Short, Doable Latin

David Pellegrino, a retired, high school Latin teacher who lives in Upstate New York, occasionally shares on Facebook "short, doable Latin," which teachers can use with their students. Here is his post from Friday, February 24:

Cicero Basilo sal.

Tibi gratulor, mihi gaudeo; te amo, tua tueor; a te amari et, quid agas quidque agatur, certior fieri volo.

Cicero, Ad Familiares VI.15

I particularly like the passage's variety of pronouns, something students frequently need to review: tibi, mihi, te, and a te, not to mention the substantive use of the possessive adjective tua. Reading this letter also gives the opportunity to review the subjunctive use of the indirect question: quid agas quidque agatur set up by the Latin idiom certior fieri. There is a lot of Latin packed into this brief missive.

Here is my literal translation in the Latin word order:

"Cicero to Basilus greetings. To you I give thanks; for myself I rejoice; you I love, your things I watch over; by you to be loved and, what you are doing and what is being done, more certain to be made I want."

Now here is my polished translation:

"Greetings to Basilus from Cicero! Congratulations to you! I am so happy! I love you and am taking care of your personal affairs. I hope the feelings are mutual. Let me know how you're doing and what's going on."

Apparently this is the congratulatory message sent by Cicero to one Lucius Minucius Basilus, one of the conspirators who is taking refuge or has fled after the assassination of Julius Caesar. This context explains the expressions of congratulations, thanks, and affection for Basilus from Cicero, who was no fan of Caesar or his politics.

Of Conspiracy and Preservation

I have just turned the last page of Robert Harris' Conspirata. This impressive novel tells the story of Marcus Tullius Cicero's rise to the consulship, his preservation of the res publica against the machinations of Catiline, and then his slippery fall into exile due to the vengeful plots of Clodius, and all of this is told in first person by Tiro, Cicero's most faithful slave, secretary, and companion.

In all, this was an outstanding read, and I declare that this should be on the required reading list for all who still teach Cicero. Furthermore, this work of historical fiction needs to be reviewed by all who teach (or soon will be teaching) about Julius Caesar in the upcoming AP curriculum. While the work strongly portrays Cicero's eagerness and commitment to working within the rules to preserve the state and the power of the Senate, it very effectively brings across the message that Julius Caesar was a rogue who purposely and willfully ignored the Roman constitution and tradition to further his own goals to rule to world.

I have heard it said that Julius Caesar was one of the biggest criminals in history. After reading Harris' Conspirata, this assertion is obviously true. It will be interesting to see how Latin teachers across the country dust off their notes on Caesar and present him in the classroom. Will he continue to be presented "as the most famous Roman of them all" or will there be mention made of his infamy?

Translating Cicero in Word Order

I have encouraged my students this year to read and translate their Latin passages in the order in which they appear, left to right. We have endured the "Yoda-speak" and seem to be making progress. After we translate in the word order, we do, of course, go back and "English it up."

In his First Oration Against Catiline, Cicero writes in chapter 11:

Tune eum quem esse hostem comperisti, quem ducem belli futurum vides, quem expectari imperatorem in castris hostium sentis, auctorem sceleris, principem coniurationis, evocatorem servorum et civium perditorum, exire patiere, ut abs te non emissus ex urbe, sed immisus in urbem esse videatur?

When we approach this from the beginning and move from left to write, we end up saying, with appropriate inflection of our voice in English,

"Do you [something] him whom you have discovered to be an enemy, whom you[etc.], whom you [etc.], whom you know to be an author of crime, a chief of conspiracy, an inciter of slaves and of evil citizens, to leave you will allow..."

The advantages of this technique allows the student to know immediately that the speaker of the passage (in this case, the personified Republic) is asking a question of Cicero about Catiline (Tune eum). Then there are three full relative clauses and then three more relative clauses abbreviated by ellipsis, and then an infinitive and (finally!) the main verb. If a student were to hunt and peck through this sentence, she would be hopelessly lost. Indeed, after the first reading in Latin, the relative clauses would be easily identified and mentally bracketed, then leading to a easier discovery of exire patiere to complete the main sentence. The students do need, of course, a prompt that patiere is really a patieris. The student then passes to the rest of the sentence, a subordinate clause, happliy marked by the ut.

Vigilium

All Hallow's Eve has come and gone, and here I sit in the early morning. The time will fall back soon, so I will get an extra hour of sleep in there anyway. I have my playlist from iTunes running in the background (the latest album from Steve Perry) and I have been searching the various blogs related to classics, teaching, and other such things. I then remembered I had a blog...

My last post heralded my decision to teach Cicero's First Oration Against Catiline this year and I do not regret the decision. Reading, translating, and understanding Cicero requires much from a Latin student, and he has certainly provided that. Most students have responded well, and we are slogging our way through. I have had to jump through portions of the text, though, in order to keep it interesting and moving along. I have plans to stick with my tribute to Latin prose and teach some letters from Pliny the Younger next. He's always fun.

The class reading Cicero is moving quite slowly, though, because it is combined with AP Vergil... yeah, that's right, I'm teaching Cicero and Vergil in the same classroom at (roughly) the same time. Things are working fairly well, but this is, by no means, the best way to do things. My Vergil students are moving slowly, too, but the other alternative was for me to not teach them at all.

The way my class works is that it meets on the block during which the lunch shifts operate. I give my full attention to my Cicero students for the first half-hour while my Vergil students eat lunch. During the next hour both sets of students work on reviewing particular points of Latin grammar or syntax, sight translating, or similar cooperative work. When the Cicero students go to lunch, I teach the Vergil students for half an hour. Yeah, that means I don't eat lunch, but that is survivable.

My frustration is increasing lately because I am realizing that I cannot teach what I want to teach in the way I want to teach it because of my workload. I have five preparations spread through six classes which meet every other day. I am barely keeping my head above water and, occasionally, I do go under and claw my way back to the surface gasping and sputtering. I've always called this my grand juggling act -- I can almost keep all the balls in the air but don't expect me to do anything fancy with them. Sometimes I drop the some of the balls, but I pick them up and keep tossing.

Vetus Novus Homo

"Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?" It has been quite some time since these words have been heard aloud in my classroom. I have to admit that I have not taught Cicero since way back in the mid-90's. When the Advanced Placement bandwagon ran roughshod over our school system's curriculum over a decade ago, the emphasis in Latin turned away from the authors of Latin prose and grounded itself solidly in poetry. Since that time we have usually finished the Latin II textbook in the first quarter or half of Latin III and then spent the balance of time in making the transition to the reading and translation of authentic Latin literature. Sure, prose authers were a big part of that, namely selections from St. Jerome's Vulgate, some letters of Pliny the Younger, and some war correspondence from Caesar, but there was never room or a time for the rhetoric and philosophy of Cicero. I reluctantly pushed him aside as Latin IV and V alternated between the epic poetry of Vergil and the lyric and elegiac poetry of Catullus and Ovid. Now, times have changed.

I have brushed off Jenney's Third Year Latin, dug through my filing cabinet, and reacquainted myself with this long-neglected prose author. I have always been an advocate of Latin prose and a fan of Cicero and look forward to his reappearance in my classroom. His return has been made possible by the College Board's elimination of the AP Latin Literature examination. The Latin teachers in my system have agreed to teach AP Vergil in the fifth-year Latin class, thus opening up (for me, at least) a class of fourth-year Latin students who now have the opportunity to read and translate a wide variety of Latin authors and works. I know by experience that Cicero will be difficult for many of my students and that the subject matter can be a bit challenging, as well. We'll take it slow and I will make every effort to make the class interesting and meaningful. Updates in our endeavors will follow.