviction that the teacher will derive more
profit from making sentences of his own for this work,
than to use a formal composition book. Composition
books are entirely too voluminous and complex. Take
this sentence from lesson 23, page 87, of Harper and
Burgess's " Elements of Latin " A " Caesar, after carry-
ing on war with the Venetians, remains in Gaul, so that
he may hinder the barbarians, who are wont to fight
with their neighbors." That is not only too much to
A American Book Company. 1900.
36
expect from pupils who have had but twenty-three les-
sons in Latin, but it is too elaborate for students in the
first half of the second year. Or consider this for
second-year students : A " While the Helvetii were getting
ready those things which they were going to take with
them on the journey, Orgetorix persuaded them to es-
tablish peace with their neighbors, saying that he would
go to the neighboring states to accomplish this purpose."
Compare with this the simple sentences given on the
Harvard paper in Elementary Latin for pupils who have
had three years of the language.
Of Memory Work
From the first a reasonable amount of work to be
committed to memory and recited should be required,
both to cultivate the memory mental laziness is a
pretty prevalent fault with our pupils and to enrich
the mind with the best thoughts of the masters. A stu-
dent will not, in later years, regret having memorized
the eulogy of -literature in the " Archias " or Vergil's
" Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco"; and the
like. N
On Reading Aloud
The advantages of reading aloud, if one endeavors, at
the same time, to throw the emphasis in the right places,
must be obvious ; not only is it a powerful aid in grasp-
ing the sense, but it conduces also to familiarity with
the language and to an easy and correct pronunciation.
One of the most difficult things to persuade a student
to do, is to get him to read the lesson over as a whole
in order to grasp the meaning in its entirety, before
proceeding to pick out the individual words and trans-
lating piecemeal. The teacher should also constantly
A Ch. Ill, section 2, of Moulton's Preparatory Latin Com-
position (Ginn, 1901).
37
read to the pupils; whereby they readily acquire a cor-
rect enunciation by observation. The majestic rhythm
and cadence which is one of the charms of Latin can
be appreciated only by intelligent reading; and in Cicero
correct reading, especially in quantity, is, as we shall
see, of vast importance in understanding the power of
the orator over his audience. People to-day seem to
have forgotten what Quintilian and later the Humanists
knew very well, that reading aloud is one of the most
healthful of exercises, from the standpoint both of the
digestion and of the lungs.
It is very profitable, if the teacher will from time to
time read to the classes some selection in Latin adapted
to their progress and then ask the pupils the purport of
what has been read. This 'not only brings about a
readier comprehension, but also inspires the enthusiasm
which always follows the feeling that one is acquiring
mastery of one's subject.
Of the Pronunciation of Latin
Perhaps it is not necessary to say much on the pro-
nunciation of Latin, since the Roman method is in prac-
tically universal vogue. Professor Bennett, in the
" Teaching of Latin and Greek," pp. 66-80, argues that
this method should be abandoned, and the English
method substituted. He admits that we do know exactly
how Caesar and Cicero pronounced their language; but
holds that inasmuch as no student can ever learn the
quantities of vowels in all words like sexaginta, senex,
V "~
video, etc., it is better to abandon the attempt altogether ;
and he believes that the English method is also easier
for beginners. I cannot agree with him. The vowels
in our text-books are marked for the pupil; and they
readily become familiar with them. That beginners find
it difficult is not my experience; it stands to reason, of
38
course, that beginners should not be harassed by too
great an insistence on mastering each long and short
quantity. It seems to me that even approximate correct-
ness is better than the English method, which emasculates
the Latin; and how any one can appreciate Cicero 01^
Vergil by this system is beyond my comprehension. In
Vergil pupils learn to read the hexameter both readily
and with a correct enunciation of long and short vowels
without much trouble, because the quantity is easily seen
in this metre. Moreover, the English method is not
so easy as it appears, because the English letters have
severally so many varied sounds. A However, I do not
deem the subject so important that it needs extended
discussion; I shall content myself with giving a short
bibliography of primary and secondary sources; and the
teacher interested can form his opinion at his leisure.
Primary Sources :
Keil: Grammatici Latini. Leipsig. 1855-1880. The
standard collection of grammarians, who, by the way,
are much more numerous than people suppose.
A Observe some of the elaborate rules which the student of
the English method must learn:
I. Of dissyllables the penultimate vowel, if it be followed
by a single consonant or by T and R or L, is sounded long,
as amo, scelus, Titus, onus, lyra, triplex. Traditional exceptions
are ibi, tibi, ?ibi. ciuibus, Paris, and ero, eram, etc., from
sum, to which Greek influence has now added ego. In all
others the penultimate vowel is pronounced short, as in cinctus,
nondum, sanctus.
II. In words of more than two syllables, if the penultimate
be long, the quantities are observed before a single consonant,
as monebam, amain. If the penultimate be short, the ante-
penult is also sounded short, as monitum, veritus; but in earlier
syllables the quantities are observed, as mirabilia. If, however,
a penultimate vowel other than U be immediately followed by
another vowel, the antepenultimate vowel i? sounded long, as
habeo, melior, but momii; except where the two vowels are
both I or its equivalent, as utilia, Nicia^^L'ideo. The same
principles apply to earlier vowels; thus, ^ne first syllable of
amaz'erunt is sounded short, and the first syllable of Dicaeopolis
long.
39
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Begun in 1863.
Statements of writers like Varro, Quintilian, Cicero,
and Aulus Gellius (see, for example, Gellius II, 3, II, 17,
IV, 17, VI (VII) 7, VII (VI) 15).
Greek transliterations of Latin words. A
The scientific study of sound changes. 3
The development of the Romance Languages.
Secondary Sources:
Charles E. Bennett: Appendix to Latin Grammar,
4-68. Boston. 1895. Allyn & Bacon.
W. M. Lindsay: The Latin Language. Ch. II. O
ford. Clarendon Press. 1894.
W. M. Lindsay: Historical Latin Grammar, pp. 8-21.
Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1895.
Emil Seelmann: Die Aussprache cles Latein. Heil-
bronn. 1885.
Robinson Ellis : The Quantitative Pronunciation of
Latin. London. 1874.
H. Roby: Latin Grammar. Vol. I, 4th edition, p
xxx-xc. London. Macmillan. 1881.
H. A. J. Munro : Pronunciation of Latin. London.
Frances E. Lord : The Roman Pronunciation of Lati
Boston. Ginn & Co. 1894.
Of Revieiv
Constant review is the only sure way to settle gram-
mar and vocabulary firmly in the mind. It is very
A v. the "Corpus inscriptionum Grsecarum"; and Roman
names in Plutarch, for example.
B v. Max Miil^s and Whitney's standard works.
c v. Professor Grandgent's " Introduction to Vulgar Latin.''
(D. C. Heath.)
40
foolish to imagine that Latin is easy. Each daily lesson
should be either preceded or followed by a review of
the preceding day's lesson; and at the end of terms the
work of that term should, be reviewed and summed up
as concisely and coherently as possible. It is in review
that the pupil sees the subject as a whole and notes the 1
connection of parts which have so far seemed more or^
less isolated fragments.
Of Translation
" The fine art of translation " is one of the very best
means of acquiring command of one's mother tongue
and appreciation of the authors who are to be translated.
A translation that is adequate -will render as minutely as
possible the exact force of each word, the style, and the
atmosphere of an author. Great translations are lament-
ably few; translations, I mean, equal to Bayard Taylor's
" Faust," or the Comedies of Aristophanes, by Rogers.
Good English in translation is a thing to be absolutely
insisted upon ; and there is no reason why pupils should
not, with fair success, imitate the conciseness of Caesar
and the periodic harmony of Cicero. In Vergil, above
all, attention to the concrete meanings of words, their
literal signification, is a sine qua non for real apprecia-
tion^ When Virgil sings " spumas salis acre ruebant,"
and the teacher permits a student to render it " they
were sailing along," instead of " they were plowing the
foam of the brine with the bronze " that teacher has
sinned against Vergil. Written translations should be
A " Language is called the Garment of Thought; however,
it should rather be, Language is the Flesh-Garment, the Body,
of Thought. . . . Metaphors are her stuff :, examine Lan-
guage; what, if you except some few primitive elements (of
natural sound), what is it all but Metaphors, recognized as
such, or no longer recognized. ... is not your every
Attention a Siretching-io? " Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, I, n.
41
assigned frequently and as part of the required work in
English; for the Latin schedule cannot afford too much
time for such matters.
Pupils should be taught to take the Latin idea in the
Latin order, with special attention to the emphatic posi-
tion of words.
Slipshod renderings of Latin words are a common
feature of the classical work in our schools. Does
" fides " mean " faith," or " religio " " religion," or " an "
at the beginning of a sentence mean " or " ? Is " quos
honoris causa nomino " translated adequately by " whom
I name for the sake of honor " ? And how many
teachers pay attention to a good rendering of an
"ethical" dative? Very few; they permit a pupil to
fancy that " Tongilium mihi eduxit " is well translated
by " He led out Tongilius," instead of by Professor
Lane's " He took out Tongilius, bless my soul ! " I
most earnestly recommend the splendid grammar of Pro-
fessor Laae to teachers, if only for the numberless
happy translations to be found in it. A
On the Use of Translations
That the use of " trots " cripples the power of a
pupil during the first two or three years of Latin I
fancy no one will deny. When it comes to Vergil, how-
ever, I believe that translations of acknowledged literary
excellence such as those of Dryden, Rhoades, Wil-
liams, and Conington help in appreciation and do not
lead to abuse. The teacher should keep on his desk,
for pupils to look into at opportune moments, good trans-
lations of the works of Caesar, Cicero, Vergil, not usually
read in the ^ schools; and in teaching Roman History
translations of Suetonius, Tacitus, and the like should
by all means be accessible for reference.
A Revised Edition, 1898. Harper.
4 2
Of the Acquisition of Vocabulary; and of Sight Reading.
Grammar is the tool which unlocks the treasure-house
of a language; but the words are the treasure-rooms
themselves. The acquisition of vocabulary is a vital
point in learning any tongue. How can it be acquired
most readily, most effectively?. In two ways: by the
intensive study of a certain passage or passages of a
prescribed lesson each day ; and by reading at sight. And
here the old Humanist schoolmasters can still instruct
us. John Sturm insisted that each boy put down on a
card or in a notebook each new word met with in the
reading and that this be committed to memory. Experi-
ence has convinced me that no other method can com-
pare with this in fruitfulness for pupils in secondary
schools. I have repeatedly had pupils come to me for
coaching in College Entrance Examinations in Latin and
German and French who had read a very flattering
amount of literature in those languages ; but they could
not translate the simplest sentences at sight with ac-
curacy. They had simply never learned to photograph
individual words and their meanings in their minds.
There should be considerable reading at sight through-
out the course ; and here is the chance really to acquire
a vocabulary. Let the student write each new word on
a card with its meanings and let him be required to
memorize it; by this means the memory is strengthened
and a stronger grasp of the language follows.
I have heard of an objection to this, to the effect that
a boy cannot write and memorize all the possible mean-
ings of words like ratio? res, fero, studium, consilium,
and the like, which must be-> differently translated in a
multitude of ways in different passages. The objection
is not valid ; for in the case of all such words two, three,
and, at the most, four meanings can be given which will
fit every context.
43
Ability to distinguish between words which look alike
is of fundamental importance; many a sentence is in-
accurately translated from failure to distinguish " opus "
meaning " work " and the indeclinable " opus " meaning
"need"; and both these are constantly confused with
*ops (opis) and opera (opene). Again, " tantum " as
an adverb in the sense of " merely," " only " is very
common ; and the only way to learn such necessary mat-
ters is to write them down and memorize them. Little
booklets like Ritchie's " Discernenda," a list of Latin
words liable to be confused, are a convenient thing for
pupils to use. A
In the case of many words it is not beyond a pupil's
comprehension, if he is given the fundamental root of a
series of words from which, by the addition of proper
prefixes and suffixes, he can easily derive secondary
meanings. Thus : i/ag has the idea " to go at a thing,"
"to drive," "to set in motion." Hence: ago, agito,
actor, actus, agilis, agitator, agitatio, agilitas, cogo [co-
ago"|, adigo fad-ago], etc.
Two excellent " Latin Word Lists " have appeared
within the last three years: one by Professor Lodge
[Columbia University Press!, the other by Mr. George
H. Browne [Ginn & Co.]. These lists contain the words
met with in works of the authors usually read in second-
ary schools ; and these words are, furthermore, arranged
in the numerical proportion of their occurrence. The
translations of each word are excellent and adequate to
fit the sense of any context in which they occur. Obvi-
ously, if a pupil were assigned only two or three of these
words per day a small task throughout the high-
school course, he would have a larger vocabulary than
the feeble imitation which is usually met among seniors
in secondary schools. It is, however, always to be re-
membered, that the visualization of a word is best ac-
A Discernenda Ritchie Longmans, Green & Co. 1898
44
quired by first seeing it in a given context and then
noting it with its various meanings in other contexts.
This is the best method to photograph it in the memory.
But the Latin Word List may well serve as an important
auxiliary.
Of Authors: and What Works of the Authors should
be read in Secondary Schools
A careful survey of the courses of study in Latin in
preparatory and high-schools shows that, in general, the
reading is confined to three authors : Caesar, Cicero, and
Vergil. To these are added, occasionally, Ovid, Nepos,
and Sallust. Of Caesar, four to eight books of the
" Gallic War " and, now and then, the " Civil War " are
presented ; of Cicero, six to fourteen orations ; of Vergil,
six to twelve books of the "^Eneid." Compare with
this the courses of study in modern languages ; and note
the huge contrast. A student who pursues German for
four years becomes acquainted with representative works
of Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, and Heine ; with lesser poets,
such as Uhland, Ritckert, and the like ; with prose
writers such as Freytag, Hauff, Grimm, and Hoffmann.
The question arises why Latin literature with its Livy,
Pliny, Catullus, Juvenal, and a host of writers who
have profoundly impressed their marks on succeeding
ages, has grown to be confined, in secondary schools
with the exception of the Jesuit to the " Gallic War,"
the " Aeneid," and the " Orations " of Cicero. That is
to say, Latin has suffered as if English literature were
to be confined to the campaigns of Wellington, the
Paradise Lost," and Burke's speeches. A
A What period of Roman history is most closely related to
us? The first three centuries after Christ, when law was
perfected, when Christianity worked its way to supremacy,
when the barbarians who were to form the modern nations
began to win the ascendency. Strange that such a period should
have not one of its numerous authors represented in a course of
Latin.
45
The causes of the confined study of Latin are varied
and without any substantial basis of reason. For in the
first place, Latin is looked upon primarily as a drill in
grammar. Again, the teachers themselves are not the
masters of their subject as they ought to be "the
master 'many times being as ignorant as the childe, what
to saie properlie and fitlie to the matter," as Ascham
remarks. Furthermore, it is believed that reading as
much as possible of a single author, and that, too, of a
single work of that author, is the only way of gaining
a proper mastery of Latin literature. And, lastly, the
cogent reason that superintendents demand certain fixed
programs, the colleges require them, and the publishing
houses will issue no other texts.
Latin is more than a drill in grammar. It can and
should be made a vehicle for the interpretation of the
genius of that people which has stamped its system of
law and government upon the western nations. Its liter-
ature, considered as pure literature, is majestic, ethical,
classic; Plautus an<3 Terence inspired English comedy;
Seneca and Horace have influenced tragedy by example
and precept; Vergil has guided not Dante alone; Quin-
tilian is mighty as rhetorician and educator. You can-
not understand -the development of the Christian Church
without the study of the genius of Rome. Why should
Latin be but a drill in grammar?
Caesar's " Commentaries " will always remain the
model of the military memoir for their precision, their
sustained elegance. The study of the tribes who formed
the nucleus of modern nations never fails to interest the
student; the Roman methods of conquering, their pro-
cesses of warfare, always attract attention and eager
inquiry. But they are as poor that surfeit with too
much, as they who starve on nothing; and to force three,
four, and even five books of Caesar on a boy or girl
is a grievous sin. Would any German teacher spend a
year on the campaigns of Frederick the Great? The
- 46
UNIVERSITY
?
SlTYl
moment that the reading of an author is pushed to
satiety and becomes a painful repetition of the same
dreary details, as of battles, sieges, and battles again, at
that moment it ceases to inspire and produces a reaction
against the literature which the author represents.
Nothing is more unfortunate than the treatment of
Cicero in our secondary schools. For the " Orations "
do not represent Cicero's real greatness. He is the
humanist, who interpreted Greek philosophy for the
western world; he is a human man, whose letters throw
a fascinating light on contemparaneous political and
social life. In his " Orations " he has set a false stand-
ird for men. A
Why confine Vergil to the " Aeneid " ? Is not the
music of the "Eclogues" worth attention? Why not
:lrop the last six books of the " Aeneid," the artificial,
:hough wonderfully artistic, adaptations of Greek origi-
nals, and contemplate for a while the Fourth Eclogue
and Vergil's uniq'ue position as a magician during the
Middle Ages? Does any English teacher read the whole
:>f " Paradise Lost," with no consideration of "Lycidas" ? A
The result of our present system of presenting Latin
s that the Roman world is plunged into the same mystic
md (inhuman atmosphere which surrounded it during
:he Middle Ages. It will be* worth while for any teacher
;o question his or her juniors and seniors some day as
:o their ideas of Roman life and literature. Results are
ilways interesting, though rarely soothing. To cite but
:>ne example : the average student believes quite naturally
:hat the Roman conversed exactly as Cicero and Vergil
vrote, using the same elaborate word order, the same
lowery language. Hence the Roman appears as a Being
earfully and wonderfuly made, who spent most of his
ime in devising knotty grammar for posterity. And
et a week devoted to reading from the Vulgate would
A See pages 79-87 and 97-101 for an extended discussion of
hese points.
47
quickly disabuse the student; the Vulgate was written
for the great masses, not for a cultivated nobility alone:
and it seems to me extraordinary that this chance ha^
been so long overlooked for making boys and girls ac-
quainted at once with the Bible and the spoken language
of the average Roman.
