Advanced Latin Literature 1

Together our class will build our own understanding of what it means to interpret something. To help us on our way, please take some time this weekend to watch Brene Brown’s wonderful TED Talk then consider the bullet points below.

Things to think about:

• Do you see any similarities between the way we approach Latin and the way Brene Brown hoped to measure everything at the beginning of the talk?
• Did you catch the little bit of etymology in this talk? What is it?
• What does it mean to live wholeheartedly? What common trait(s) do the people who live wholeheartedly share?
• What things do we do instead of living wholeheartedly?
  • One thing we do is numb ourselves. What does the speaker say about “selective numbing?”
• In some ways, this talk is all about connectedness. Where do you see themes of connectedness coming through? How do we achieve connectedness?
• And what, oh what, does connectedness have to do with Latin class? What does connectedness have to do with interpretation?

 

I still thought you all might enjoy this article. If you are getting frustrated by political attack ads, a little perspective may be useful:

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/the-attack-ad-pompeii-style

Just over a week until school starts again! I cannot wait to teach all of you in Advanced Latin Lit 1 this year. Bright suns will shine for us.¹

And look: the whole internet is excited about what we’ll be doing this year, too.

See you soon!

¹Hint: foreshadowing!

I promised I would share this with you before Latin students travel to Italy this summer. If you can translate it, don’t say it out loud. It’s precious just the way it is. Understand it, see how it all pieces together, but don’t say it out loud in English.

From the famous painter Raphael’s tomb inside of the Pantheon in Rome:

Ille hic est Raffael, timuit quo sospite vinci, rerum magna parens et moriente mori.

And you’re not alone.

http://latin-student-problems.tumblr.com/

Oh, internet…

Oops! It looks like we left out a chunk when reading together. Here it is…

magis est ut ipse moleste ferat errasse se, sicuti non numquam in eodem homine me quoque erroris mei paenitet, quam ut istius amicitiae crimen reformidet.

Which, in English, should look like…

it is more that he himself should bear it annoyingly that he made a mistake, just as sometimes [not never] it causes me to repent of my error also in the same man, than that he should shudder at the charge of friendship of that one.

It looks like we left it out for a reason! Cicero here finds an even more roundabout way to prove his point when he might implicate himself in making a mistake!

And as my gift to you, this sentence will not be eligible for next week’s Cicero test. You’re welcome!

 

We will have a vocabulary quiz on Thursday. The quiz will be on 10 random words taken from this set of 20 eligible words:

• aurum, auri, n. = gold
• venenum, veneni, n. = poison
• sumo, sumere, sumpsi, sumptus = to take up begin, obtain
• adulter, adulteri, m = adulterer
• sedes, sedis, f = seat, home, resting place
• auctor, auctoris, c = seller, vendor, founder
• opus, operis, n = need, work
• constituo, constitere, constitui, constitutus = to set up, place, appoint, form
• rursus = on the other hand, again, in turn
• odium, -i, n = hatred
• depello, depellere, depuli, depulsus = to drive out, expel, remove, banish
• intellego, intellegere, intellexi, intellectus = to understand, realize
• commodo, -are, -avi, -atus = to lend, hire, bestow, provide
• matrona, -ae, f = wife, matron, “proper lady”
• relinquo, relinquere, reliqui, relictus = to leave behind
• repello, repellere, repuli, repulsus = to drive away, fend off
• inimicitia, -ae, f = hostility, unfriendliness
• modicus, -a, -um = moderate, temperate
• progredior, progredi, progressus sum = to go, come forth, advance, make progress
• cogo, cogere, coegi, coactus = to collect, round up, compel

Some things change over the course of 2,000 years. Some things do not. Read this fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal.

I’m so sorry for missing our first day back! (I have jury duty today. Boo!)

In my absence, please research the next text we will read: Cicero’s Pro Caelio. We already have a lot of context regarding Cicero and his era; now we can add a bit more context about this particular case. You may work in small groups of 2 or 3 if you would like; however each student must be prepared to share responses to the research questions below.

• Who were the two sides of the court case in the Pro Caelio? On which side was Cicero?
• When did this case happen in Cicero’s career? When did it happen relative to  In Catalinam? (And when did it happen relative to today’s date?)
• Compare and contrast this case to In Catalinam.
• What can this case teach us about Roman elite at that time?
• How does this case connect Cicero and Catullus?
• Who was “Lesbia” in Catullus’ poetry?
• How does this case offer us insight into who she was historically?