The Classics Department

The Middlesex Classics Department aspires to make the long and rich tradition of classical studies useful and appealing to students of all backgrounds. Ancient Greece and Rome exerted a formative influence on the emerging United States of America, and their language and literature are rich resources for understanding the cultural identity of the modern world.

These subjects are naturally interdisciplinary, intersecting vitally with the study of history, philosophy, literature, rhetoric, art, mathematics, and science. Equally, we regard the classical disciplines as inherently multicultural and diverse, in view of the vast geographic and cultural range they span. By their broad representation of human experience, the classical literatures provoke a wealth of questions, and impel us to examine their values and assumptions, whether to confirm or contest our own cultural biases.


Latin Courses: 2023-2024

LATIN 10 – Latin
Year. 

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 20 – Latin Literature
Year. Prerequisite: Latin 10 or its equivalent.

This course provides a comprehensive review of Latin grammar and 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 30 – Advanced Latin Literature
Year. Prerequisite: Latin 20 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 30 or its equivalent.

LATIN 41 – Guarding the Guardians: Roman Satire
Spring. 

This course focuses on the genre of 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 2023-2024.

LATIN 42 – A Funny Thing Happened: Roman Comedy
Spring.

Students will read selections from Plautus’ Curculio, and study the art of comedy through the works of the ancient comic poets and their modern descendants, examining how Plautus’s situational comedy and caricatures have filtered down to our own day.

LATIN 43 – Hell Hath No Fury: Elegiac Heroines
Spring.

Students in this course read selections from the elegiac traditions and focus on the various roles women play in Latin poetry. Selections from Catullus, Ovid, Tibullus, Sulpicia and 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. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2023-2024.

LATIN 44 – Maintaining the Aequam Mentem: Roman Philosophy
Fall. 

This course will explore the rich tradition of philosophical discourse in Latin through the examination of several authors, including Cicero, Lucretius, Seneca, among others. Students will consider philosophical ideas as well as the historical and societal contexts of Epicureanism, Stoicism and Skepticism.

LATIN 45 – Vergil: The Aeneid and Beyond
Fall.

This course will expose students to the surviving works of arguably Rome’s greatest poet, Publius Vergilius Maro. From the bucolic poetry of the Eclogues through the didactic wisdom of the Georgics to the epic grandeur of the Aeneid, we will study each of Vergil’s works in their social and political context, as well as in the poetic tradition of which they are the culmination. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2023-2024.

LATIN 46 – No Place Like Rome: The Roman Novel
Spring. 

In this course students will follow colorful (and unreliable) narrators on their weird and wonderful journeys through the Roman world. They will experience a strange dinner party with stranger food and an incredible double metamorphosis of human to donkey and then donkey to human. Through a study of Petronius’ Satyricon and Apuleius’ Metamorphosis, students will consider how these remarkable novels shed new light on the fixations and irritations of first-century Roman society. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2023-2024.

LATIN 47 – Tyranny and Terror: Imperial Historiography
Fall. 

The empire of Rome under the Julio-Claudian and Flavian emperors stretched from the shores of the Atlantic to the headwaters of the Euphrates, holding much of the known world in its sway; yet the imperial capital, though gathering to itself tribute from the corners of the earth, was roiled in turn by intrigue, sedition, persecutions, assassinations, conflagrations and the infamous decadence of the emperors and their household.  In this course, students will examine the literary and historical works of Suetonius and Tacitus, two authors who rose to prominence during this tumultuous period and who best record its pleasures and its discontents. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2023-2024.

LATIN 60 – Advanced Placement Latin
Year. Prerequisite: Permission of the Department.

The AP syllabus pairs readings from Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War and Vergil’s Aeneid, for a detailed examination of some different conceptions of war and peace, heroism and endurance, and courage and mercy. The readings are Roman, but the concepts are timeless. The course prepares students for the Advanced Placement Examination in Latin.

LATIN 61 – Advanced Studies in Latin Poetry: Horace and Catullus
Year. Prerequisite: Permission of the Department.

In this advanced-level course, students will read representative selections from the works of Catullus and Horace, the two most influential lyric poets of classical Rome. Of central concern will be the nature and origin of the genre of Latin lyric and these two poets’ engagement with (or disengagement from) the political and social upheavals of their day. The innovative meters of ancient lyric, as well as its intertextuality, manuscript traditions and abiding influence on modern poetry will also be covered in detail. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2023-2024.

LATIN 62 – Advanced Studies in Latin Literature: Roman Letters and Epistles
Year. Prerequisite: Permission of the Department.

This advanced-level course will consider the nature and function of friendship by examining Cicero’s treatise De Amicitia and selected poems of Rome’s most distinguished lyricists, Catullus, and Horace. The course will challenge the students to define “friendship” and to understand the complexity of this relationship both for themselves and for the Romans. Students will evaluate the philosophic tradition of discussing friendship and consider how this personal relationship compares with other forms of social affiliation among the Romans and their attitudes regarding public and private life. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2023-2024.

LATIN 63 – Advanced Studies in Latin Literature: Literary Culture from Nero to Domitian
Year. Prerequisite: Permission of the Department.

The glittering and decadent culture of imperial Rome from the elevation of Nero through the principate of Domitian is a study of opposites; boundless power and affluence juxtaposed with abject servility, imperial beneficence alternating with conspicuous and public cruelty, and brilliant and prolific philosophers, poets and historians flourishing under unstable and oppressive regimes. In this advanced course, students will consider, through the lens of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian writers, the nature of tyranny and imperialism, the experience of conquered and oppressed peoples, and the sensible and insensible constraints on freedom of expression. Readings in Latin from Lucan, Seneca, Suetonius, Statius, and Tacitus will be complemented by archaeological and epigraphic evidence as well as select passages in English from Josephus and the New Testament. THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE OFFERED IN 2023-2024.


Greek Courses: 2023-2024

GREEK 10 – Greek
Spring. 

This course introduces the syntax and grammar of Attic Greek. Emphasis is placed from the beginning on the acquisition of vocabulary, composition of sentences, translation of passages, and mastery of inflected forms. In the latter half of the course, in conjunction with grammatical topics, we will also delve into the fascinating world of Greek mythology, history and culture.

GREEK 20 – Greek Literature
Year. Prerequisite: Greek 10 or its equivalent.

This continuation of Greek 10 encompasses the review and completion of Attic Greek grammar in order to focus as soon as possible on literature. Students will read selections from Homer’s Iliad for the remainder of the course, learning Homeric dialect and its relationship to Attic Greek.

GREEK 30 – Advanced Greek Literature
Year. Prerequisite: Greek 20 or its equivalent.

The third-year course in Greek continues the exploration of Greek literature, with greater emphasis on the prose and poetry of classical Athens. Works by authors such as Plato, Herodotus, Thucydides, Sophocles, and Euripides will be studied in the context of Athenian history and culture; contemporary issues of justice, education, civil unrest, piety, and gender will also be discussed.

GREEK 40 – Advanced Topics in Greek Literature
Year. Prerequisite: Greek 30 or its equivalent.

This advanced literature course focuses on Platonic philosophy, specifically the foundational contributions made by the works of Plato to political philosophy and literary criticism. Excerpts from Plato’s Republic, Phaedrus and/or Gorgias will be studied, as well as passages from Euripides, Aristophanes, and other poets.