I meet at once with the objection, that I am trying
to make Latin interesting at the expense of hard work
Such has never been my practice ; and the make-it-
pleasant-and-easy method of teaching is as distasteful
to me as to any one. But I assert positively that, at
the end of two or, at most, three years of Latin, a
student who has been rightly drilled should be ready tc
read at a fair pace and should have enough grammar tc
last for the next four years of study, if he desires to
continue the language. It is in the junior and senior
years that I plead for greater variety, much more than
during the first two or three. No one insists more
firmly on a solid foundation of grammar than I do.
Again : the assertion is made that the vocabulary, say,
of Pliny' and of Seneca is too difficult for a high-school
student. That assertion is nonsense; for I have had
juniors and seniors read selections from these authors
with less trouble than from Cicero.
The idea that one must read the whole " Aeneid " to
appreciate Vergil, or seven books of the " Gallic War "
to understand Caesar is about 'the weakest argument of
the Old Guard. , Far from leading to appreciation, too
much of an author becomes a deadly bore. And it is
unfair to the author. Cicero also wrote some charm-
ing essays, and some still more interesting letters; to
prevent the student from observing his author in all his
different aspects is most unjust to the writer.
I would make certain parts of Caesar, Cicero, and
Vergil the basis of the curriculum in Latin for intensive
study; but I believe that one month or two of the year
should be taken for other authors, adapted to the sev-
eral classes, in order to get a wider knowledge and a
broader vocabulary. In my own practice, I use such
authors largely for sight reading.
It is to be remembered that a small percentage of our
high-school pupils take Latin in college; very few ever
go to college; and hence the desirability for as broad
a range in reading as is consistent with thoroughness is
vastly increased. I do not believe that every boy or
girl should study Latin; but I hold firmly that, if it is
taught, our present confined system is inadequate. The
language is, indeed, on the defensive.. Botany, zoology,
meteorology, Esperanto, and other vital studies, which
are so marvelously practical, tend to crowd it back. If
Nature has intended a boy to be a blacksmith, let him
study blacksmithing ; but if he has a capacity for litera-
ture, let him not be driven from that literature which is
so vitally interwoven with our modern ; let him not gain
the impression that Caesar, Cicero, and Vergil are all
there is.
I once asked a teacher of the old school why so many
authors were studied in German and French, and only
three in Latin. To this he replied that he would not
give a snap of his fingers for the results achieved in
modern-language work; and he cited in support that
in eminent Harvard professor of modern languages had
>aid the same. The worthy old schoolmaster was mis-
aken. The Harvard professor had not attacked the
eading of many authors; he had attacked the slipshod
vay in which these authors are presented.
Many teachers agree that more variety is desirable;
ut they point to the fact that Yale, Princeton, Wil-
iams, every college except Harvard, demand four books
>f Caesar, six orations of Cicero, and six books of the
Aeneid"; and they ask, "What can we do?" Well,
f teachers were not so afraid of expressing their opin-
ons, perhaps Yale and her little sisters would some day
wake to the fact that translation at sight is the only
49
true test of ability in Latin, as all acknowledge it is in
German and French. Any bright boy can " trot " out
his prescribed Cicero in a month and pass the examina-
tion. I have seen it done repeatedly. And I should like
to inquire, by the way, by what divine right colleges
are allowed to dictate studies in secondary schools, see-
ing that a very small per cent of high-school students
ever go to college?
In accordance with the arguments that I have pre-
sented above, it is my purpose, when I deal with the
program year by year, to indicate what various authors
and what parts of those authors I have found suitable
to present to pupils in secondary schools, in order to
give them a wider range and broader insight. As I have
said, one or two months a year devoted to these writers
who may serve largely for sight reading will suffice
for our purposes. I shall, I trust, prove that from
Phsedrus, Aulus Gellius, Pliny the Younger, Q. Curtius
Rufus, Valerius Maximus, the Vulgate, Velleius Pater-
culus, Livy. Seneca, Juvenal, Ovid, Sallust, and the like,
the teacher has a splendid opportunity to derive work
adapted to the several classes at the teacher's discretion.
In connection with these authors I shall here notice
briefly two possible objections : I. That many are not
" classical " ; II. That suitable texts cannot be procured.
The " classical " argument amounts in most cases to
absolute feeble-mindedness. The Old Guard tell us that
Caesar, Cicero, Vergil, and the other Augustan writers
are " classical," but the others are beyond the pale. Pre-
cisely as if, in English, we should all attempt to write in
the language of Shakespeare and Milton, and consider
Gladstone and Lincoln " silver " English. Isn't Quin-
tilian classical ? Isn't Claudian classical ? Isn't the Vul-
gate classical ? If you except formations like " baptize,"
the Latin of the Vulgate is the Latin of Caesar ; only
the word-order is much the same as in English; it is,
therefore, not to be read, I suppose. Some of those who
50
insist so on the " classical " even have the impertinence
to. forbid their pupils to read authors like Velleius Pater-
culus on the ground that their Latin style would be
corrupted. " Style " in writing Latin is something that ]
can be predicated very rarely of great scholars like /
Erasmus; and to speak of it in connection with high- /
school pupils amounts to a self-complacency verging on /
the idiotic.
As to texts : the Teubuer texts are very cheap, neatly
bound, well printed, and excellently edited. They have
no vocabulary attached ; but, as I have remarked before,
these authors last mentioned should form the basis of
the sight reading to a large extent; and the pupil should
note each new word. There is nothing so profitable as
to place the whole text of an author in the hands of a
pupil ; one likewise without the pretty pictures, legions
of grammatical references, and exercises in composition
based on the text, which all go to make the usual text-
30oks a bugbear. From a Teubner text, also, the teacher
las the whole field of an author to select from. Nor is
t a bad idea to encourage the pupil to start a little
classical library of his own, if he can afford it; ten
dollars will do wonders.
Texts with notes and vocabularies are also accessible,
although teachers do not know it. I shall mention two
of these excellent in every way :
I. Selections from Ovid, Curtius, and Cicero; with
lotes, vocabulary, and brief biographies of these writers.
Edited by F. Gardner, A. M. Gay, and A. H. Buck.
Lee and Shepard, Boston. Contains selections from
Ovid's Metamorphoses, Quintus Curtius Rufus's His-
ory of Alexander the Great, and Cicero's de Senec-
ute and de Amicitia.
II. A Latin Reader. By William and Joseph Allen.
Boston, Ginn & Co., 1869. Notes and vocabulary. Con-
51
tains selections from Phaedrus, Caesar, Quintus Curtiu^
Rufus, Nepos, Sallust, Ovid, Vergil, Plautus, Terenre.
Cicero, Pliny, and others.
To these should be added the following admirable
selections for sight reading:
III. Latin at Sight. By Edwin Tost. Ginn & Co.
Short selections from Caesar, Cicero, A. Gelliu-.
Phaedrus, Nepos, Eutropius, Q. Curtius Rufus, Sue-
tonius, Tibullus, Justin, Pliny, Livy.
IV. Passages for Practice in Translation at Sight.
Selected and arranged by James S. Reid. London:
Daldy, Isbister, and Co. (56 Ludgate Hill).
V. Roman Life in Latin Prose and Verse. Selected
and edited by Harry T. Peck and Robert Arruwsmith.
American Book Company. Selections from popular
songs, tomb inscriptions, Ennius, Plautus, Cato the i
sor, Catullus, Livy, Ovid, Caesar, Juvenal, Pliny the
Younger and Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Christian Hymns,
etc., etc., with brief biographies and excellent pictures.
This is the best reader that has appeared.
Miscellaneous
Schoolrooms where Latin is taught should, wherever
possible, contain pictures dealing with Roman life or
art, busts of men like Caesar, Cicero, and Vergil, and
suitable maps; for all these lend vividness and bring the
past nearer. On the desk, or in the bookcase, there
should be such works on topography, archeology, private
life of the Romans, history, facsimiles of manuscripts
and the like, as are adapted to the student's progn
and he should be encouraged to glance through them
whenever time permits. I append a limited list of wrk-
which are suitable to inspire the attention of pupils in
secondary schools:
Govv: Companion to School Classics. Lnndnn. Mac-
millan.
52
Becker: Callus, or Roman Scenes in the Time of Au-
gustus Longmans, Green & Co.
Comparetti : Vergil in the Middle Ages. Macmillan.
il. \\'. Jhn>tMii: Latin Manuscripts. Chicago. Scott,
esman & Co.
: I '-Tt raits of Caesar. Longmans, Green & Co.
\V. Smith: I>utionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
id. : l)irti'>nary of Greek and Roman Biography and
Mythology. Boston. Little, Brown & Co.
Mackail: Latin Literature. New York. Chas. Scrib-
ner's Sons.
Laiuiani: Anrient Rome in the Light of Recent Ex-
cavations id.: Ruins and Excavations of Ancient
Rome. Boston. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
Man: I'ompeii; its Life and \rt. New York. Mac-
millan.
P.ilder aus dem tfruvhischen und romischen
Ahertluiiii. ir.r Sdiulrr zusammengcstellt. Munich.
K Oldenbourg.
Kiepert: Classical Atlas. Boston. Benjamin H. San-
born & Co.
; Atlas, .inn.
ley: Gassic Myths in Ln#li>h Literature. Ginn
& Co.
Gesta Romanorum : Translated by Charles Swan. Lon-
don. George L.cll & Sons.
Alien: Remnants of Early Latin, (linn & Co.
Lind-ay: Latin Inscriptions. Allyn and Bacon.
t<>n and Dodge: The Private Life of the Romans.
Boston. Leach, Shewell & Sanborn.
Peck and Arrowsmith : Roman Life in Latin Prose and
rse. American T.ook Co. 1894.
i 'hurch : Roman Life in the Days of Cicero. Macmillan.
k (Harry T. : Trimalchio's Dinner. New York.
Dodd, Mead & Co.
IMiny the Klder : Natural Ui>try. Bohn.
53
A standard History of Rome, as, for example, Gibbon's,
Mommsen's, or Merivale's. Also Ferrero.
Milne : Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times.
Oxford, Clarendon Press [54 fine photographic
plates] .
Frontinus: On the Water Supply of Rome (de aquas-
ductibus). Text, facsimile of MSS., translation.
numerous illustrations by Clemens Herschel.
Boston. Dana Estes & Co.
Heroes of History: By Ida P. Whitcomb. Maynard,
Merrill & Co., New York.
CHAPTER IV
THE FIRST YEAR OF LATIN
The most important point to remember at the begin-
ning of the first year of Latin is that Latin is not easy
and that constant drill and review are indispensable.
In the text-book the mere mechanics of arrangement
are of great importance. A complex or confused ar-
rangement discourages the pupil; clearness and sim-
plicity of presentation are vital. The book should not
be too voluminous.
There are four possible methods of approaching our
subject; I shall illustrate them by reviewing four repre-
sentative text-books which apply them.
I. The First Latin Book. Collar and Daniell. Ginn,
1901. This book, after the usual brief introduction to
the alphabet and to pronunciation, gives paradigms of
declension and conjugation at the beginning of each
lesson ; later on, also, a matter of syntax, say, the ablative
of means ; and to each lesson are appended sentences for
translation from Latin into English and from English
54
into Latin. In the case of verbs, whole conjugations are
not presented at once; but individual tenses are given
in separate lessons, until the conjugation is complete.
II. Foundations of Latin. Charles E. Bennett.
Boston. Allyn and Bacon. Revised edition, 1903. Pro-
fessor Bennett's manual proceeds on a different basis.
The declensions and conjugations are given as a whole
in successive lessons. The sentences set for translation
from English into Latin are much simpler than in the
book of Messrs. Collar and Daniell. Up to chapter 35
no such sentences appear at all in the regular lessons,
being placed by themselves in the back of the book.
Exercises for rendering of Latin into English appear
with each lesson.
III. Beginning Latin. John E. Barss. D. C. Heath.
Boston. 1907. This text-book uses the inductive
method. Paradigms of declensions and conjugations are
not presented at once, but the root or stem of a noun,
for example, is shown, and the pupil is asked to build
up its declension by the suffix of appropriate endings.
IV. Bellum Helveticum. For Beginners in Latin.
C. M. Lowe and Nathaniel Butler. Chicago, 1900.
Scott, Foresman & Co. In this manual the deductive
method prevails. The pupil is put at once into the read-
ing of Caesar ; and each grammatical or syntactical point,
and forms, are explained as they occur.
It is rash to assert that any one method is best. Each
teacher has his own ; and if results are right, the means
are good. Personally I think that Professor Bennett's
is by far the best for pupils who begin Latin in the high
school. His book is very simple, compact, clear; and
the sentences are, to my mind, better than those of any
other beginner's book in their reasonableness and under-
standing of what may be expected of immature children.
His method, moreover, of presenting whole conjugations
at once, instead of piecemeal, as Messrs. Collar and
Daniell do, avoids confusion by concentration on the
55
forms in their entirety. The simplicity of the sentences
to be rendered into English commends itself to those
who have learned by experience that the sentences in
most of the first Latin books are entirely too difficult
for first-year students.
After declensions and conjugations have been mas-
tered, together with easy syntax like the ablative of
cause; and after considerable practice in the translation
of simple Latin into English; then, and then only, is it
proper to begin prose composition of English into Latin.
\ Prose composition is the most difficult thing for the
\beginner to do; it is also, when wrongly used, the great-
est invention known to make Latin odious, and for this
Reason is often referred to as superb mental training;
just as physicians formerly thought a drug efficacious in
proportion to its nauseousness. It demands common-
sense on the part of the teacher to prevent it from be-
coming a bugbear. Sentences for first-year pupils should
be simple. I find the following in one book, given in
lesson 23 : " Caesar, after carrying on war with the
Venetians, remains in Gaul, so that he may hinder the
barbarians, who are wont to fight with their neighbors."
I consider this too difficult for second-year students, not
to speak of unfortunates who have had only twenty-
three lessons in Latin. I append an example or two
of sentences which I believe illustrate what may reason-
ably be expected of a pupil at the end of the first year.
1. Caesar came in order to conquer the Helvetii.
2. We stayed at Rome for ten days.
3. The soldiers who fought in that battle were
praised by Caesar.
4. Vergil was born at Mantua, but Cicero in Arpi-
num. Cicero was thirty-six years older than Vergil.
And the like.
Grammar studied alone, without vital connection with
a language, is not of much value. Pupils should, there-
fore, begin reading simple anecdotes as soon as possible.
56
After the Roman way of saying things has become
familiar, the pupil should begin to do what seems to
me of the highest practical value, namely, make his own
dictionary of words, phrases, and rules in his notebook
as he meets them in his reading, especially reading at
sight. It is strange that this method, found by the
Humanist schoolmasters to yield such vast pracucal
benefits, is not more used to-day. After all, vocabulary
is perhaps the most important matter. Grammar is, in-
deed, the foundation ; but words are the living material.
An architect cannot build a mansion with his plans alne ;
be needs stones and timber.
The following books are suitable for first-year stu-
dents' reading:
I. The Gradatim. Revised by Collar. Ginn & Co.
II. Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles. Edited with vocabulary
by J. C. Kirklancl. Longmans, Green Co.
III. Scalar Primae. J. G. Spencer. Geo. Bell &
Sons, London. With vocabulary.
IV. Viri Romae. Edited by D'Ooge. Ginn & Co.
.V. Phaedrus, Justin, and Nepos. Edited with notes
and vocabulary, and brief biographical notices, by F.
Gardner, A. M. Gay, and A. H. Buck. Lee & Shepard,
Boston.
I would have the students begin real Latin, written
by real Romans, as soon as possible. The Latin of
modern works like the " Fabulae Faciles " is, indeed, ex-
cellent ; but they are not and cannot be what original
works are. The Fables of Phaedrus are practically un-
used ; yet consider their interest historically and ethically
alone. As most teachers have not read them and prob-
ably imagine them too difficult for beginners, I shall
quote the first:
LUPUS ET AGNUS
Ad rivum eundem lupus et agnus venerant,
Siti compulsi ; superior stabat lupus,
57
Longeque inferior agnus. Tune fauce improba
Latro incitatus iurgii causam intulit.
" Cur," inquit, " turbulentam fecisti mihi
Aquam bibenti ? " Laniger contra timens :
" Qui possum, quaeso, f acere, quod quereris, lupe ?
A te decurrit ad meos haustus liquor."
Repulsus ille veritatis viribus,
" Ante hos sex menses male," ait, " dixisti mihi."
Respondit agnus : " Equidem natus non eram."
" Pater hercule tuus," inquit, " male dixit mihi."
Atque ita correptum lacerat inusta nece.
Hsec propter illos scripta est homines fabula,
Qui fictis catisis innocentes opprimunt.
Surely no one will assert that pupils who have studied
Latin for six months will be nonplussed by any gram-
matical construction here. Note, too, the excellence of
the vocabulary the language is that of Caesar and
Cicero. That the fables are in verse need cause no diffi-
culty; the teacher can read it, and the pupils learn the
scansion more easily than one would suppose. It is, of
course, much too early to bother them with any rules of
prosody; but the matter of long and short syllables they
will have learned in the first lessons. The following
fables of Phaedrus are by no means beneath the ability
of first-year students : Nos. I, VI, VIII, XIV, and XLII.
Memory work should be assigned to a reasonable
amount, even in the first year. Phaedrus offers excellent
material, e.g., the four verses of No. VI, or the first three
of Nos. VII and VIII. Or the teacher may write on the
board, for the pupils to copy and memorize, very com-
monly used proverbs, as:
Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur,
or,
Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat.
58
There should be much reading aloud; and above all
it should be drilled into the students from the beginning
that they should read the Latin over first and try to
get the meaning as a whole before the individual words
are picked out for translation.
Written daily tests of, say, five minutes duration, are
most profitable. Many a pupil recites glibly and with
seeming correctness what he cannot transcribe accurately
on paper. The test may consist of a question on forms
one day ; on anothetya sentence to translate ; on a third,
a matter of syntax; and the like. Dictation exercises
are also useful to acquire accuracy and familiarity in
the language.
