Latin Courses: 2012-2013
LATIN 1. Latin. Year. The Department. 5 meetings weekly. Block F. This introductory course is designed to present the essentials of Latin grammar in a streamlined and economical fashion. Our text, written and revised by Middlesex teachers, helps students absorb linguistic forms by emphasizing the logic and simplicity of Latin structure. Grammatical presentations are reinforced by practical exercises in translation, and readings in mythology and history are introduced as early as possible.
LATIN 2. Latin Literature. Year. The Department. 5 meetings weekly. Block C. Prerequisite: Latin 1 or its equivalent. This course provides a comprehensive review of Latin grammar syntax, in preparation for the transition to authentic Roman literature. Readings may include excerpts from Livy’s History of Rome (adapted), Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, and Ovid's Art of Love.
LATIN 3. Advanced Latin Literature. Year. The Department. 5 meetings weekly. Block A. Prerequisite: Latin 2 or its equivalent. This course will explore some of the principal genres of Roman literature. It may include orations by Cicero, historical writings by Sallust, letters of the younger Pliny and poetry by Ovid. The study of literature is supplemented by continued attention to grammar and syntax, and by regular practice at sight translation.
The following Latin courses are open to students who have completed Latin 3 or its equivalent.
LATIN 4. Satire. Spring. The Department. 4 meetings weekly. Block TBA. This course focuses on satire as it is presented and perceived by some of Rome’s great literary figures. Authors include Horace, Juvenal, and Petronius. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2012-2013.
LATIN 5. Roman Comedy. Spring. The Department. 4 meetings weekly. Block TBA. Students will read selections from a play of Plautus, either the Menaechmi or the Mostellaria, and study the art of comedy in part through some modern descendants, examining how Plautus’s situational comedy and caricatures have filtered down to our own day. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2012-2013.
LATIN 6. Lovers and Heroines. Spring. The Department. 4 meetings weekly. Block TBA. Students in this course read selections from both the epic and elegiac traditions, and focus on the various roles women play in Latin poetry. Selections from Vergil's Aeneid, Ovid's Heroides and the elegies of Propertius provide students with an opportunity to translate a variety of poetic styles and explore the range of ways in which women are portrayed: as lovers, as warriors, and as leaders.
LATIN 7. Philosophy and Friendship: Roman Letters. Fall. The Department. 4 meetings weekly. Block TBA. This course will explore the rich tradition of written correspondence in Latin by a wide range of classical and post-classical authors, including Cicero, Horace, Pliny, Seneca, and Petrarch. Students will examine individual letters in their historical and societal contexts, and explore the linguistic differences between classical and vulgate Latin.
LATIN 8. Vergil, Poet Laureate of Augustus. Fall. Ms. Hession. 4 meetings weekly. Block TBA. Written on commission to commemorate Augustus’s victory over Antony and Cleopatra, the Aeneid has as much to say about inner struggle and conflict as about war and glory. We shall study his messages about “arms and man” – and woman. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2012-2013.
LATIN 9. Ad hominem: the not-so-subtle art of invective. Spring. Ms. Hession. 4 meetings weekly. Block TBA. This course will mine the extensive Roman literature of personal attack, drawing from prosecutorial rhetoric, historical narrative, lyric poetry and graffiti, from the Republic through the later Empire. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2012-2013.
LATIN 10. Advanced Studies in Latin Poetry. Year. Mrs. Banay. 5 meetings weekly. Block D. Prerequisite: Permission of the Department. This advanced-level course will compare and contrast the short poems of Rome’s pre-eminent lyricists, Catullus and Horace, with attention to the traditions from which they come and to the techniques characteristic of each, including meter.
LATIN 11. Advanced Placement Vergil. Year. Mrs. Banay. 5 meetings weekly. Block D. Prerequisite: Permission of the Department. This course will examine the Aeneid through the selections required for the Advanced Placement examination and other readings in the epic tradition. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2012-2013.
