home

Our Goals

The themes of foundation and identity - among many which Vergil articulates in the //Aeneid// - seem central to the way in which any nation - perhaps any human community - views itself. Even in an age of  great translations of the Greek and Roman classics, the poet's own words,  although in a language no longer spoken, are still our surest guide to a path that all students may follow with profit and delight and it is our goal to examine approximately one thousand of the ten thousand or so of the //Aeneid's// hexameter verses in the Latin language. Since this class is intended for anyone interested in ancient epic (or language in general) regardless of their knowledge of Latin, I have tried to anticipate the needs of the "Latinless" in encountering a great poet in his own words by providing resources which are useful to beginner and advanced student alike.

Our Texts I. Textus perscrutandus //Textus perscrutandus// = a text to be studied/scrutinzed: Our "Textbook":

Barbara Weiden Boyd, //Vergil’s Aeneid: Selections from books 1,2,4,6,10 & 12. // (2nd edition). Bolchazy-Carducci (orig. 2004). Copies are now available at the Information Desk at Schoenhof's Foreign Books, 76 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge.

While there are many excellent editions of the //Aeneid// this one is especially useful for our purposes since it is a text intended for the Advanced Placement Examination in Latin Literature (Vergil) for which students prepare by reading about 1,800 lines of the //Aeneid//, many of the same passages which we will read in books i-vi. Here is a passage chosen (almost) at random: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">This wonderful reference book also includes: An <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Introduction <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;"> which touches (among other topics) on Vergil's life and works, as well as character and plot in the //Aeneid//, also includes a timeline of the late Roman Republic as well as a Bibliography with suggested further reading. The <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Grammatical Appendix <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;"> presents a full and amazingly concise grammar of Classical Latin, a complete vocabulary (with useful wordlists) and a full explanation (with examples) of the dactylic hexameter.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">II.Textus adnotandus <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">//Textus adnotandus// = a text to be annotated: Our "Note Book": <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This is a booklet which contains roughly one thousand lines of the //Aeneid// (all of our reading assignments and few extra goodies) formatted as "bare naked text" in 14 point Baskerville with two inch line intervals thus leaving lots of room for annotation and other markings. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 170%;">Some Links //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">The Vergil Project // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] "A resource for students, teachers, and readers of Vergil's Aeneid. It offers an on-line hypertext linked to interpretive materials of various kinds. These include basic information about grammar, syntax, and diction; several commentaries; an apparatus criticus; help with scansion; and other resources." //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">The Latin Library // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">[] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The full Latin text of Vergil's //Aeneid// and the English translation of John Drdyen. (1697) //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Overview // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Site Location: [] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;"> A useful and concise overview of three important aspects of the study of the Aeneid: the genre of epic, historical background, and suggestions for approaches to reading Vergil.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Arma virumque... // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Site Location: [] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;"> Among the most celebrated openings in literature. (Scroll down to Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 158.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Arma virumque... Not! // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Site Location: @http://www.ostia-antica.org/dict/topics/fullones/intro.htm  Written in a Vergilian Laundry.