At the end "of the first year of Latin a student should
have the following knowledge: Declensions of nouns,
pronouns, and adjectives; conjugations of regular verbs
and the common irregular verbs, like possum, f ero, eo ;
common uses of ablative, genitive, dative, accusative ; the
simple principles governing common subordinate clauses,
such as those of purpose, result, temporal. A familiarity
with the Latin way of saying things, acquired by a rea-
sonable amount of reading in a suitable reader; and
ability to render into Latin very simple English sen-
tences illustrating grammatical principles.
CHAPTER V
THE SECOND YEAR OF LATIN
Part I
The author on whom we shall lay the stress in the
second year of Latin is Caesar ; and the work, his Com-
mentaries on the Gallic War, wherein, as Roger Ascham
59
remarks, " is scene the unspotted proprietie of the Latin
tong, even when it was, as the Grecians say, in a/c^rj,
that is, at the hiest pitch of all perfiteness." The value
of the " Commentaries " is quite different from that of
any modern general's memoirs. No other book con-
tains such a wealth of grammatical, linguistic, geo-
graphical, ethnic, and historical material for the
secondary student. I suggest books II and V for in-
tensive study; but any other equivalent for this can
readily be arranged by the teacher at his or her dis-
cretion.
But it is not wise to plunge the pupil at once into
Caesar in all his complexity. Therefore, after a review
of the first-year grammar to refresh the mind of the
student, it is best to start with a book like Mr. Collar's
"Gate to Caesar" [Ginn & Co.], in which the narrative
of Book II is presented, with the most difficult parts
simplified ; indirect discourse, for example, is put into
the direct form. We are then ready to read Book II
of the original with profit and ease.
SECOND YEAR GRAMMAR
It is in the first two years that the essentials of gram-
mar must be mastered thoroughly, as an indispensable
basis of further progress ; and the second book of Caesar
will offer rich illustrations of grammatical principles.
The general method of the presentation of grammar I
have already pointed out. As the student has either
already begun or is beginning a modern tongue this
year, grammatical similarities of the Latin and German
or French should be pointed out ; purpose clauses and
contrary to fact conditions, for example. Or take
" quod causal " clauses ; both German and Latin well
illustrate the fundamental purpose of indicative and
subjunctive here. Explain the shades of meaning be-
tween " Caesar non venit, quod aeger erat " and " Caesar
60
non venit, quod aeger essct "; and in German,, " Casar
kam nicht, well er krank war" and " Casar kam nicht.
well er krank set." The '' ethical " dative is more readily
grasped by citing examples like Shakespeare's "He
plucked me ope his doublet"; and the dative of "ad-
vantage " by daily uses, such as " Read the lesson for
me." When such means are employed, grammar seldom
becomes a bore and is both profitable and interesting.
So, too, by way of calling attention to the fact that
Latin is vitally connected with modern tongues, the
teacher should explain that " Chester " in % words like
''Dorchester" means "camp" from " castra," just as
' wick " in Southwick comes from " vicus " meaning
' village." And in French the derivation of " mais "
from " magis," later " mayis," is not without value for
furthering knowledge and interest ; so also " chose "
from " causa," " chateau " from " castellum," and the
ike. It stands to reason that the student should not
3e required to learn these as part of his lesson; for our
:oncern is first of all the Latin.
At the end of the second year, the student should
lave a very fair grammatical equipment; in fact, enough
o be adequate, with some additional note of rarer con-
structions and forms, for the next three years. Constant
Irill and review is as essential as during the first year.
[ consider a knowledge of the following reasonable to
expect at the end of the second year :
Syntax
1. Sequence of Tenses.
2. Prohibitions, Exhortations, Wishes.
3. Purpose.
4. Result.
5. Causal Clauses.
6. Conditions.
7. Concessive Clauses.
61
8. Temporal Clauses.
9. Questions, Direct and Indirect.
10. Indirect Discourse. Complementary Infinitive.
11. Potential Subjunctive and Subjunctive of Desire
as Basis of all Subjunctives.
12. Ablative Absolute.
Forms
13. Declensions.
14. Comparison, Regular and Irregular.
15. Conjugations. Gerund and Gerundive. Supine.
Functions of Cases
1 6. Vocative.
17. Genitive.
18. Dative.
19. Accusative.
20. Ablative. Locative.
Miscellaneous
21. Uses of Prepositions.
22. Accent.
23. Word Formation.
24. Numerals. Dates.
Nouns having Peculiarities
I. Dea, filia, insidiae (reliquiae, tenebrae), Aeneas,
Athenae.
II. Deus, pelagus (vulgus, virus), castra (hiberna),
locus, films, Delphi.
III. Paterfamilias, aedes, opis, vis, lupiter, bos, nemo,
tussis (sitis), navis (puppis, turris, sementis),
ignis (avis, civis, collis, classis, finis, orbis), pax
(sal, sol, lux), aer, caro, lac, nox, moenia.
IV. Domus. Dissyllables in cus.
V. Cases lacking in plural. Acies, effigies, facies,
series, spes.
62
Other Irregular Words
Hie, ille, is. Iste, ipse, idem. Quis, qui, quisque,
uidam, aliquis, quispiam, quilibet, quivis. Unus, duo,
res, mille. Plus. Personal pronouns. Adjectives with
>eculiar genitive and dative (solus, etc.). Eo, edo,
ero, fio, volo, nolo, malo, possum, prosum. Coepi,
nemini, odi. Semi-deponents. Acer (equester).
Vords often confused, and words with two or more
distinct meanings
[uidem
[uidam
uperior
>rofecto
)rofisciscor
tacies
facio
:onsilium
concilium
impero
impetro
impertio
veneo
venio
venia
et
fero
fama
fortis
fors
forte
quamquam
vis
vir
servo
servio
remitto
amitto
emitto
promitto
praemitto
reus
res
dubito
ratio
supplicium
63
dolor
dolus
studium
iubeo
iuvo
aer
aes
numen
nomen
vallis
vallum
patior
pateo
fugo
fugio
audeo
audio
supphcatio
praedico
OS
ora
vinco
praedico
oro
vincio
oblitus
levis
oblitus
civis
levis
civitas
morior
moror
sol
malus
solus
solum
mala
malum
nego
solium
malo
cogo
aestas
incido
educo
aetas
incido
educo
aestus
accido
tantum
licet
accido
liceor
accedo
hostis
cedo
hostia
aura
caedo
aurum
cado
omen
auris
omnis
iacio
omnino
liber
iaceo
liber
redeo
nisi
reddo
mors
mos
duco
opus
mora
opis (gen.)
secundum
opera
nanciscor
sectmdus
nascor
otium
una
odium
quaero
queror
"- lego
ordior
orior
64
porta paro
portus pareo deligo
P rto pario diligo
video
praesto
contendo suus
necessarius
potior usus
possum
and the like.
Idioms
nescio quis.
aliter ac (atque).
dare operam.
cum turn.
poenas dare (sumere).
alii alia in parte.
res secundae (adversae).
res gestae.
non modo ne quidem.
ex usu.
gratias agere (habere).
euro with gerundive.
in dies.
and the like.
COMPOSITION DURING THE SECOND YEAR
Exercises in translation from English to Latin should
be given, say, five minutes during each period. They
should be both oral and written ; and consist of simple
continuous narrative, based on the text. As the fol-
lowing :
Dumnorix was an yEduan, who plotted against the
Romans. When Caesar was setting out to Britain, Dum-
norix stirred up the Gallic leaders. For he thought that
he could free Gaul from the Romans. But as soon as
65
Caesar learned of these matters, he sent some cavalry
to kill him. Caesar could not have crossed to Britain,
if he had left such men on the continent.
VOCABULARY DURING THE SECOND YEAR.
The pupils should continue their own dictionaries of
words and phrases, noting especially the words in the
sight reading of the authors whom I shall specify in
Part II of this chapter. Exact meanings should be in-
sisted upon; e.g.:
religio = superstition, or, religious scruple, or, conscience,
rarely religion
accedo = to approach and to be added ; not to be confused
_ with
accido = kill, cut .
o
and accido = fall, happen.
praesto, are = (i) furnish, (2) excel, (3) it is better
(impersonally) ; not to be confused with the adverb
praesto = at hand, ready. Slipshod translation should
never be tolerated for a moment. Certain widely spread
errors of pronunciation and quantity may well be guarded
against by impressing the correct method on the pupils
as early as possible. But too much attention should not
be wasted on the matter. Among words commonly mis-
pronounced, notice:
/ /
egredi, not egredi.
populus = people (but populus == poplar tree).
/ /
educo = lead out (but educo = educate) .
/ j_
praedico = predict (but praedico = assert, boast).
accido = cut, kill (but accido = fall, happen).
/ /
confero, not confero.
/ /
convoco, not convoco.
66
JULIUS CESAR
Latin is the vehicle for the study of the genius of
Rome, of a civilization vitally interwoven with our
own. The importance of emphasizing this vital connec-
tion should always be present to the teacher; Latin
should neHbe-TStdated as if it had nothing in common
with us. During the second year, therefore, an ad-
mirable opportunity presents itself for making clear to
the pupil the importance of the Roman conquest of the
world for us; and the life of Caesar in all its manifold
aspects will have that peculiar attraction that the bi-
ography of great men of action always exerts on ado-
lescents.
(a) Let the pupil first read some brief account of
Roman history during Caesar's time, so that he may
have the political and social background clearly before
his eye. I suggest as admirably suited to the student
the short but excellent account on pages 200-225 of
Allen's " Short History of the Roman People." [Ginn
& Co.] A
(b) The teacher may well dictate a condensed bi-
ography. Lives of Caesar, such as those by Froude,
Trollope, Napoleon III, and H. G. Liddell, should be
on the desk for reference. The " Portraitures of
Caesar," by Frank Jesup Scott [Longmans, Green &
Co., 1903], should be at hand to present the great
leader more vividly to the eye. Pupils should be en-
couraged to form their own estimates of Caesar; give
them Ferrero's opinion, for example, and have them
criticize it.
^Abbott's "History of Julius Csesar" (Harper & Brothers,)
is an excellent little book for boys and girls, presenting the
history of the times in very attractive and simple form.
67
(c) The place of Caesar in the history of Rome,
his financial and constitutional reforms, his welding to-
gether of the Roman world, his calendar, and the like,
should be presented briefly, but concisely.
(d) His personality, as stamped upon succeeding
generations, should be noted. Here I would advise
teachers to read carefully the following two admirable
monographs :
" Caesar in der deutschen Literatur," by Friedrich
Gundelfinger. Berlin. Mayer mid Miiller, 1904. 129
pages.
" Caesarfabeln des Mittelalters," by Hermann Wese-
mann. Lowenberg in Schlesien, 1879. Druck von
Paul Miiller. (Neunter Jahresbericht iiber die hohere
Biirgerschule zu Lowenberg in Sch.) 35 pages. A
Of Caesars hold upon English writers like Shake-
speare I shall speak when I deal with the subject of cor-
relation with English during the second year. The in-
fluence of the " Commentaries " on great generals like
Napoleon I should not be neglected.
Turning now from the contemplation of Caesar as a
man and of the force of his personality, it will be fit-
ting for us to study in some detail the conquests of
England, Gaul, and Germany; and every means must
A There is no book which will give a better and more inter-
esting idea of the strange way in which the celebrated men
of Rome were regarded in the Middle Ages than the naive
" Gesta Romanorum," those curious chronicles which supplied
Shakespeare and Boccaccio with considerable material for plots.
There is an excellent translation and commentary by Charles
Swan, revised and corrected by W. Hooper [London, George
Bell & Sons, 1905]. For an anecdote of Caesar and Pompey,
see Tale XIX (p. 48); observe the Moral: "My beloved, by
Pompey understand the Creator of all things ; Caesar signifies
Adam, who was the first man. His daughter is the soul, be-
trothed to God. Adam was placed in Paradise to cultivate
and to guard it ; but not fulfilling the condition imposed upon
him, like Caesar, he was expelled his native country. The
Rubicon is baptism, by which mankind reenters a state of
blessedness."
68
be taken to impress upon the pupil the lasting nature of
the works Brought in these regions by the Romans.
(a) Caesar's own account of the conquest of Britain
is contained in IV, chapters 20-38, and V, 8-23. With
this account the teacher should by all means correlate
chapters 10-17 of the "Agricola " of Tacitus, either in
the original or in translation; and this comparison of
the description of the IJritons by two of the greatest
i\<>mun writers proves very interesting to the student. A
The further history of England to the withdrawal of
the Romans in the fifth century can be touched upon
brietlv in live minutes. A convenient book on the sub-
ject of Caesar's Conquest of Britain is:
"Ancient I'.ritain and the Invasion of Julius Caesar,"
by Thomas Rice Holmes. Oxford, 1907. The Claren-
don Press.
Pictures of Roman antiquities, still to be seen in
Kngland, bring the past more closely to the present. The
following volume can be had from the library:
" Illustrations of Roman London." by Charles Roach
Smith. London, 1859. Privately printed. T. Rich-
ards, 37 Great Queen Street. 8
(b) The conquest of Gaul is the main theme of the
" Commentaries " throughout. In addition to the read-
ing of books II and V, the geographical description
in I, i, should be read, as well as the very interesting
account of Gallic character and customs in book VI,
1 1-2 1. The great siege of Alesia and the account of
the gallant Yercingetorix book VII might well be
substituted for some of the reading in V.
A It will lie well for the teacher also to present the ac-
counts in Dio Cassins, 76, 12; Pliny the Elder, N. H., IV
30 (16); Pomponius Mela, III, 49-53.
B More accessible is H. M. Scarth's " Roman Britain "
New York, J. B. Young & Co. London, Society for Pro-
moting Christian Knowledge, Northumberland Avenue, Charing
Cross, W. C., London.
Attention should be called to various points by way of
making the narrative mean more to the pupil. A For
example: Gallic proper nouns are not undeserving of
comment. Cingetorix means " king of warriors." On
this matter teachers can profitably consult the following
work, which is clearly and elegantly written:
" Les Noms Gaulois chez Cesar et Hirtius de Bello
Gallico." H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, avec le collabora-
tion de E. Renault et G. Dottin. Paris, 1891. Emile
Bouillon, editeur.
Observe, for instance, such a comment as this:
" Mandu-bracios est ' le fils de celui qui s'occupe du malt,'
c'est a dire ' de 1'orge a fabriquer la biere.' L'orge a
fabriquer la biere, autrement dit le malt, s'appelle* en
vieil irlandais braich, au genitif bracha, primitivement
* braci-s, genitif * bracos. Pline, qui ecrit ce mot a
1'accusatif bracem, nous apprend qu'il etait usite en
Gaule, et, suivant lui, ce mot designait en Gaule une
espece de ble, genus f arris [Pline, xviii, 62]. Alandu-
bracio-s est compose de trois elements."
A work that is more learned and exhaustive, but not
of the artistic form of the above, is :
" Die bei Gains Julius Caesar vorkommenden kel-
tischen Namen in ihrer Echtheit festgestellt und erlau-
tert," von Christian Wilhelm Gliick. Munchen, 1857.
Verlag von J. G. Cotta.
The modern names of towns and rivers mentioned by
Caesar will bring home to the student the lasting effects
of the pioneer work of the Romans ; thus : portus Itius =
A With Caesar's description of the Druids in VI, 14, compare
that of Pomponius Mela, III, 18-20. In connection with the
astronomical knowledge of the ancient priests I would like
to call attention to an article on "The Uses and Dates of
Ancient Temples; an interesting Astronomical Investigation,"
by Sir Norman Lockyer in the Scientific American Supple-
ment 1761, October 2, 1909.
70
Boulogne, etc. The teacher will find the modern names
in the geographical appendix of the following excellent
work :
" Conquete des Gaules. Analyse Raisonnee des Com-
mcntaires de Jules Cesar," par Leon Fallue. Paris,
1862. Ch. Tanera, editeur. A
The results of excavations in France may be illustrated
by :
" Excursions Archeologiques dans les montagnes
Hduennes de la Cote-d'Or. Antiquites de Sainte-Sabine.
Defaite des Helvetes par J. Cesar." Paul Guillemot,
Dijon, 1861.
The standard histories, like Mommsen's, and Lives of
Caesar, like Froude's and Napoleon's, of course give
accounts of the Roman occupation and its effects. The
following work is very valuable:
" Caesar's Conquest of Gaul," by Thomas Rice Holmes.
London, 1899. The first part of this work is historical,
the second part critical, and includes discussions of the
A Ginn & Company's very admirable " Classical Atlas " will
aUo be found most useful for a knowledge of the modern
names of ancient sites they are given in the back of the
"Atlas." I a !-<> recommend most earnestly the same com-
pany's wall maps (Johnston) 50x42.
Suitable maps should, of course, always be before the eyes
of the pupils; and routes should be traced with some care.
Kiepirt's maps are the standard ones. Useful also are Riistow's
"Atlas zu Caesars Gall. Krieg," in 15 Karten u. Planen; and
Oehler's " Bilder Atlas zu Caesars Biichern de Bell. Gall./'
Leipsig, 1890. But the Atlas of Ginn is by far the best atlas to
give to secondary pupils.
Of exhaustive lexicons to Caesar, these are standard works:
I. " Lexikon zu den Schriften Caesars und seiner Fort-
setzer mit Atigabe samtlicher Stellen," von H. Merguet. Jena,
1886, i vol. Gustav Fisher.
II. "Lexicon Caesarianum confecit H. Meusel." 3 vols.
Berolini, W. Weber, 1887.
III. " Lexicon Caesarianum. Menge und Preuss." Leipsig,
1890.
71
credibility of Caesar's narrative, chapters on ethnology
and geography, and notes on the " Commentaries."
Chapter V, vol. I, of Guizot's " History of France,"
is excellent for a study of Gaul under Roman dominion.
The attitude of the Romans to conquered peoples
should by all means be briefly explained to the students ;
especially their admirable policy of incorporating sub-
jugated countries into the empire, allowing them their
own institutions to a large extent, adopting their gods
into the Roman Pantheon, and their remorselessness
when policy dictated annihilation; as well as the prac-
tise of taking subjugated nations into the army. The
cruel treatment of Vercingetorix may be compared with
the fate of Jugurtha before and of Zenobia after him.
