Materials on the Way for Pliny Outside the New AP Latin Curriculum

I recently posted an article on the revised AP Latin curriculum including some letters of Pliny the Younger in lieu of lengthy passages of the Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico.

I have long been a fan of Pliny and count him as my favorite writer of Latin prose. As I recounted in my earlier post, I had planned to create and distribute some handouts for teachers, only to discover that excellent and worthy materials were already available from Geoffrey Steadman.

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-latin-revised-framework-preview.pdf

Instead of giving up on my project completely, I decided that I would redirect my efforts to offer suggestions and materials for the "Teacher's Choice Prose" section (see image above). I agree with most of the choices that the College Board has made for Pliny, but also feel that they left out some interesting and iconic letters (the titles are my own):

• I.1: Publishing My Letters - A good lead-in to Pliny's epistles as he writes about how he collected his works and made them available for publication. I have always liked reading about what authors have to say about their own work and other authors (see III.21 below).
• I.6: Making the Most of the Hunt - A fun letter in which Pliny makes the most out of his hunting trip and uses it as an opportunity to get all sorts of work done.
• III.21: Lamenting the Death of Martial - Pliny's letter recalling his friend Martial and his character, and it seems Martial was quite the character.
• IV.19: She Really Loves Me! - A touching letter in which Pliny describes the relationship with his wife and how much she cares for him and loves him.
• X.96: What Do I Do about the Christians? - A truly iconic letter in which Pliny, as governor of the province of Bithynia, writes to the Emperor Trajan and asks for the proper procedure for handling those who have been accused of being Christians.
• X.97: Handling the Christians - Trajan's thoughtful and straightforward response to Pliny.

My plans are to create texts, notes, and materials in pdfs (and possibly even ppt) and make them available for teachers, hopefully by January or February 2025.

Check Out Materials for the New AP Latin Curriculum

The College Board has announced that they are replacing Caesar with Pliny the Younger for the next iteration of the Advanced Placement Latin curriculum. Latin teachers are eagerly awaiting the final details on which letters will be included and how they will fit with the revised lines of Vergil's Aeneid. Hopefully the announcement will come soon so that writers can get started on materials. The 2025-2026 school year will be here before we know it!

Speaking of materials... since I am a fan of Pliny the Younger AND I have time on my hands through the joys of retirement, I decided that I would adapt some of the materials I had created for my own classroom and make them available to teachers, for a modest fee. I was getting excited over the possibility of creating materials and making a contribution to the Latin community.

I looked through my files, checked out the texts of Pliny I had on hand, and checked texts available online, and determined that all of them lacked macrons. I figured that I would need to offer these diacritical marks if I wanted to offer anything for sale, so I asked on the very useful Latin Teacher Idea Exchange (LTIE) on Facebook whether teachers would use materials without macrons, and good thing I did!

I received responses fairly quickly, including a post directing me to a prolific writer who included macrons. I took a look and my plans for developing materials came to a screeching halt. Not only were there letters of Pliny the Younger available with long marks, but there were facing notes, vocabulary, and review of grammar and syntax found in them... almost in the exact same format I was planning to offer! I was a little disappointed that someone had beat me to it, and had come up with the same idea I had, but after checking out the materials available, I was impressed and glad that they existed for teachers, AND for free!

Check out Geoffrey Steadman's copious materials available on the new AP Latin curriculum as well as numerous other Latin and Greek authors and works. I am impressed and wish I had known these existed when I was still teaching! Outside of the printed texts, there are new and FREE pdfs available to download with a promise of updated versions coming later in Spring 2024. Do check them out and see if you can use them! Good stuff!

About Those Ships in Pliny the Younger VI.16

When my students were reading authentic Latin literature, I would encourage them, as they worked through a passage, to pay attention to references to people, places, and things, and look them up so that they would have a fuller understanding of what the author was saying. To pass over a reference was an indication of trying to just get through the work and not really engage in the passage. A good example is the passage below from Pliny the Younger's description of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the actions of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, to observe and record this extraordinary event. When the reader gets to the mention of liburnicam, it is too easy to say "Hmm, that must be some sort of boat," and move on. You really don't have any more understanding of it until you get further in the letter and Pliny the Elder changes his mind and orders out the quadriremes. Then you think that a liburnicam must be smaller and that a more substantial vessel is necessary. Let's take a closer look.