(c) The conquest of Germany cannot fail to awaken
interest. \Yith the description of the character and cus-
toms of the Germans in VI, 21-23, the " Germania " of
Tacitus should by all means be correlated in translation ;
although there is no reason why selections from the
original should not be presented. The mention of Gm-
bH and Teutones in II, 4, calls for a brief rehearsal
of the great invasion of these peoples in the years 103-
101 B. C., and their subjugation by Marius. The story
of Arminius and the fight in the Teutoberg forest should
be summarized ; and a review of the first barbarian
invasion in 390 B. C. to the sack of the Eternal City by
Alaric in 410 A. D. may well be given at any time in
the study of the " Commentaries."
The description of the bridge across the Rhine
(IV, 17) gives an opportunity to expatiate on the great
engineering skill of the Romans; and the vast bridge
that Trajan built later may be compared with profit.
It is a good plan to have some bright pupil make
a model of the structure, which he can readily do, with
some help from the teacher; for many of the text-books
supply excellent diagrams. The teacher will find the
following works useful :
72
" C. Julius Caesars Rheinbriicke ; eine tecknisch-
kritische Studie," von August Rheinhard. Stuttgart,
1883.
" Studio zu Gesars Rheinbriicke," von August Schleus-
-inijcr. Miinchen, 1884. Criticizes the above.
" C. Julius Caesars Rheinbrucke," von F. Zimmer-
lia'ckcl. Leipsig, 1899.
The introductions to the " Commentaries " in standard
u \t-books like Allen and Greenough's give adequate ac-
counts of Roman methods of warfare, army and naval
matters, war machines, and the like ; but the teacher can
consult the following with advantage :
" Das Kriegswesen Casars," von Dr. Franz Frohlich.
Zurich, 1891 F. Schulthess. I. Shaffung und Ges-
taltuntf dc-r Krk-i^miiu-1. II. Aushildting und Erhaltung
dcr Kricsmittel. III. Gebrauch und Fuhrung der Kriegs-
mit:
"A History of the Art of War among the Romans
down to the end of the Empire, with a detailed ac-
count of the campaigns of Gains Julius Caesar," by
Theodore A. Dodge. Boston, 1892.
"Caesar's Army," by H. P. judson. Ginn & Co.,
1887.
CORRELATION OF SECOND- YEAR LATIN
WITH ENGLISH
Latin should be a powerful help in the acquisition of
English and of power of appreciation, and should be
Constantly correlated with our mother-tongue. This
work \vould, however, if done during the time allotted
to Latin, occupy too great a prominence and hinder the
pupil in the task of learning the Latin language his
chief concern. The exercises which I shall next suggest
should, therefore, be a prescribed part of the course
in English during the second year.
73
I. Once a fortnight a chapter of Caesar should be
assigned for faithful rendering into good and idiomatic
English. The long periodic sentences w%ich occur fre-
quently in the " Commentaries " are a fruitful source
of the horrible thing known as " translation English."
As a rule, after a pupil has translated one or two clauses
of a complex sentence, he quite forgets any connection
of these with the part that follows; and the matter
becomes a veritable chimaera :
Trpocrue \ecov, OTTiOev Be Spdicwv, /necrcr;; Be yi^aioa.
Pupils should be taught both to split a long periodic
sentence into shorter ones, and also to keep the periodic
structure in English, if possible. Diligent attention to
the most exact English equivalents of the Latin words
should be demanded; and tenses and moods given their
precise force. For example : Caesar equites prcemisit qui
viderent, etc., contains a qui clause of purpose, which
is accurately translated " who were to see " and inac-
curately by "who saw" -which latter would be qui
tid er unt.
II. Shakespeare's " Julius Caesar " can be read with
profit and pleasure in second-year English while the
" Commentaries " are studied in the Latin course. Not
to mention the admirable opportunities for character
study which it offers, we may call attention to the
knowledge of antiquities which the pupil may acquire
by its perusal such matters as the Lupercal, the Ides
(Roman Calendar), and the like. Grammatical usages
similar to the Latin are not uncommon and help to an
understanding of syntax like the " ethical " dative in
" He plucked me ope his doublet." The use of words
in their Latin significations will also be noted, e.g.:
censure = " judge " (censeo) III, 2.
proper = " own " (proprius) V, i.
74
factious = " active " (facio) I 3
prodigious = " portentious " (prodigium) I ,
i
.
prevent-" anticipate " (prcevcnio) V r
a HI. Attention may be called to Mr. Bernard Shaw's
Csesar and Cleopatra," Addison's " Cato," Beaumont
and Fletcher's "Ihe False One," and H. W. Herbert"
Ihe Roman Traitor."
Topics dealing with matters connected with the
Caesar may well furnish subjects for themes
ither tor the whole class or for individual pupils It
is an excellent scheme to assign different students dif-
: topics to work up for five-minute talks; whereby
a great variety of interesting material can be presentee
o he class and a broad field covered without taking
DUD* I T m m re eSSCntial mattCrS - J haVC h ^
fhese ^ excellentl y on such subjects as
i. Caesar's treatment of his men and officers
The character of Cesar as presented by Shake-
peare and as it impresses us in the "Commentaries."
3- Caesars bridge across the Rhine: an exposition
With illustrative model.
4. A brief history of England from 55 B. C. to 420
5. The Latin of the " Commentaries " compared with
that of the " Vulgate." [The boy who wrote and re-
cited on this pointed out such matters as differences in
word order, use of direct and indirect discourse, Greek
formations, etc. see extracts on next page. A ]
6. The Germans as described by Caesar and by Taci-
tus. [Pupil was given the " Germania " in translation.]
7. The " Gallic War " as a political pamphlet.
I have also found it useful to require the whole class
write a critical edition of V, chapter I, with gram-
to
75
matical notes, sentences for composition based on the
text, and a brief biographical and historical introduction ;
together with some similarities of French and Latin
grammar as in the force of the imperfect tense.
Pupils should be encouraged to read Plutarch's "Life
of Caesar," both to acquire some knowledge of our origi-
nal sources, and to become acquainted with that charm-
ing writer.
PART II
I shall next discuss suitable reading in other authors
besides Caesar; this part of the work is for rapid sight-
reading, in order to broaden the pupil's horizon and give
him a more varied view of the literature of Rome. The
extracts which I shall suggest are perfectly capable of
being grasped by any student Who has faithfully worked
out two books of Caesar, or even one. The pupil should
put each new word or idiom on a card or in a note-
book, and commit it to memory.
A Extracts from this pupil's five-minute paper (boy was fifteen
years old) : " The Latin spoken by the Roman people was not
the Latin of Caesar and Cicero, but what modern students
call sermo plebeius. . . . The Vulgate was intended for
all classes of people. . . . the Commentaries were intended
only for the nobility, and therefore Caesar wrote in the style
of the nobles. Caesar's writings are much more complex than
the Vulgate ; for example : ' Cum ab his quaereret quae civitates
quantaeque in armis essent, et quid in bello possent, sic reperiebat :
plerosque Belgas esse ortos ab Germanis.' Let us compare
with this a few sentences from the Vulgate: ' Dixit autem ei
Jesus, Cur me dicis bonnm? nemo bonus, nisi unus, nempe
Deus. Ille autem dix$.t, Hfec oninia observavi a iuventute mea.'
It can be seen, by comparing these sentences, that Caesar uses
complex constructions of subordinate clauses with the sub-
junctive; the Vulgate uses the simple sentence with the indica-
tive. Caesar uses indirect discourse often ; the Vulgate rarely.
Caesar is fond of the periodic sentence; it is rare in the Vul-
gate. . . . The word order in the Vulgate is very like
the English. . . . Many words in the Vulgate have an
ecclesiastical meaning which they never have in Caesar, like
'fides' 'faith/' 5
76
I. The five Readers which I have already mentioned
are in all respects admirable, and may be used throughout
the high-school course ; the teacher can readily choose
those selections which are best adapted to the degree of
progress of the several classes.
II. " Stories of Great Men from Romulus to Sci-
pio Af ricanus Minor," by F. Conway, London George
Bell & Sons, 1900 (with vocabulary). Extracts from
Livy, Florus, Velleius Paterculus, Nepos, Cicero
sometimes as in the original, sometimes abridged.
III. " Scalse Tertise," by E. C. Marchant, London,
1900 George Bell & Sons (with vocabulary). Se-
lect passages from Phaedrus, Ovid, Nepos, Cicero.
IV. "Via Latina," by William Collar Ginn & Co.
Selections from Suetonius, Nepos, Eutropius, etc.
The following authors are readily accessible in the
excellent and cheap Teulner texts ; and the value of
placing the ichole of an author in the hands of the pupil
I have alreac'v discussed.
V. Eutropius: Breviarium (Compendium of Ro-
man History), ed. Ruehl, 1897. 45 Pfennig. Here is
a specimen of this little work, to show how well it is
adapted to quick reading by second-year pupils :
Anno urbis conditae sexcentesimo nonagesimo tertio C.
Julius Caesar, qui postea imperavit, cum L. Bibulo consul
est factus. Decreta est ei Gallia et Illyricum cum legioni-
bus decem. Is primus vicit Helvetios, qui mine Sequani
appellantur, deinde vincenclo per bella gravissima usque
ad Oceanum Brittanicum processit. [VI, 17.]
VI. Aulus Gellius: Noctes Atticae, ed. C. Hosius,
1903. (Vol. I, M. i .80, vol. II, M. 2.40.) Offers a
great variety of stories dealing with history, grammar,
philosophy, etc. Second-year students might easily read,
e.g.:
In antiquis annalibus memoria super libris Sibyllinis
haec prodita est : Anus hospita atque incognita ad Tarqiii-
77
nium Superbum regem acliit novem libros ferens, quos
esse dicebat clivina oracula : eos velle vemmdare. Tarqui-
nitis pretium percontatus est. Mulier nimium atque
immensum poposcit ; rex, quasi anus setate desiperet,
derisit, etc. [I, 19].
The Vulgate should by all means be used. Objection
might be made for sectarian reasons ; but it seems to me
that there is no reason why the Latin should not be
read without comment :
VII. Novum Testamentum et Psalmi Latine, ed.
Beza. Berolini, sumptibus Societatis Bibliophilorum Bri-
tannioe et externse, MDCCCCV (50 cents). A very
handsome little edition, that will ornament any book-
shelf. The following will illustrate the style:
Et fecit ei Levi epulum magnum domi suae ; eratque
turba multa publicanorum et aliorum qui cum ipsis ac-
cumbebant. Obmurmurabant autem eis scribse ac Phari-
ssei dicentes ad discipulos eius, Quare cum publicanis
et peccatoribus editis et bibitis? Et respondens Jesus
dixit eis, Non opus est iis, qui sani sunt, medico, etc.
[Luke 5: 29-31].
CHAPTER VI
The Third Year of Latin
PART I
The third year presents the question of what author
can best serve for intensive study; shall it be Cicero or
Vergil? The main objection to Vergil is, that he de-
mands a greater maturity for appreciation; and that his
poetical usages, so different from the norm of prose,
are very confusing to the student, who has just spent
two years in learning fixed rules. Experience does not
78
prove that these arguments are necessarily valid; pupils
do, as a matter of fact, often declare Vergil easier than
Cicero; and the change to poetry, after two years of
continuous prose, seems not infrequently a pleasant break
of monotony. The individuality of the class will per-
haps be our best guide; and Vergil or Cicero may be
presented according to their adaptability to the several
groups of students. For convenience I shall assume
that Cicero is taken for intensive study during the third
year; and the first part of this chapter will be concerned
with the teaching of that author.
The reading of Cicero is confined, in our secondary
schools, to six or more orations. The number of the
schools which study any other part of his writings, such
as the " Letters " or " Essays," is so small a per cent
of the whole as to be insignificant. I conceive the
prevalent method to be absolutely wrong and unjustifi-
able; and the matter is important enough to merit ex-
tended discussion.
I. The " Orations " present but one side of Cicero.
Let me remind the reader again, that the vast majority
of our high-school pupils either do not go to college at
all, or do not take Latin when they get there. To
exhibit a writer in but one aspect is, then, unjust to
that writer, and leaves a false impression in the minds
of the students. It is important that Cicero should stand
out in his true position in the history of literature and
thought. When we shall have discovered wherein his
real greatness consists, we shall be able more clearly to
see on what works the stress should be laid. A review
of the opinions of some acknowledged authorities of
the first rank will aid us in our attempt.
The judgment of Quintilian is famous [X, i, 105-
TI 3] : " Quare non immerito ab hominibus aetatis suae
regnare in iudiciis dictus est, apud posteros vero id
consecutus, ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen sed elo-
79
quantise habeatur. Hunc igitur spectemus, hoc proposi-
tum nobis sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat, cui
Cicero valde placebit." Some excerpts from Tacitus
will supplement excellently the ancient views of Cicero
[Dial, de orat. 22-27] : " Primus enim excoluit oratio-
nem, primus et verbis clilectum adhibuit et composi-
tion! artem, locos quoque laetiores attentavit et quasdam
sententias invenit, utique in iis orationibus, quas iam
senior et iuxta finem vitae composuit, id est, postquam
magis profecerat usuque et experimentis didicerat quod
optimum dicendi genus esset. Nam priores eius ora-
tiones non carent vitiis antiquitatis : lentus est in princi-
piis, longus in narrationibus, otiosus circa excessus ;
tarde commovetur, raro incalescit; pauci sensus apte et
cum quodam lumine terminantur. . . . adstrictior
Calvus, numerosior Asinius, splendidior Gesar, amarior
Cselius, gravior Brutus, vehementior et plenior et valen-
tior Cicero. et Calvum et Asinium et ipsum
Ciceronem credo solitos [et invidere] et livere et ceteris
humanse infirmitatis vitiis adfici." Longinus, comparing
Cicero and Demosthenes, calls the former a wide con-
rlagation, the latter a thunderbolt.
So much for the opinions of the ancients. The
judgment of the modern scholar will cover a wider field ;
for Quintilian was concerned only with Cicero's style,
as a means of rounding out the perfect orator. But
we of to-day have nineteen centuries to survey ; and we
measure Cicero not merely as a stylist, but also as a
man, whose influence on posterity has been large. The
opinion of Theodore Mommsen will follow next:
" Thus oratorical authorship," says Mommsen [V,
pp. 504 ff. translation of Dickson] , " emancipated from
politics was naturalized in the Roman literary world by
Cicero. We have already had occasion several times to
mention this many-sided man. As a statesman without
insight, idea, or purpose, he figured successively as demo-
80
crat, as aristocrat, and as a tool of the monarchs, and
was never more than a short-sighted egotist. . . . He
was valiant in opposition to sham attacks, and he knocked
down many walls of pasteboard with a loud din; no
serious matter was ever, either in good or evil, decided
by him, and the execution of the Catilinarians in par-
ticular was far more due to his acquiescence than to
his instigation. In a literary point of view we have
already noticed that he was the creator of the modern
Latin prose ; his importance rests on his mastery of
style, and it is only as a stylist that he shows confidence
in himself. In the character of an author, on the other
hand, he stands quite as low as in that of a states-
man. . . . He was, in fact, so thoroughly a dabbler,
that it was pretty much a matter of indifference to
what work he applied his hand. By nature a journalist
in the worst sense of the term. . . . there was no
department in which he could not with the help of a
few books have rapidly got up by translation or compila-
tion a readable essay. . . . It is scarcely needful to
add that such a statesman and such a litterateur could
not, as a man. exhibit aught else than a thinly varnished
superficiality and heartlessness. Must we still describe
the orator? The great author is also a great man. . . .
Cicero had no conviction and no passion ; he was nothing
but an advocate, and not a good one. . . . the abso-
lute want of political discernment in the orations on
constitutional questions and of juristic deduction in the
forensic addresses, the egotism forgetful of its duty
and constantly losing sight of the cause while thinking
of the advocate, the dreadful barrenness of thought in
the Ciceronian orations must revolt every reader of
feeling and judgment."
Thus Mommsen; and we shall now see what Ferrero
has to say on the same subject [" Greatness and Decline
of Rome," vol. Ill, pp. 188 ff. translation of Chay-
81
tor] : " Modern historians have an easy task when they
proceed to point out the weaknesses, the vacillation, and
the inconsistencies of Cicero; they forget, however, that
the same observations would equally apply to any one
of his contemporaries, even to Oesar himself, and they
are the more obviously true in Cicero's case only because
he has himself exposed them to our view. Cicero's per-
sonality and the part in history which he played are of
greater significance than this. In a society where for
centuries noble birth, wealth, or military talents had
been the only openings to political power. Cicero had been
the first, though he possessed none of these advantages,
to enter the governing class, to 'hold the highest offices,
and to govern with nobles and millionaires and generals
simply by reason of his admirable literary and oratorical
style, and of the lucidity with which he was able to ex-
pound to the public the , deep complexities of Greek
philosophy. . . . Cicero was the first of those men
of letters who have been throughout the history of our
civilization either the pillars of state or the workers of
revolution; the great company of rhetoricians, lawyers,
and publicists under the Pagan Empire are succeeded by
the apologists and fathers of the Church; monks, law-
yers, theologians, doctors, and readers appear in the
Middle Ages, humanists at the time of the Renaissance ;
encyclopaedists appear in the eighteenth century in
France; barristers, journalists, political writers, and pro-
fessors in our own day. Cicero may have made many
a grave political error, but none the less his historical
importance can compare with that of Caesar, and is but
little inferior to that of St. Paul or St. Augustine. He
had, moreover, all the fine qualities of the dynasty which
he founded, and of their defects only the most venial.
He was one of those unusual characters rarely to be
found even in the world of thought and of letters, who
have no ambition for power, no thirst for wealth, but
82
merely the far nobler desire, whatever the vanity which
it implies, to become the objects of admiration. . . .
He alone attempted to govern the world, not with the
foolish obstinacy of Cato, or with the cynical opportu-
nism of others, but upon a rational system based upon
loyalty to republican tradition amid the prevailing dis-
order, based upon the effort to harmonize the austere
virtues of the Latin race with the art and wisdom of
the Greeks and to disseminate throughout the Roman
aristocracy that sense of equity and moderation which
can often mollify the constitutional brutality or blind-
ness of the principle that might is right. Historians
have jested lightly upon Cicero and his Utopias; his
contemporaries must have thought more of them, seeing
that fifteen years later they attempted to put many of
them into practice."
These are the views, conflicting with each other, of
two of the greatest historians of modern times. Neither
of them expresses the. real case; and the best summary
of Cicero's work will be found in -Mr. Mackail's little
masterpiece, " Latin Literature,'"' pp. 62 ff. [London,
John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1899 third impres-
sion). This is the careful judgment: "The claims of
Cicero to a place among the first rank of Roman states-
men have been fiercely canvassed by modern critics ; and
both in oratory and philosophy some excess of venera-
tion once paid to him has been replaced by an equally ex-
cessive depreciation. The fault in both estimates lay
in the fact that they were alike based on secondary
issues. Cicero's unique and imperishable glory is not,
as he thought himself, that of having put down the revo-
lutionary movement of Catiline, nor, as later ages
thought, that of having rivalled Demosthenes in the
Second Philippic, or confuted atheism in the ' De Na-
tura Deorum.' It is that he created a language which
remained for sixteen centuries that of the civilized
83
world, and used that language to create a style which
nineteen centuries have not replaced, and in some re-
spects have scarcely altered. He stands in prose, like
Vergil in poetry, as the bridge between the ancient and
modern world. Before his time Latin prose was, from
a wide point of view, but one among many local an-
cient dialects. As it left his hands, it had become a
universal language, one which had definitely superseded
all others, Greek included, as the type of civilized ex-
pression. . . . Ciceronian prose is practically the
prose of the human race ; not only of the Roman Em-
pire of the first and second centuries, but of Lactantius
arid Augustine, of the mediaeval Church, of the earlier
and later Renaissance, and even now, when the Renais-
sance is a piece of past history, of the modern world
to which the Renaissance was the prelude. ... It
is in the work of this astonishing year (45-44 B. C.)
which, on the whole, represents Cicero's permanent con-
tribution to letters and to human thought, If his phi-
losophy seems now to have exhausted its influence, it
is because it has in great measure been absorbed into the
fabric of civilized society. ... To less informed
or less critical ages than our own, the absolute contri-
bution of Cicero to ethics and metaphysics seemed com-
parable to that of the great Greek thinkers ; the ' De
Natura Deo rum ' was taken as a workable argument
against atheism, and the thin and wire-drawn discussions
of the Academics were studied with an attention hardly
given to the founder of the Academy. When a sounder
historical method brought these writings into their real
proportion, it was inevitable that the scale should swing
violently to the other side. . . . The violence
of this attack has now exhausted itself.
Cicero. . . . did for the Empire and the Middle
Ages what Lucretius with his far greater philosophic
genius totally failed to do created forms of thought
in which the life of philosophy grew, and a body of
expression which alone made its growth in the Latin-
speaking world possible; and to that world he presented
a political ideal which profoundly influenced the whole
course of European history, even up to the French
Revolution. Without Cicero, the Middle Ages would
not have had Augustine or Aquinas ; but, without him,
the movement which annulled the Middle Ages would
have had neither Mirabeau nor Pitt. . . . The art
of letter-writing suddenly rose in Cicero's hands to its
full perfection. It fell to the lot of no later Roman to
have at once such mastery over familiar style, and con-
temporary events of such engrossing and ever-changing
interest on which to exercise it. All the great letter-
writers of more modern ages have more or less, con-
sciously or unconsciously, followed the Ciceronian
model. England of the eighteenth century was peculiarly
rich in them; but Horace Walpole, Cowper, Gray him-
self would willingly have acknowledged Cicero as their
master."
II. Cicero's real greatness consists, therefore, firstly,
in his mastery of style, and secondly, in his work as a
humanizer, the interpreter of Greek philosophy to the
Western world in language that is classic and method
that is popular. The " Orations " do not constitute his
greatness. Here, indeed, we see the colossal egotist:
" O f ortunatam natam me consule Romam ! " We see
the pseudo-statesman; and above all, the jury lawyer.
" Nil ad ius; ad Ciceronem," said the great jurist Aquila
to a client who had no case. When it suits his purpose,
Cicero often lies deliberately or suppresses the truth. In
grandiloquent periods he throws dust in the eyes of the
jurors. The present age in which we are living
is rapidly growing out of the pyrotechnic style of speak-
ing; it prefers Lincoln's Gettysburg speech to Edward
Everett's floridity; and many paragraphs in Daniel
85
Webster's Bunker Hill Oration would raise a laugh, if
declaimed to-day. The truth can be expressed as grandly
as a lie; the Gospels are more convincing than Seneca.
There is no audience that has a keener sense of what is
fitting than boys and girls in the adolescent stage; they
pierce Cicero's weaknesses at once; oration after ora-
tion is forced upon them; and the result is nausea so
far as Latin is concerned and a totally one-sided impres-
sion of Cicero and Rome. Teachers themselves would
never dream of reading six orations one after the other
for pleasure or profit ; nor would any teacher of English
read nothing but Burke for a whole year; but in the
teaching of Latin we can only say with Job, " Where
shall wisdom be found ? "
I have mentioned that a keen sense of what is fitting
is characteristic of the adolescent. Some further analy-
sis of this period of life will assist us in discovering
whether other works than the " Orations " are not better
suited to our boys and girls.
Adolescents are in that age that is passionately fond
of action. They are interested in the concrete; hence
biography, the study of real men and their deeds, at-
tracts them especially. The personal interest is para-
mount. Adolescence is, moreover, a chivalrous period ;
problems of ethics, as of fair play in sport and of cheat-
ing in an examination, arouse eager discussion. At the
same time the adolescent is not yet ready to grasp the
deeper sides of philosophy; the fundamentals of ethics
are fitted to him, but not those of metaphysics.
What, then, can be better adapted to these boys and
girls than Cicero's " Letters " and some of the " Es-
says " ? In the " Letters " we have Cicero the man, a
very human man. baring the minutest details of his
own varied life and of the fascinating political and so-
cial world that surrounded him. The " Essays " are
deliberately written in a popular style; hence suited to
the comprehension of the amateur in philosophy. And
86
both " Letters " and " Essays " are in every respect as
" classical " in style as any of the " Orations."
Thus we arrive at a criterion for deciding what parts
of Cicero ought to be read in secondary schools. We
cannot afford entirely to neglect the " Orations " ; nor
may high-school students comprehend all the " Letters "
or " Essays.' 7 Careful selection must, of course, be
made ; and I suggest the following combinations as
adapted to boys and girls who are studying Cicero.
I. Catiline I. Archias. De Amicitia. Selected Letters.
II. Philippic II. Roscius Amerinus. De Amicitia.
Selected Letters.
III. Marcellus. Verres I. De Amicitia. Selected
Letters.
Not the least pleasant thing connected with the read-
ing of the "' Essays " and " Letters " is the change of
style ; we say good-bye to a rhetoric which can, as in
Archias II, string out periodic bombast half a page in
length for each sentence. There are numerous editions
of " Selected Letters," of the " De Amicitia," and of the
" De Senectnte " easily procurable from the large pub-
lishing houses.
POINTS TO BE NOTED IN THE TEACHING OF
CICERO
As Caesar served for the study more of the external
side of Rome, its conquests, its treatment of subjugated
peoples, and the like, so the study of Cicero will bring us
more intimately in contact with the inner social, political,
and religious life of Rome itself.
Short and adequate biographies of Cicero are usually
prefixed to our school editions; but the teacher will do
well to recommend to the pupils and to have on the desk
for ready reference one of the " Lives " of the following
authors : Middleton, Forsyth, Trollope, Collins, and Bois-
sier. The teacher will also find the work of Suringar
interesting; it consists of extracts from all of Cicero's
writings that tell the story of his own life.
Excellent pictures of Roman society in the period with
which we are dealing will be found in Becker's " Callus,"
Boissier's " Cicero and His Friends," and Church's
" Roman Life in the Days of Cicero." These works
seldom fail to invite the attention of the student.
The teacher will find A. H. J. Greenidge's " Legal
Procedure in Cicero's Time " [Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1901] a most useful volume for a better understanding
of the < Orations " that deal with strictly legal matters.
Merguet's " Lexicon " is the standard dictionary for
our author.
To gain a better appreciation of Cicero's style, the
perusal of a dozen works will by no means yield the
profit of studying carefully the "' Etudes sur le Style des
Discours de Ciceron " by L. Laurand [Paris, Librairie
Hachette et C ie 1907]. This work is one of those
masterpieces in which the French excel; it is scholarly,
most interesting, and written in a style of much elegance
it were devoutly to be wished that, we could say as
much of German and American doctors' theses.
Opinions held of Cicero in various ages from classical
times through the eighteenth century will be found ably
presented in Th. Zielinski's " Cicero im Wandel der
Jahrhunderte " [Teubner, Leipsig und Berlin, 1908].
For a comprehension of the Roman constitution, the
accounts in editions of Cicero like that of Allen and
Greenough are generally very good. I would like to
emphasize one point here: an effort should always be
made to connect Roman government with those things
of our society to-day which it resembles. If, for ex-
ample, xdilis is translated by " police commissioner,"
prcetor by " supreme judge," and muicstor by " secretary
of the treasury/' the officers of the Roman state adminis-
88
:ration are more likely to become real to the pupil's mind
;han if they are rendered merely by tedilc, praetor, and
luaestor.
The reading of Cicero demands special notice. We
lave known for a long time that the great orators of
mtiquity, using languages in which quantity played so
.arge a part, were fond of closing their periods in/
rhythmic cadences. Some savants, like Wolf, had made
studies on the subject; but the matter has recently been
nvestigated exhaustively, so far as Cicero is concerned,
)y Th. Zielinski [" Das Clauselgesetz in Ciceros Reden,"
/on Th. Zielinski-Leipsig-Dieterich'sche Verlags-Buch-
landlung, 1904]. Zielinski has analyzed the endings of
ill the sentences of all the orations of Cicero 17902
~lausula? and has found that they follow fairly de-
ined types. The regular usages of prosody are observed
elision, syllaba anceps, etc; and the results are as
follows :
V : " veree clausulse " cretic base.
Per cent
23.3
11.1
7.2
10.
8.7
60.3
L : " licitse " permitting resolutions.
U U U - - I - U 436 2.4
2 - U iPl) I - U 772 4.3
s~^
3 U I U U U 278 1.6
12 u"u U U^U I - U 108 .6
1 l/~\J U - I U 190 1.1
1 U U - I U - 266 1.5
: U -- U U I - U 127 _
Carried over 2177 12.2
89
u
Form
- 1 -
U
No.
4184
u
1 -
U
1991
-
1
u -
1297
u
1
u u
1787
I -
u u
Total
1586
10845
Brought over ....
2177
12.2
2 tr
u u
1 - u
_
239
1.3
2 tr
u
1 - u
207
1.2
J>
u u u
1 - u
u
192
1.1
J 1
u u -
1 u
u
226
1.3
3-
_y_ u u
I - u
u
243
1.4
J'
- u - 1
S~\
u u u
u
211
1.2
3"
- 1
u u u
- u
161
.9
3""
u u
I u
u
413
2.4
J"
u -
I u
u
307 '
1.7
4
- u - I
u
u
184
1.
y
_ _ __ 1
_ u
u
196
1.1
Total
4776
26.8
M : " malse" too much like poetry.
e.g.
_U-. | U U U
I -U-U-U
U - I -U-U-U
U U U I U U U
Total, 1103 == 6.1 per cent.
P : " pessimas " prevalence of dactyls.
1 - u u - I u 54 .3
2 - u - I - u u I 87 .5
3 u I - u u I - u 107 .6
Total 248 1.4
S : " selectae."
1 -I 34 .2
2 u - I 235 1.3
2 -| 44 .2
3 u - I - 501 2.8
31 116 .7
Total 930 5.2
There is, no doubt, much to be said on both sides of
is theory; but it is a theory to be reckoned with. By
ading, in accordance with Zielinski's suggestions, the
agments that we possess of orators like Antonius, we
.n easily see how it was that the populace which heard
m burst into spontaneous applause; whereas if
cited like ordinary prose the words do not seem par-
:ularly forcible. We know, too, that a Roman audience
as more delighted with harmonious periods and rhyth-
ic cadences, even though there was no real argument
liind them, than with weighty matter prosaically ex-
essed.
CORRELATION WITH ENGLISH
As it was found useful to correlate the study of Caesar
ith the English course, so a similar method will be
>und profitable in the case of Cicero. Execises in
inslation of, say, one whole chapter a month should be
sisted upon. Cicero is far more difficult to translate
ithf Lilly than Caesar: and I desire to call attention here
several expressions about which teachers themselves
e very careless. Take, for example, an at the beginning
a sentence. This is usually rendered by " or-" in 99
r cent of all cases ; and makes absolute nonsense, too,
that signification; but pupils bother very little about
nse, .ind many teachers do not have time to worry
er such matters. Nevertheless, the rendering " or "
not Cicero ; and it is our duty to find as exact equiva-
its as possible. Note what Professor Lane remarks
1508] : "A question with an, less often annc, or if
gative, with an non, usually challenges or comments
iphatically on something previously expressed or im-
:ed; as, ' An habent quas gallin;e manus? ' (PL Ps. 29.)
/"hat, what, do hens have hands? >: There is a good
stance of an in Catiline I, I, 3 "An vero vir amplis-
nus, P. Scipio," etc. translate this an by " or " and
91
note what gibberish the sentence becomes ; render it by
"Why, P. Scipio/' etc., and the real force of the Latin
is felt. The datives known as " ethical," " datives of ad-
vantage," and the like, are poorly translated or entirely
passed over by most boys and girls ; yet they have as
distinct a force as the datives which are so similarly
used in German. Professor Lane's renderings may well
serve as models of felicitous translation; I shall quote
two [see sections 1205 ff- of the Grammar] : " Transfi-
gitur scutum Pulioni " " unfortuately for Pulio, his
shield gets pierced through and through"; "At tibi re-
pente, cum minime exspectarem, venit ad me Caninius
mane " " but bless you, sir, when I least dreamt of it,
who should drop in on me all at once but Caninius,
bright and early ! " So, too, in expressions like " pace
tua " [" by your leave "] and " Quern honoris causa
nomino " [" whom I mention with all due respect "] the
chances for the monstrosity called " translation English "
are so admirable that they are seldom neglected. These
examples will suffice to show how constantly a faithful
rendering of the spirit of the Latin should be insisted
upon. The long periods in Cicero are also excellently
adapted to strengthening the pupil's command of
English.
Sallust's " Catiline " should, of course, be read along
with the " Orations against Catiline " of Cicero if not
all of it, at least a large part. This combination of Cicero
and Sallust offers excellent material for work in English ;
for instance, themes on any of these topics :
1. The style of Cicero compared with that of Sallust.
2. A comparison of Catiline with modern political
" bosses."
3. Verres what would he have done in Pennsyl-
vania ?
4. The style of Cicero in his " Letters " and in his
11 Orations."
92
5. Social and political conditions in the time of Cati-
ne and Louis XV, of France.
6. Julius Caesar as drawn by Sallust.
Attention may well be called to the following works
f English authors which will interest the student of
'icero :
Beaumont and Fletcher: "The False One."
Croly : " Catiline."
Dryden : "All for Love."
H. W. Herbert: " The Roman Traitor."
Ben Jonson : " Catiline."
Walter Savage Landor : " Imaginary conversation be-
ween Cicero and his brother Quintus."
J. E. Reade : " Catiline."
CORRELATION WITH HISTORY
The study of Roman History is often begun in the
bird year; and the importance of impressing upon the
mpil the fact that lie is handling original sources is
bvious. Students should by all means be encouraged,
Iso, to form their own judgments on men and events
roni first-hand evidence. From the works of Caesar,
Cicero, and Sallust they may well study a fair amount
f material in the original; and translations of the fol-
Dwing should, whenever possible, be accessible for refer-
nce:
Appian: "Roman History" [XII and XIV].
Dio Cassius: "Roman History" [XXXVI and
CXXVII].
Florus: " Epitome " [III and IV].
Plutarch : " Lives of Caesar and Pompey."
Suetonius : " Lives of Caesar and Augustus."
Velleius Paterculus, book II.
93
PART 1 1
I shall next consider reading for wider knowledge, on
the principles already cited in Part II of the previous
chapter. One of the excellent readers which I mentioned
there will offer suitable material, and Sallust's " Catiline "
may well receive more than a cursory study. Or, if
the teacher prefers to place the whole texts of one or
two authors in the hands of the pupils and to select
extracts from these, I most earnestly recommend :
I. " Scriptores Historic Augustae," edidit H. Peter
2 vols.: vol. i M. 3.30: vol. 2 M. 4.20.
The "Augustan Histories " reveal the inner life of the
emperors from Hadrian to Carinus with a wealth of
fascinating material. And it is most desirable that stu-
dents should see that not the age of Cicero, but the first
three centuries after Christ are most relative to our pres-
ent age. For during the first three centuries was per-
fected that Roman Law which taught the Western world
the art of government ; a new religion, destined to destroy
the whole fabric of the old, was toiling slowly to emi-
nence; the peoples were welded into a homogeneous
mass under one system ; and the Empire in its death-
throes gave birth to the modern European nations. This
panorama is well illustrated in the ''Augustan Histories."
The high-school student is, of course, not mature enough
to grasp every passage; but selections can be made that
are at once highly interesting and not too difficult. I
shall append a few from the " Life of Alexander Sev-
erus," by Lampridius :
29 : Matutinis horis in larario suo, in quo et divos
principes sed optimos electos et animas sanctiores, in quis
Apollonium et, quantum scriptor stiorum temporum (licit,
Christum, Abraham, et Orfenm et huiuscemodi ceteros
habebat ac maiorum effigies, rcm divinam faciebat.
94
22: ludaeis privilegia reservavit. Christianos esse-
assus est. . . . presides provinciarum, quos vere non
ictionibus laudari comperit, et itineribus secum semper
i vehiculo habuit et muneribus adiuvit, dicens et fures
re publica pellendos ac pauperandos et integros esse
^tinendos atque ditandos.
II. " Valerii Maximi Factorum et Dictorum Memora-
iliuni libri novem," recensuit Carolus Kempf . Teub-
er, Leipsig M. 4.50.