https://pompeiitourguide.me/2013/10/21/miseno-cape/

In 79 CE, Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) was in command of the Roman fleet stationed at Misenum, the port located across the Bay of Naples from Mount Vesuvius. As the author of the Naturalis Historia, he would have been very interested in closely observing and experiencing a volcanic eruption, particularly one so close to him. His nephew, Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus), writes:

Magnum propiusque noscendum ut eruditissimo viro visum. Iubet liburnicam aptari; mihi si venire una vellem facit copiam; respondi studere me malle, et forte ipse quod scriberem dederat. 8 Egrediebatur domo; accipit codicillos Rectinae Tasci imminenti periculo exterritae — nam villa eius subiacebat, nec ulla nisi navibus fuga -: ut se tanto discrimini eriperet orabat. 9 Vertit ille consilium et quod studioso animo incohaverat obit maximo. Deducit quadriremes, ascendit ipse non Rectinae modo sed multis — erat enim frequens amoenitas orae — laturus auxilium.

So here is a picture of a liburnica:

https://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/tag/boat/

This is not such a small ship and certainly would have served Pliny the Elder's purposes until he changes his mind and his plan.

In English the passage above reads:

"This [the eruption] was a great and rather close thing to be examined, as it seemed to a very learned man. He [Pliny the Elder] orders the liburnica to be made ready; he gives me the opportunity whether I wanted to come with him; I responded that I preferred to study, and by chance he himself had given me something to write. He was setting out from home; he receives a message from Rectina, the wife of Tascus, frightened by the impending danger -- for her villa was lying at the foot [of the mountain], and htere was no escape execpt by ships --: she was begging him to rescue her from such great peril. He changes his plan and what he had begun with a studious mind he finishes with a very great/noble one. He launches the quadriremes, he himself climbs on board, about to bring help not only for Rectina but for many -- for the pleasantness of that coast was popular." (The translation is my own.)

And this is a picture of a quadrireme:

https://naval-encyclopedia.com/antique-ships/roman-ships

This is certainly a larger ship and much faster with its four banks of oars.

So what does this contribute to the reading of the of the passage about Pliny's intentions? It illustrates that Pliny the Elder was taking a ship probably larger than we imagined, but that the quadrireme is definitely larger and better suited to his decisions to mount a rescue mission. The pictures helps us to imagine the scene better and understand fully the plan. 

Making Connections I

I know that I have posted an image of an umbrella pine tree before... but today I have a reason!

My students and I recently returned from a trip to Italy and Greece and I have a proud-teacher moment I have to share. We had just passed through the Porta Marina and into Pompeii when our local guide herded us into the shade and began his spiel about the city and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which buried the site in AD 79. The guide went into great detail to describe the eruption and likened the cloud which rose from the mountain to a mushroom or a nuclear blast. One of my students bravely raised her hand and commented, "Pliny the Younger described the cloud as an umbrella pine tree." The guide paused a moment and replied, "Yes! Yes, indeed! You are quite correct!" and, with no umbrella pines in sight, described the tree for the rest of our group. Seemingly impressed that there were students who knew who Pliny the Younger was and had even translated the letter from Latin, he continued to make reference to the letter as our tour continued.

For the rest of the tour that afternoon, I was the one who was beaming with pride that my student had referenced material we had covered in the classroom and used it to make a visit to Pompeii more meaningful.

• Footnote 1: When you take a group to Pompeii, ask for Eugenio/Eugene or Mimo. Both of these local guides are outstanding and will try to accomodate requests.
• Footnote 2: If you have extra time in the schedule and the weather is cooperating, ask for more time after the organized tour to allow students to take more pictures or visit sites not normally on the tour, e.g., the amphitheater, gladiators' barracks, palaestra, etc.

Italy's Umbrella Pine

In his letter describing the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Pliny the Younger writes,

Nubes...oriebatur, cuius similitudinem et formam non alia magis arbor quam pinus expresserit. Nam longissimo velut trunco elata in altum quibusdam ramis diffundebatur, credo quia recenti spiritu evecta, dein senescente eo destituta aut etiam pondere suo victa in latitudinem vanescebat, candida interdum, interdum sordida et maculosa prout terram cineremve sustulerat. (Epistulae VI.16, ll. 13-18)

This passage immediately came to mind when I saw this perfect example of an umbrella pine tree in the ruins of Ostia Antica. I took this photograph in July 2005 with the intention of flashing it up on the wall from the digital projector whenever we read Pliny. Pictures are indeed worth a thousand words!