E.g. [II, 6, 10 et sqq.] : Horum [i.e. Massiliensium]
loenia egressis vetus ille mos Gallorum occurrit, quos
lemoria proditum est pecunias mtttnas, quae his apud
iferos redderentur, dare, quia persuasum habuerint ani-
las hominum immortales esse. Dicerem sttjiltos, nisi
lem bracati sensissent, quod palliatus Pythagoras credi-
it.
Avara et feneratoria Gallorum philosophia, alacris et
Drtis Cimbrorum et Celtiberorum. qtii in acie gaudio ex-
Itabant tamquam gloriose et f eliciter vita excessuri ; la-
icntabantur in morbo, quasi turpiter et miserabiliter
erituri. Celtiberi etiam nefas esse ducebant proelio
uperesse, cum is occidisset, pro cuius salute spiritum
evcrverarit.
[VIII-7, 2] : Pythagoras. .- . . ^gyptum petiit,
bi, litteris gentis eius adsuefactus, prseteriti sevi sacerdo-
im commentarios scrutatus, innumerabilium sseculorum
bservationes cogriovit. inde ad Persas profectus mago-
Ltm exactissimaj prudentiae se formandum tradidit, a qui-
us sidernm motus cursusque stellarum et unius cuiusque
im, proprietatem, effectum benignissime demonstratum
ocili animo sorpsit. Cretam deinde et Lacedsemona
avigavit, quarum legibus ac moribus inspectis ad Olym-
icum certamen descendit.
III. " Latin Hymns. With English Notes and brief
Notices of the Authors," by F. A. March. Harpers, New
fork.
95
A perusal of the great Latin hymns cannot fail to be
of value to the student. He will find in them the real
poetry accentual, often rhymed that we know to
have belonged to the common people of Rome from the
very earliest times. The pupil should know that all the
subjects of Rome did not find the prosody of Vergil
a thing of native growth. " They (the Hymns) are the
true Latin folk-poems," remarks Professor March, " they
have been called ' the Bible of the people.' They are
a valuable study also from the biographical, historical,
and literary matter that comes up in reading them. The
authors are many of them the heroes of their generation,
kings in the realm of thought or action. Interesting
events are connected with their composition or history,
and they are full of allusions to the great works of the
older period, the Bible and the fathers of the Church.
There is great variety in the subjects, the metres, and
the style of the hymns." . . . " By a careful study
of their words, we are enabled rapidly to think their
(the authors') thoughts, to repeat in our experience their
aspirations and resolves, and to recognize and accept their
ideals." /
The grandeur of the organ-notes, so to speak, of
Dies ine, dies ilia
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sybilla
and the
Stabat mater dolorosa
luxta crucem lacrymosa,
Dum pendebat fijius,
will appeal to the student's mind with as much power as
the
Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos
UNIVERSITY I
OF
f Vergil; and a comparison of the majesty of the Man-
.ian and of the Christian monk will open a wider ho-
izon, a deeper insight into the realms of the inner
pirit of man.
CHAPTER VII
Fourth Year of Latin
PART I
I shall assume that Vergil is our author for intensive
tucly during the fourth year. As Caesar introduces us
o the external government and policy of Rome, and
"icero to its inner social and political life, so Vergil
hall be our guide to an appreciation of the thoughts
.nd ideals of the Romans nobly sung in yEneid VI,
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento ;
Hae tibi erunt artes ; pacisque imponere morem,
Parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos.
In our secondary schools the reading of Vergil is con-
ined practically exclusively to the "yEneid " the first
ix books and, if time allows, as much of the other six
is can be read in the space allotted.
For the professional student of literature it is undoubt-
edly necessary to read the whole of the " /Eneid " ; and
he brilliant works of Conington, Sellar, and Nettleship
m Vergil will open to one who studies them carefully
he subtle beauties of the poet in their full dramatic or
irtistic perfection. But we are dealing with boys and
'iris of seventeen and eighteen years of age, many of
vhom (the majority, rather) will carry the study of
^atin no further than the high-school course. They have
low arrived at a stage when grammar should have been
nastered and when an effort should be made to have
97
them appreciate Latin Literature as literature, not as a
text for syntax or composition. Vergil is the supreme
artist of Latin verse; but he is also the most difficult to
grasp; the beauties of no poet are more elusive, more
subtle. In teaching Vergil, therefore, we must be on our
guard to prevent the subject from becoming irksome or
a bore; we shall do well to realize what parts of our
author are suited to adolescents and what parts are
beyond their immature years ; and I propose next to
discuss certain aspects of this matter with a view to
ascertain what course of reading shall be best adapted
to the fourth-year pupil.
Adolescence is the period of romance ; a time when
romantic love appeals most strongly. It is fond of ad-
venture and action. It is idealistic, and enjoys prose
or poetry of lofty sentiment. Problems of practical
ethics win its attention. It is .an age of frankness, too,
and much opposed to artificiality or tame submittance to
convention.
The adolescent is attracted by romance, as I have said ;
and the history of Dido, as depicted in so masterly a
way in the fourth book of the "/Eneid," seldom fails
to win the sympathy and attention of the secondary stu-
dent.
The adolescent is fond of adventure and action; then
the first three books of the 4 ''yneid," so vivid, full of life,
pregnant with reminiscences of the " tale of Troy divine,"
seem well -fitted to cater to this side of youth.
The adolescent is idealistic; and nowhere will he find
loftier ethics, sublimer sentiments, than in the idealiza-
tion of Rome and her destiny as conceived in the sixth
book of the "^Eneid." The harmony and vigor of verses
such as these:
Tu ne cede maHs, sed contra audentior ito,
or
Tros Anchisiade, facilis descensus Averno;
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocafe gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hie labor est.
>r
Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere clivos
re well adapted to minister to the serise of idealism
iherent in the adolescent.
Books I-IV and Book VI of the " JEneid " I should
onsider excellent to present in the fourth year of Latin.
>efpre considering the question of the other parts, let
ic quote the best summary of Vergil's place as poet
lat can be found anywhere; I mean the criticism of
lackail [" Latin Literature," p. 98 and following] : " Up
> the beginning of the present century the supremacy
f Virgil was hardly doubted. Since then the develop-
icnt of scientific criticism has passed him through all
s searching processes, and in a fair judgment his great-
ess has rather gained than lost. The doubtful honor
f indiscriminate praise was for a brief period succeeded
y the attacks of an almost equally undiscriminating cen-
ure. An ill-judged partiality had once spoken of the
Eneid as something greater than a Roman Iliad ; it was
asy to show that in the most remarkable Homeric quali-
es the ^Eneid fell far short, and that, so far as it was
n imitation of Homer, it could no more stand beside
[omer than the imitations of Theocritus in the Eclogues
Diild stand beside Theocritus. . . . No great work
f art can be usefully judged by comparison with any
ther great work of art . . . and to depreciate one
ecause it has not what is the special quality of the other,
. to lose sight of the function of criticism. . . . The
lost adverse critic would not deny that portions of the
oem are, both in dramatic and narrative qualty, all but
nsurpassed, and in a certain union of imaginative sym-
athy with their fine dramatic power and their state-
ness of narration perhaps unequalled. . . . That the
ineid is unequal, is true; that passages in it here
99
and there are mannered, and even flat, is true also. . . .
Vergil may seem to us to miss some of his opportunities,
to labor others beyond their due proportion, and to force
himself (especially in the later books) into material not
well adapted to the distinctive Vergilian treatment. . . .
The funeral games at the tomb of Anchises, no longer
described, as they had been in early Greek poetry, from
a real pleasure in dwelling upon their details, begin to
become tedious before they are over. In the battle-
pieces of the last three books we sometimes cannot help
being reminded that Vergil is rather wearily following
an absolescent literary tradition."
Vergil may, then, be confessedly flat and stale for the
mature reader at times; doubly so in that case for
younger readers. Now, it is in Book V and in the last
six books of the " JEneid " that Vergil is simply follow-
ing obsolete literary tradition or copying, sometimes word
for word, Greek originals. The " distinctive Vergilian
treatment " has no longer adequate material on which
to be exercised. He has funeral games for Anchises
because Homer depicts those for Patroclus ; but he can-
not bring into the subject that joy in life, the zest for
sport, which characterizes the description of Homer;
and naturally, because Vergil lived in a far more ad-
vanced civilization. Again, Vergil describes the shield
of ^Eneas, because Homer did the same for the shield
of Achilles; but Homer describes through action, he
puts us through the. process of its manufacture, and the
interest never flags. In the " yEneid " we get simply a
heap of dreary details.
Again, the whole machinery of gods and goddesses
is dragged in by the heels in Book V and Books VII-XII ;
and whereas in Homer the mythology is so natural, be-
cause we feel that the poet believed in it sincerely, in the
" /Eneid " we are not deceived ; we know at once that
the poet did not have faith in the credo of the general.
100
We live to-day, moreover, in an age to which the
great epics like " Paradise Lost " are not attractive.
The whole setting is incredible, unreal; such things as
are described cannot occur and never did take place ;
the conception is alien to our ways of thought. It is
3nly when the epic drops its artificial supernumeraries
and concerns itself with men and women of real life
that it may become great; for this reason Books VI
and XXII of the " Iliad " will delight to the end of
time. For this reason the " Iliad " will have more
readers than " Paradise Lost," in which only the ma-
jestic and/ sonorous music can stir our emotions; of
men and women with senses, affections, and passions
kin to us, there are none ; but what a galaxy does Homer
present ! Andromache, Nausicaa, Penelope, Hector,
Helen, Paris the "Odyssey" and the "Iliad" are
filled with creatures of flesh and blood.
My conclusion is, therefore, that of the " yneid "
only Books I to IV and Book VI should be presented
in secondary schools. By the careful study of these the
student will have had the opportunity to grasp the real
greatness of Vergil his perfect mastery of metre, his
sublimity, his marvelous power in delineating sympa-
thetically the love of woman, his lofty idealization of
Rome without becoming intimately acquainted with
his worst faults artificiality and imitation of obsolete
traditions of epic machinery.
There are, indeed, passages in the last six books which
are equal in interest and merit to anything in the first
four the story of Nisus and Euryalus, for example
but I think it a bad mistake to push the reading of an
author to the point of saturation, until he becomes mo-
notonous and a bore. Moreover, as before remarked,
we do not read " Paradise Lost " without some con-
sideration of " Lycidas " ; and after the " yEneid " it is
only fair to exhibit our poet in another aspect by turn-
ing to the " Eclogues."
101
Some teachers object to the " Eclogues " on the
ground that the vocabulary is too difficult, the allusions
many and hard, the whole subject-matter unattractive to
a boy or girl; and that they are merely artificial imi-
tations of Theocritus, after allA To be sure, Vergil"/
is an imitator ; but, as Voltaire remarked, " Homere a
fait Virgile, dit-on; si cela est, c'est sans doute son plus I
bel ouvrage." In the " Eclogues " Vergil has known
how to blend the spirit of his originals with his own
genius; and since, furthermore, not more than one pupil
in ten thousand will ever read the " Idyls " of Theocri-
tus, the fact that the " Eclogues " are imitated from
him will hardly trouble their serenity. As to subject-
matter, experience shows that boys and girls. like it; as,
indeed, why should they not? Life in the open, the joy
of living, birds and flowers, are their natural elements.
The allusions can surely be explained very easily by the
teacher; and care should be taken not to force the stu-
dents to remember each detail. Nor is the vocabulary
too difficult; unusual words like bacchar and colocasia
do certainly occur; but the pupils need not be required
to learn them. The music of these poems is not their
least cham; the limpid flow of verses like
Sicelides Musae, paulo maiora canamus !
has frequently been of great potency in leading to an
appreciation of the hexameter that was not so keenly
felt while reading the " ^Eneid."
I do, indeed, believe that some of the " Eclogues "
are hardly mrginibus puerisque; the second, for instance,
is beyond their range. But " Eclogues " IV and IX
I consider well adapted to pupils in the fourth year of
Latin. The study of number IV has had sucfi a peculiar
historical interest from the earliest times, that it is
especially fitted to be presented ; and the story of Vergil
as a magician and prophet during the Middle Ages, and
A Some of these arguments are, indeed, true of the " Geer-
gics," which are too difficult for students in secondary schools.
I O2
the extraordinary relations of the Sibyls to early
iristianity, will not fail to attract the attention power-
lly.
DME POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE
TEACHING OF VERGIL
If the teacher feels that the sudden transition to
>etry will prove difficult for the pupils without some
ecial help, Mr. C. W. Gleason's "Gate to Vergil"
}inn] will be found a convenient little volume. It
ntains Book I of the " yEneid," together with a prose
rsion in Latin, and very helpful aids to scansion. A
cabulary is appended.
In regard to the reading of Vergil, perhaps there is no
:ed of particular comment. But two or three points
em to me worth noting. Students are, as a rule, in-
rmed that in Latin verse words may change their ac-
nt completely; cano, for example, having an ictus on
i last syllable cano in the opening line of the
^neid," thus:
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
lat accent in any language should exhibit such wide
mergences seems strange; and the matter is, indeed,
alien to all our conceptions that it appears unreal,
it was there in fact such differentiation in Latin as
s been commonly supposed ? Let me refer the teacher
pages 175-190 of Bennett and Bristol's " The Teach-
% of Latin and Greek " [Longmans, Green & Co.]
r an illuminating discussion of this subject. Not to
*ary the reader by a tedious commentary, I shall quote
of essor Bennett's summary : " Latin poetry is to be
ad exactly like Latin prose. Latin was primarily a
antitative language in the classical period and is to
read quantitatively. The Latin word-accent was
latively slight as compared with that of our strongly
103
stressed English speech, and is therefore to be carefully
subordinated to quantity both in prose and poetry.
Ictus was not a metrical term current among the Ro-
mans, nor was there anything corresponding to it in
the quantitative poetry of the Greeks. The term is
purely modern. We first imported the conception of
stress from our modern speech into the quantitative
poetry of the Greeks and Romans, and then imported
the term ' ictus ' to cover it. But just as the conception
of artificial stress in Latin poetry is false, so the term
' ictus ' is superfluous. e<m was employed by the
ancient Greek writers on metric to designate the promi-
nent part of every fundamental foot, and is. still en-
tirely adequate to cover that conception. ... In
actual reading it will be well to bear in mind the four
following fundamental principles :
1. Observe the quantity of each syllable scrupulously,
taking care to observe the proper division of the sylla-
bles, joining the first of two successive consonants with
the preceding vowel, and so closing the syllable.
2. Make the word-accent light ; subordinate it care-
fully to quantity.
3. Endeavor to cultivate the quantitative sense, i.e.,
to feel the verse as consisting of a succession of long
and short intervals.
4. Do not attempt to give special expression to the
' ictus ' in any way. The ' ictus ' (which is only quanti-
tative prominence) will take care of itself, if the sylla-
bles are properly pronounced."
Professor Lane remarks in his Grammar [2548] :
" Although in all probability the Latin accent was mainly
one of stress rather than of pitch, it seems to have been
comparatively weak. Hence, when it conflicted with
the metrical ictus, it could be the more easily disregarded
But accentual or semi-accentual poetry seems to have
existed among the common people even in the Augustan
age, and even in classical Latin verse in certain cases
104
s in the last part of the dactylic hexameter) conflict
tween ictus and accent was carefully avoided. After
e third century A. D. the accent exerted a stronger
d stronger influence upon versification, until in the
iddle Ages the quantitative Latin verse was quite sup-
mted by the accentual."
It is certainly a great help to pupils who are just be-
ining to scan to accent the first syllable very strongly ;
d perhaps it is well to allow a strong ictus at first,
til the student becomes more accustomed to the metre,
fter that it will be in order to render the hexameter
as classical a way as possible. The melodious verse
Vergil does, in fact, read itself, so to speak, mar-
lously well; and pupils seldom find it very difficult.
t any rate, the students should not be burdened with
ng and elaborate rules of quantity, each attended by
train of numerous exceptions ; they are quite unneces-
ry; and the three or four brief principles which ex-
ain when a vowel is long, short, or common prin-
}les clearly stated in all First Latin Books are quite
icugh for the purpose.
Mythology, as we meet it in Vergil, may be made
ofitable and entertaining to the student. It is idle
load the pupil with details of unimportant names or
isodes ; for instance, there is no particular point in
quiring him to remember who Polydorus was. But
ose features of myth and fable which have become
eminent in art, literature, and the study of race his-
ry are well worth attention.
I. The " ./Eneid " offers some good material for
ithropological and historical study. " Myth is actual
story of early and imperfect stages of thought and
;lief," remarks Professor Gayley, " it is the true nar-
.tive of unenlightened observation, of infantine grop-
gs after truth. Whatever reservations scholars may
ake on other points, most of them will concur in these :
lat some myths came into existence by a ' disease of
105
language'; that some were invented to explain names
of nations and of places, and some to explain the ex-
istence of fossils and bones that suggested prehistoric
animals and men; that many were invented to gratify
the ancestral pride of chieftains and clans, and that
very many obtained consistency and form as explana-
tions of the phenomena of nature, as expressions of
the reverence felt for the powers of nature, and as
personifications, in general, of the passions and the ideals
of primitive mankind." Scylla, the personification of
rocks dangerous to the mariner; Charybdis, the whirl-
pool ; the Harpies, personifications, of the storm-winds ;
Enceladus under /Etna, the volcano myth ; these are a
few of the fables mentioned by Vergil which will repay
study in the light of Professor Gayley's remarks. The
whole " y^Eneid," furthermore, was distinctly " invented
to gratify the ancestral pride " of Augustus and the
Julian clan and to justify the ways of Rome to men.
The historical background of the stories which center
about Troy arouses eager curiosity when connected with
the epoch-making excavations of Dr. Schliemann at His-
sarlik (site of ancient Troy) and at Mycenae; and no
less interesting will be a brief mention of Elissa, the
foundress of Carthage, who later became confused with
Dido-Astarte, the protectress of the colony.
Religious rites and customs will properly receive some
attention in connection with the study of mythology ;
for example, the calling to the dead [III, 68], libations
before the feast [I, 736], offerings to departed spirits
[III, 301-305]-
Any myth that has had an influence on later history
should always receive explanation, however brief ; for
so the past is brought more vividly in connection with
the present. The mention of the Sibyls [III, 440, VI,
98] recalls at once their whole interesting position, from
the. legend of the Sibyl who came to Tarquin through
the centuries when the Christians adopted them as in-
106
ired prophetesses of the triumph of Christianity. The
e of the " Sortes Vergilianae " up to comparatively
xlern times presents a curious example of lasting
perstition; and the pupil should be told how Charles I
England, on consulting the " Sortes Vergilianse " at
cford, turned by chance to " yEneid " IV, 615-620, the
rse of Dido, which was so strangely fulfilled in his own
se.
It is worth while to inform the students that all
>mans and Greeks did not accept literally the various
rths and fables any more than we do; for people in
neral have very peculiar ideas on the matter and are
mly convinced that pagan Rome was sunk in abysses
blind heathenism and immorality. Such notions
ould be corrected, as far as possible, in secondary
lools; or better, they should never be conceived. The
irch of Plato and Aristotle after God ; the attempt of
ihemerus [316 B.C.] to give a natural and historical
planation to myths ; the allegorical interpretations
/en even by the ancients to stories such as that of
ipid and Psyche; how the Eleusinian Mysteries min-
ered to men's craving for higher spiritual truths, and
argil's own initiation into them ; these are a few of
3 topics that may be presented, even if only summarily,
the student of the " JEneicf."
II. The vast extent of the use of classical mythology
literature justifies a careful consideration of it; the
)re so, as Milton, Tennyson, and Shakespeare, among
icr writers who allude freely to myth, are regularly
idied in the English course. When Hecate is men-
ned in "Macbeth"; Dido in "The Merchant of
mice " ; when Milton, in " Comus," speaks of " Triton's
nding shell"; the student should not be ignorant of
* very general use of classic myths in English litera-
re; and he should acquire a reasonably accurate idea
their sources.
107
III. No less profitable is it, to contemplate the classi-
cal mythology with reference to its enormous influence
upon art. With the most common masterpieces of
ancient sculpture such as the Apollo Belvedere, and
the Venus of Melos most students are familiar. They
should also acquire some outline knowledge of the myths
and stones treated by the great painters and sculptors of
later ages; as, for instance, Guido Reni's "Aurora," Rem-
brandt's u Ganymede carried off by Jove's Eagle," Mi-
chael Angelo's '''The Fates "' (also Paul Thumann's),
Thorwaldsen's " Hector and Andromache." It will do no
harm for the teacher to point out that the famous Laocoori
group inspired Lessing's " Laocoon," one of the great-
est criticisms of art ever written ; and a brief summary of
this masterpiece, adapted to the pupil's comprehension, is
a stimulant of a high order of merit to instil some ap-
preciation of the principles underlying the beauty of
classic sculpture.
Prints of all the masterpieces of sculpture and paint-
ing are easily gotten and are very cheap ; they should be
in the hands of the pupils, or at least be on the desk or
hung on the wall. The Perry Prints are excellent
[The Perry Pictures Co., 76 Fifth Avenue, New York;
Maiden, Mass.] ; as are also the Harper's Black and
White Prints [ H elman-Taylor Art Co., 257 Fifth
Avenue, New York] . Plaster casts may be had of P. P.
Caproni and Bro., 1914 Washington Street, Boston.
The very best work on mythology in its historical,
literary, and artistic relations is Gayley's " Classic Myths
in English Literature" [Ginn and Co.]. In this work
not only are there interesting and well-written accounts
of each myth, but also copious extracts of and references
to all English writers who have alluded to any of these ;
a list of artists and sculptors, both ancient and modern,
who have treated any myth, is appended to the several
accounts ; and an interpretation or scientific explanation
accompanies all.
108
How far can Vergil be treated from the literary point
view, or correlated with English in secondary schools ?
ic high-school student cannot be expected to read the
isterly and extensive critical works of Nettleship,
liar, and Conington ; but Mackail's remarkable little
^atin Literature " should certainly be on the desk ; and
2 short chapter on Vergil ought to be prescribed for
students to read carefully. The beauties of Vergil,
ably summarized by Mackail " his haunting and
uid rhythms, his majestic sadness, his grace and pity "
these should be noted by the teacher and pointed out
the students as they occur in the several verses. Boys
d girls are quite capable of appreciating the " grace
d pity " of
Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt
^Eneid I, 462.
e nobleness of
Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco
yneid I, 630.
e quiet beauty of
qua se
Plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras
-yneid III, 151-152.
powerful help to appreciation ;
5 all its beauties only after re-
:ated reading, after the mind is ^saturated with its
ought and language. Any one who is familiar with
lakespeare knows how true this is.- NSo less than two
indred lines of Vergil should be assigneo*to pupils to
mmit to memory and recite.
Careful translation from Latin into English is a
tent aid not only to a better appreciation of the Latin,
it also to enlargement of vocabulary and feeling for
e power of words in English. Teachers are very care-
ss and allow pupils to give renderings which are in
) sense equivalents of the Latin. For example : to
109
render " sonipes " [" /EnM" IV, 135] by the prosaic
" horse " is to miss the force of the original. " Sonipes "
is a purely poetical word, found only in verse [e.g.,
Catullus, 63, 41; Silius Italicus, I, 222; Valerius Flaccus,
3, 334; etc.]. Just as in English we have "horse,"
"steed," "charger," "nag," so did the Romans use
" equus, caballus, sonipes." according as they wished to
use a refined, a colloquial, or a poetical word. Now,
" equus " is equivalent to our " horse " ; " caballus "
[It. caballo, Fr. cheval] was a very colloquial word and
can perhaps be best rendered by " nag." " Sonipes "
[" noisy-footed," " prancer "] can, therefore, be trans-
lated best by " steed " ; and the use of such words in
English poetry should be explained to the students. To
take another instance : " genitor " = " sire " ; it is poeti-
cal, and ought not be rendered by " father," a more
colloquial word, the equivalent of which is " pater."
" Ensis," again, is a purely poetical word, like our
" glaive " ; the prose word is " gladius," our " sword."
These examples will suffice to give an idea of the care
that needs to be exercised in order to translate Vergil
faithfully, in accordance with the spirit of the original.
I believe firmly that pupils, after they have worked
out carefully one or two books of the " yEneid," should
be allowed and encouraged to use and compare the best
English translations, both in prose and verse. Of the
making of such translations there seems to be no end;
new ones appear constantly. However, it seems to me
that the prose rendering of Conington, and the metrical
versions of Dryden, Rhoades, Conington, and Williams
are the best to recommend to the students. It is profit-
able, and conduces to a better appreciation of the real
significance of the Latin, if the teacher selects some
passage and has the various versions of it by different
translators put on the board ; a comparison is thus easily
made; and the pupils should be encouraged to find out
for themselves wherein the English versions are faithful
no
the exact force of the original, and where they are
iply paraphrases or miss the concrete power of the
tin word. Let us consider verses 301-317 of the
ond book of the " ^Eneid," as an illustration or practi-
application of the method described above:
[. Excutior somno [302] : " I woke on sudden "
Williams] ; " I start from sleep " [Rhoades] ; " I start
from sleep " [Conington]. None of these renderings
adequate. " Excutio " means literally " to shake
: " ; a vivid word ; and " excutior somno " should be
nslated " I am shaken out of sleep " surely a most .
)ropriate expression, when we reflect that all Troy
s being destroyed, that hosts of heavily-mailed sol-
rs were rushing through the streets, and that great
Idings were crashing to ruin right and left. Most
chers are quite content to permit pupils to render
s " I get up " - O Vergil, how art thou translated !
J. lam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam
Volcano superante domus, iam proxumus a'rdet
Ucalegon ; Sigea igni f reta lata relucent.
310-312.
" Deiphobus' great house
Sunk vanquished in the fire. Ucalegon's
Hard by was blazing, while the waters wide
Around Sigeum gave an answering glow."
Williams.
' Thy halls already, late so proud,
Deiphobus, to fire have bowed :
Ucalegon has caught the light :
Sigeum's waves gleam broad and bright."
Conington (metrical version).
' Already Deiphobus' palace has fallen with a mighty
;rthrow before the mastering fire-god already his
ghbor Ucalegon is in flames the expanse of the
^ean sea shines again with the blaze."
Conington (prose version).
in
" See e'en now
The house of Deiphobus a vast ruin yawns
O'ertopped by Vulcan ! see his neighbour too
Ucalegon in flames ! Sigeum's gulf
Reflects the blaze afar."
Rhoades.
" Now the big house of Deiphobus went to ruin, the
fire conquering it, now the neighboring house of
Ucalegon burns; the straits of Sigeum far and wide
shine from the fire." - - Usual rendering of the pupil.
Of these translations, that of Mr. Rhoades is the most
faithful to the real meaning of Vergil's words. Note
the " o'ertopped by Vulcan " ; that is what the poet says.
" Supero " means literally " to surmount," " to climb
over " ; the use of " Vulcan " for " fire " adds vividness
by personifying the element, by making the agent real.
Literally translated, the expression is one of great beauty
and imagery ; but anything like " sunk vanquished in the
fire " is a mere paraphrase, an explanatory comment, not
a translation. " Ruina " is constantly flattened when
rendered into English ; it means " a downfall," " a tum-
bling," not the abstract vagueness of the English " ruin " ;
" dedit ruinam " is " fell with a crash," not merely " went
to ruin," Mr. Conington's poetical version, in the metre
of Scott's " Marmion," offers good material for a dis-
cussion of the question, " What metre in English will
best give the force of the Latin dactylic hexameter ? "
Careful explanations of rhetorical devices metony-
my, simile, metaphor, personification, hendiadys, and the
like must always be given, or the student is likely to
imagine that the poet has dragged them in by the heels
to fill out space, like a newspaper reporter. The function,
use, and abuse of these devices are proper adjuncts of
a pupil's knowledge both of English and of Latin.
There is still another way to assist appreciation of the
" ^Eneid " : namely, a study, confined to reasonable limits,
112
the nature of the Epic in general, and of the various
eat epic poems in particular. Let the teacher sum-
irize Chapters 23 and 24 of Aristotle's " Poetics " [text,
inslation, and criticism by Butcher Macmillan] ; and
courage the pupils to draw some conclusions of their
m on the matter. The " Iliad " and the " Odyssey "
Homer ; the " ^Eneid " of Vergil ; the " Divine
unedy " of Dante ; the " Niebelungen Lied " ; and Mil-
l's " Paradise Lost " should be rendered familiar to
; pupil at least in outline; and their several agreements,
Terences, and relations noted in reasonable detail. The
: of the poets is worth perusing with care; let students
serve, for example, how Vergil, Dante, and Milton
mge at once in medias res and only in later books nar-
te events from their very beginning; let students ob-
ve how the interest is at once seized and kept by that
vice [as also in Thackeray's " Vanity Fair " and
.igo's " Hunchback of Notre Dame "] ; and have them
* this knowledge for their own profit in their English
Tiposition.
Longfellow's " Evangeline," which is usually read in
* earlier years at school, offers an interesting com-
rison of the hexameter in English.
I trust that the reader will not imagine that I am
ascribing more than can be given in the time allotted
Latin in the high-school course. Much of the work
lich I have suggested should be made part of the work
English; and the remainder can be presented easily
devoting to it one period every three or four weeks
such has been my experience.
Fn accordance with our desire to correlate Latin with
ngs in modern life and not to isolate it as if it were
alien to us as Chinese, we must endeavor to give some
a, however limited, of the vast influence exerted by
:rgil on English literature; nor does it behoove us to
5s over his relation to his own time and the authority
lich he wielded in the Middle Ages.
The relation of Vergil to Augustus; his purpose in
writing the " yEneid " ; the aid given by him to the
movement for securing a universal peace under a cen-
tralized government, after the fearful decades of civil
wars; these matters are adequately treated in the intro-
ductions of our text-books, and more comment is not
needed.
The later position of Vergil, however, fascinating as
it is, is usually, I am sorry to say, quite unknown to
teachers. How many of them are aware that he ac-
quired great fame as a prophet of the birth of Christ,
becoming to the Christians an equal authority to the
Sibyls? That he later was altered in character and was
transformed into a magician, who performed divers mar-
vels throughout the Middle Ages? That the remnants
of this belief existed to within very recent times amon^
the common people about -Naples, showing how widely
his reputation had spread and how firmly rooted it was ?
Certainly, some of these features such as the stories
told by Gervasius of Tilbury should be made familiar
to the pupils; and the great work on the subject is
Comparetti's " Vergil in the Middle Ages " [translated
by Bernecke Macmillan & Co.], with which every
teacher should be familiar, and extracts of which may
be read to the pupils with profit and amusement.
Vergil's influence on the whole of modern English
literature has been enormous and no high-school student
could begin to grasp it in its totality. The edition of
Allen and Greenough gives excellent parallel references ;
so does Gayley, in his " Classic Myths in English. Litera-
ture." In the case of two poets, however, it is quite
possible for our pupil to make a somewhat detailed study
of Vergilian influence. I refer to Milton and Tennyson ;
both of these are commonly read in all secondary schools.
Let us see how much can be done in this direction.
"Lycidas," " Comus," " L'Allegro," "II Penseroso,"
and often a book or two of " Paradise Lost " are gen-
114
rally given among the works of Milton to be read in
le senior year. How these can be correlated with
assical mythology and literary study of the " ^Eneid "
have already shown. But I think the pupil is now
lature enough to go a little farther; and he can ap-
reciate a pamphlet of twenty-one pages by Dr. Max
chlicht " On the Influence of the Ancients to be traced
L Milton's Style and Language " [Rosenberg, O. R.
bege]. In this article, well adapted to the compre-
ension of a boy or girl seventeen years of age, will be
Hind instances of the classical use of relative pronouns
i Milton's style; of the employment of past participle
nd noun in the way of the Latin like the " since
reated man" [P. L. I, 573; cf. "post urbem condi-
im] ; and the like. Most profitable I consider the list
f words used by Milton in a Latin sense [pp. 5-1 1] ;
ords which are constantly mistranslated when they oc-
.ir in Latin authors. Here are a few of those met with
i Milton, words which indicate most clearly the influence
f Vergil and other Roman poets :
rown : in the Latin sense of coronare" to fill brimful."
requent : in the Latin sense of frequens = " crowded."
retire: (followed by "of") in the Latin sense of
securus = " without any concern about, or fear of."
ible : in the original sense of fabula = any event or cir-
cumstance generally spoken of, whether true or not.
ix : in the Latin sense of laxus = " wide," " spacious "
[cf . laxa domus, laxa toga] " unconfined."
.iin : in the Latin sense of ruina = " a fall with violence
and precipitation."
btain : in the Latin sense of obtineo = " keep," " have,"
" maintain a hold on " (constantly mistranslated in
Caesar).
[NOTE: The teacher may find it interesting to read
Miltons Paradise Lost in seinem Verhaltnisse zur
^neide, Ilias, und Odyssee " von Friedrich Buff,
liinchen, Mintzel'sche Buchdruckerei, 1904. 78 pages.]
The influence of Vergil on Tennyson can be traced in
numerous specific instances; and indeed, the great Eng-
lish poet has confessed his debt in the beautiful tribute
rendered to the bard of Mantua :
I salute thee, Mantovano,
I, that loved thee since my day began ;
Wielder of the stateliest measure
ever moulded by the lips of man.
This specific influence is presented by Wilfred P.
Mustard in a suggestive pamphlet of eleven pages en-
titled "Tennyson and Vergil" [Lord Baltimore Press.
Baltimore. Reprint from American Journal of Philol-
ogy, XX, No. 2, April, May, June, 1899]. This article
should be placed in the hands of the students, if only
in order to show them what a real translation of Vergil
is like. For example: this in the " Princess " (the work
usually read in our schools),
" Myriads of rivulets hurrying thro' the lawn "
is a real translation, faithful to the original,
et tenuis fugiens per gramina rivus
Georgics IV, 19.
usually rendered in schools by " the small river running
through the grass." Note also the following:
Universal Nature moved by Universal Mind
from the Ode to Vergil.
Mens agitat molem ^Eneid VI, 727.
This way and that dividing the swift mind.
Sir Bedivere, in the Morte d'Arthur.
Atque animum nunc hue celerem, nunc dividit illuc.
-;neid IV, 285.
116
She found no rest, and ever failed to draw
The quiet night into her blood.
" Marriage of Geraint."
neque umquam
solvitur in somnos oculisque aut pectore noctem
accipit.
^Eneid IV, 529-531.
PART II
In the fourth year of Latin the reader, if that has
een used for the sight reading and for wider knowledge,
lould be discarded and the whole texts of authors put
ito the hands of the pupils ; for they are now mature
nough not to be reminded that they are still children,
hich fact a reader generally suggests. Besides, extracts
sually grow very unsatisfactory after two or three
ears and a craving to see an author in his entirety
sually follows. In a course of four years the follow-
ig is a good scheme of reading for the last year :
Vergil JEneid I, II, III, IV.
Pliny Letters VI, 16 and 20 (on Vesuvius), X,
6 (on the Christians).
Juvenal VIII or X.
)r, if the Latin is continued for five years, the following:
"ourth Year: as above.
r ifth Year: ^neid VI, and
Eclogues IV and IX.
Seneca selections.
Ovid selections ( Metamorphoses ) .
Cicero Milo.
In my mind's eye I can see teachers raising their
lands in horror at the suggestion of Pliny, Juvenal, and
Seneca for students in secondary schools. " The vocabu-
ary is surely too difficult," they will assert, " and besides,
117
we are afraid that reading these authors will take from
our pupils the time which they should spend in studying
for the college entrance examinations." As to the latter
objection, I can say that my pupils, who have studied
with me in these writers, have passed their entrance ex-
aminations in 90 per cent of all cases ; and as to vocabu-
lary, they found no difficulty. A fair number of new
words are met, to be sure; but Latin is not the personal
property of Cicero, heretical as that statement may
sound. And Pliny, Juvenal, and Seneca are, by the
consensus of all critics, " classical," though it is true
that they are accorded only a " Silver " Latinity, not
" Golden," as Cicero. However, what they lack in gilt,
they make up in human interest; and that is a very
pleasant feature to all except doctors of philosophy.
I. C. Plini Gecili Secundi Epistularum Libri Novem.
Epistularum ad Traianum Liber. Panegyricus. Recog-
novit C. F. W. Mueller. (Teubner Leipsig M.
i. 20).
The two letters on the eruption of Vesuvius, of which
Pliny was a personal witness, are very fascinating to
the student, especially so in connection with Pompeii.
The letter to Trajan on the Christians holds the attention
no less; and the pupil can acquire a correct idea, from
an original source, of the reasons which prompted the
Romans to persecute. I shall quote two passages, one
from VI, 16, and one from X, 96; let the teacher ask
himself whether they are above the ability of any fourth-
year student:
[VI, 16] : Erat favunculus metis] Miseni classemque
imperio praesens regebat. Nonum Kal. Septembres hora
fere septima mater mea indicat ei apparere nubem in-
visitata et magnitudine et specie. Ustis ille sole, mox
frigida gustaverat iacens studebatque; poscit soleas, as-
cendit locum, ex quo maxime miraculum illud conspici
poterat. Nubes, incertum procul intuentibus, ex quo
118
3nte (Vesuvium fuisse postea cognitum est), oriebatur,
ius similitudinem et formam non alia magis arbor
lam pinus expresserit.
[X, 96] : Nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem
avam immodicam. Ideo dilata cognitione ad consulen-
im te decucurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna con-
Itatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum.
ulti enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus
iam vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur.
II. Juvenalis Satirarum libri quinque. Recognovit
F. Hermann. [Teubner, M. .45].
The tenth satire of Juvenal is adapted to students not
ily for the ethical vigor of its thoughts, but also
rough Johnson's celebrated imitation of it entitled
Fhe Vanity of Human Wishes." The eighth is not
suitable, although it contains some noble lines. What
ipil will not admire the loftiness and epigrammatic
intedness of lines like these (from X) :
Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.
Fortem posce animum, mortis terrore carentem.
id verses such as the following are famous in literature :
Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.
Sed quid
Turba Remi? Sequitur fortunam ut semper et odit
Damnatos.
Expende Hannibalem : quot libras in duce summo
Invenies?
III. L. Annaei Senecae opera quse supersunt. ed.
idericus Haase. [Teubner Vol. I. M. 2.10; Vol. II,
. 2.40; Vol. Ill, M. 3.60].
The rhetoric of Seneca may be artificial ; but it cer-
nly has a powerful swing to it and a moral earnestness
it is most attractive. Selections such as the follow-
j 1 are adapted to fourth-year students :
119
[Natur. Quaest. VII, 25] : Quid ergo miramur cometaS,
tarn rarum mundi spectaculum, nondum teneri legibus
certis nee initia illorum finesque notescere, quorum ex
ingentibus intervallis recursus est? Nondum sunt anni
mille quingenti, ex quo Graecia
" stellis numeros et nomina fecit "
multae hodieque sunt gentes, quse tantum facie noverunt
ccelum, quae nondum sciunt, cur luna deficiat, quare
obumbretur. haec apud nos quoque nuper ratio ad cer-
tum duxit. Veniet tempus, quo ista, quae nunc latent, in
lucem dies extrahat et longioris aevi diligentia.
[de Beneficiis II, 29] : Quanto satius est ad contem-
plationem tot tantorum beneficiorum reverti et agere
gratias, quod nos in hoc pulcherrimo domicilio [dei]
voluerunt secundas sortiri, quod terrenis prsef ecerunt ?
aliquis ea animalia comparat nobis, quorum potestas
pene nos est? Quicquid nobis negatum est dari non
potuit. Proinde quisquis es iniquus aestimator sortis
humanae, cogita, quanta nobis tribuerit parens noster.
(The student will be interested to know that Seneca
was the brother of the Gallio mentioned in Acts of the
Apostles who " cared for none of these things.")
CHAPTER VIII
The large part played by the college entrance examina-
tions in shaping the work of secondary schools justifies
a brief consideration of these.
All colleges prescribe some definite work; this con-
sists usually of four books of Caesar, six orations of
Cicero, and six books of the " ^neid." Sallust's " Cati-
line " and some of the " Lives " of Nepos are added
occasionally. Harvard prescribes reading only for the
<* 120
imentary test; this may be the first four books of the
Eneid," certain of Ovid's " Metamorphoses," or cer-
n orations of Cicero. Harvard is the only college that
ikes its paper in advanced Latin entirely of passages
sight. In addition to tests on reading, most colleges
fe separate examinations in grammar and composition.
Not a single college gives prescribed work in German
French ; the passages set for translation and gram-
ir in these languages are all at sight. I fail to see
ly the same test of ability should not hold in Latin
in French and German. Translation at sight is the
ly real way of discovering what the pupil has ac-
lirecl. Examinations consisting of prescribed reading
e open, moreover, to very serious objections; objections
obvious, indeed, that they are patent to any one whose
ental vision and observation of facts are not of the
nsity that seems to settle like a fog on professors of
assical Philology. In the first place, every teacher
tows that any boy of fair ability can " trot out " pre-
ribed work in a month and pass the examination
.ndily. I have seen this done repeatedly. The same
ings have been set, moreover, for so many years, that
ere are no longer many passages which can be given
:thout danger of repeating what has already been given
L other papers; at the same time, repetition won't do,
cause most teachers go over all previous tests with
eir pupils. It follows that a bright boy will read not
en all the prescribed work, but only those passages
hich there is a fair chance that he will meet. The
stem is a God-send for private tutors.
Again : the consequence of colleges fixing the reading
that teachers are mortally afraid of reading anything
tt the definite requirements; and the splendid oppor-
nity presented thereby to " cram " pupils is seldom
'glected. Therefore it behooves the teacher to worry
mself into nervous tension by the fear lest the pupils
) not pass.
121 *
All this is the more ridiculous, because only a small per
cent of our high-school students go to college; and for
this small per cent the others are confined and ham-
mered into a narrow compass. The few have no right to
limit the horizon of the majority. It passes belief, how
headmasters tacitly allow to the colleges a divine right to
settle matters for secondary schools, just as if the ulti-
mate goal of all our pupils were to write a thesis " On
Kettles and Pots during the Reign of Romulus."
Yet college entrance examinations can be made edu-
cational tools of real value, if, namely, they are made
true tests of a pupil's knowledge and ability. As mat-
ters now stand, Harvard alone offers papers which any
boy who has done his work from year to year reason-
ably well will pass, no matter what he has read, if he
has read enough. But it is not so in the case of the
colleges which set examinations on definite prescribed
work. A boy may have excellent ability and yet not be
able to do justice to a Yale paper on Cicero, if he has
not read the particular orations given ; for these passages
are too difficult, too much to require as tests in power
to read at sight.
A good entrance examination will test two things in
particular: I. The ability of a student to render into
idiomatic English an accurate translation of a passage
which he has never seen. This passage should contain
no unusual words (unless their meaning is given in
notes) and no uncommon constructions. It should aim
also to test the student's reasoning power. II. The
pupil's knowledge of Latin grammar. To these we may
add, perhaps, a connected narrative, containing simple
sentences, to be translated into Latin. Whether there
ought, in addition, be questions testing the candidate's
knowledge of antiquities and literature, is a question that
I am inclined to answer in the negative. An adequate
test would demand too much time; and no entrance
122
ipers should stretch beyond three hours. We must
>sume that teachers shall have done their duty during
le years of the secondary school course.
As an illustration of what I consider a good examina-
on, I shall append the entrance papers set by Harvard
i June, 1909. The preliminary test is divided into two
arts, the first (A) consisting of a passage at sight, with
.testions on the text and some composition; the second
B) embracing the prescribed work (option of Vergil,
>vid, or Cicero). And first we shall look at A:
A
I. TRANSLATE :
[The Roman army, under the consul Flaminius, falls
ito a Carthaginian ambush by Lake Trasimenus.]
Flaminius cum pridie solis occasu ad lacum per-
venisset, postero die vixdum 1 satis certa luce angustiis
superatis, postquam in patentiorem campum pandi 2
agmen coepit, id tantum hostium quod ex adverse
5 erat conspexit ; ab tergo ac super caput non detectae
insidise. Hannibal ubi, id quod petierat, clausum lacu
ac montibus et circumfusum suis copiis habuit hostem,
signum omnibus dat simul invadendi. Romanis subita
atque improvisa res fuit, quod orta ex lacu nebula 3
o campo quam montibus densior sederat. Consul cla-
more prius undique orto quam satis cerneret, 4 se cir-
cumventum esse sensit, et in frontem lateraque pug-
nari coeptum est antequam satis instrueretur acies
aut expediri arma stringique gladii possent. Sed
5 perculsis 5 omnibus ipse satis impavidus turbatos or-
dines instruit, ut tempus locusque patitur, et quacun-
que adire audirique potest, adhortatur ac stare ac
pugnare iubet. Sed prse strepitu ac tumultu nee
consilium nee imperium accipi poterat ; et erat in tanta
123
2O caligine 7 maior usus aurium quam oculorum. Ad
gemitus vulneratorum ictusque armorum et mixtos
strepentium paventiumque clamores circumferebant
ora oculosque
1 scarcely yet. 2 to spread out. 3 mist. 4 he could see.
5 dismayed. 6 on account of. ' darkness.
II. (a) Give the principal parts of circumfusum
(7), orta (9), stringi (14), patitur (16).
(b) Write out the following words and mark the
quantities of their penults and final syllables: copiis (7),
sederat (10), clamor e (10), cerneret (n).
(r) Decline in full ca/wf (5), and ipse. (15), and in
the plural locus (16) in the sense it has here. Write the
future indicative active in all persons of pervenisset (i).
Write the present subjunctive in all persons of orta (9).
Decline in full and compare maior (20).
(d) Explain fully the derivation of adverse (4), cir-
cumfusum (7).
(e) Explain the case of super at is (3), campiim (3),
hostium (4), copiis (7), invadendi (8), campo (10).
(/) Explain the mood of pervenisset (i), the tense
of petierat (6), the mood of circumventum esse (12),
instrueretur (13).
(</) Translate into Latin the following passage :
Hannibal thought that if he occupied the mountains he
should overcome the Romans. Flaminius did not send
men to see the nature of the country. He was so care-
less (negligens) that he did not know where the enemy
were; but when they attacked him he fought bravely.
This passage is set for students who have had three
years of Latin ; and it seems to me a real test of their
ability. The vocabulary presents no words which a pupil
will not have found frequently in Caesar; the meanings
of more unusual words are given. The constructions are
simple. But note the various tests of accuracy. ' Tan-
124
im " in line 4 means " merely," not " so great " ; the
indidate must reason, in line 6, whether ub'i means
where" or "when"; in line 16, ut is followed by the
dicative and means " as/' not " that." At least half
t the pupils, not having been trained to use their eyes,
ill confuse annum (20) with aurum and ora (24), the
ural of os with ora, genitive ores.
Of the grammar questions, I would omit (&) and (d) ;
it especially (d), since no one is fitted to give really
ientific explanations of word formation until he has
astered a language completely. Nor do I consider a
icstion like the one on campo (10) fair; for it is an ex-
:ption to a .rule. It is hard enough for students to get
lies, without bothering them with the exceptions.
The composition consists of simple sentences, involving
^ry common constructions. There are no frills, and
style " is not demanded. For myself, I wish compo-
tion were optional, as it is on the Advanced Greek
iper.
Here is the second part of the elementary examination :
B
Take one only of the following; I or II or III.
I. TRANSLATE :
[Virgil, "^Eneid," 4, 457-468.]
Praeterea fuit in tectis de marmore templum
58 coniugis antiqui, miro quod honore colebat,
velleribus niveis et festa fronde revinctum:
hinc exaudiri voces et verba vocantis
visa viri, nox cum terras obscura teneret,
solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo
saepe queri et longas in fletum ducere voces ;
multaqtie prseterea vatuin praedicta priorum
terribili monitu horrificant. Agit ipse furentem
125
in somnis ferus yEneas, semperque relinqui
sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur
ire viam et Tyrios deserta quaerere terra.
Who is meant by coniugis antiqui (458) ? Where was
Tyre? Explain the causes of Dido's flight from Tyre.
What part does Juno take in the story of the first four
books of the " ^neid " ?
Quote any passage of English poetry of which the
above passage reminds you.
II. TRANSLATE :
[Ovid, Metam. 4, 685-696.]
Saepius instanti, sua ne delicta fateri
nolle videretur, nomen terraeque suumque,
quantaque maternae fuerit fiducia formae,
indicat. Et nondum memoratis omnibus unda
insonuit, veniensque inmenso belua ponto
imminet, et latum sub pectore possidet sequor.
Conclamat virgo. Genitor lugubris et una
mater adest, ambo miseri, sed iustius ilia.
Nee secum aiixilium, sed dignos tempore fletus
plangoremque f erunt, vinctoque in corpora adhserent :
cum sic hospes ait : " Lacrimarum longa manere
tempora vos poterunt. Ad opem brevis hora feren-
dam est."
Why was Andromeda bound here by the seashore?
Quote any passage from Milton of which the third line
above reminds you. What were the names of her
mother, father, and deliverer? Tell what you know
about her deliverer.
III. TRANSLATE :
[Cicero, Catiline, 4, 9.]
Nunc, patres conscripti, ego mea video quid intersit :
si eritis secuti sententiam C. Qesaris, quoniam hanc is in
126
republica viam quae popularis habetur secutus est, f ortasse
minus erunt (hoc auctore et cognitore huiusce sen-
tentiae) mihi populates impetus pertimescendi ; sin illam
alteram, nescio an amplius mihi negoti contrahatur. Sed
tamen meorum periculorum rationes utilitas rei publicae
vincat. Habemus enim a Caesare, sicut ipsius dignitas et
maiorum eius amplitudo postulabat, sententiam tamquam
obsidem perpetuae in rem publicam voluntatis. Intellec-
tum est quid interesset inter levitatem contionatorum et
animum vere popularem, saluti populi consulentem.
What was the proposal which Cicero advocated in this
oration ? Give a brief account of Caesar. What was his
proposal about the conspirators? What important prin-
ciple of the popular party was he trying to maintain?
Why does Cicero anticipate danger for himself? Tell
how the anticipation came true.
The Advanced Latin paper, for those who have had
at least four years of Latin, contains only unseen work;
a passage of poetry, one of prose, and composition. Here
is the poetry :
C
I. TRANSLATE :
[The poet Tibullus imagines his own death and burial,
and the beauty of the Elysian fields to which his spirit
goes, with other faithful lovers.]
Quod si fatales iam nunc explevimus annos,
f ac lapis inscriptis stet super ossa notis :
" Hie iacet immiti consumptus morte Tibullus,
Messalam terra dum sequiturque mari."
5 Sed me, quod facilis tenero sum semper Amori,
ipsa Venus campos ducet in Elysios.
Hie choreae cantusque vigent, passimque 1 vagantes
dulce sonant tenui gutture 2 carmen aves;
fert casiam 3 non culta seges, totosque per agros
127
io floret odoratis terra benigna rosis ;
ac iuvenum series 4 teneris immixta 5 puellis
ludit, et adsidue proelia 6 miscet Amor.
Illic est cuicunque rapax Mors venit amanti,
et gerit insigni myrtea serta 7 coma.
TIBULLUS: Carmina, I, 3, 53-66.
l and everywhere. -throat. 3 a fragrant plant. 4 a line.
5 in company with. G contra-dances. " garlands.
Write out verses 3 and 7. Divide them into feet and
mark the quantities and chief caesuras.
Explain the mood of stet (2).
The questions are brief and appropriate. It should be
observed that the grammar questions on the Advanced
Latin are tests of the student's reasoning power; rules
will not help him. Unless he knows the fact that all
subjunctives express either desire (optative) or merely
a possibility (potential), and that from these primary
uses all uses of the mood spring, he will not be able to
explain stet (2). I append the rest of the paper:
II. TRANSLATE :
[Cicero tries to rouse the prejudice of a jury against
some Gallic witnesses, by claiming that the Gauls are
opposed to religion and will not keep an oath to give true
testimony.]
An vero istas nationes religione iuris iurandi ac
metu deorum immortalium in testimoniis dicendis
commoveri arbitramini, quae tantum a ceterarum gen-
tium more ac natura dissentiunt? quod ceterae pro
5 religionibus suis bella suscipiunt, istae contra omnium
religiones ; illae in bellis gerendis ab dis immortalibus
pacem ac veniam petunt, istae cum ipsis dis immor-
talibus bella gesserunt; hae sunt nationes quae quon-
dam tarn longe ab suis sedibus Delphos usque ad
128
Apollinem Pythium atque ad oraculum orbis terrae
vexandum ac spoliandum prof ectse sunt ; ab isdem
gentibus obsessum Capitolium est atque ille lupiter,
cuius nomine maiores nostri vinctam 1 testimoniorum
fidem 2 esse voluerunt. Postremo his quicquam sanc-
tum ac religiosum videri potest, qui etiamsi quando
aliquo metu adducti deos placandos esse arbitrantur,
humanis hostiis 3 eorum aras ac templa funestant 4 ?
ut ne religionem quidem colere possint nisi earn ipsam
prius scelere violarint. CICERO: Pro Fonteio } 30, 31.
secured. 2 trustworthiness. 3 (from hostia) victims.
4 disgrace.
kVhat is the difference between illae (6), istae (7), and
? (8) ? Explain the case of Delphos (9) and the ab-
:ce of a preposition with it. Explain the mood of
sint (18) and the tense of violarint (19).
II. TRANSLATE INTO LATIN :
ricero himself was willing to use the testimony of
.ils. For Lentulus had asked some Gallic ambassadors
take a message to their fellow countrymen. When
se ambassadors had left the city, Cicero sent an armed
ce which arrested them. The next day he brought
Gauls into the senate and asked them what Lentulus
[ said. They declared that he had told them to send
airy into Italy, promising that he would supply in-
itry. They also testified that he expected to be king
Rome, and they told about a plan to burn the city
I kill the citizens. There is no doubt that this testi-
ny greatly injured Lentulus. Based on CICERO : In
tilinam, III, 4-10.
[une, 1909.
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