In the second, students are asked to write about the proverb Propria vineta caedere (Horace, Epistulae 2, 1, 220 meaning “‘to cut down one’s own vineyards’ … used for people who treat themselves too severely”). In the first, Latin expressions for “more than expected” are to be employed (from a list of nine including maiora fide). Finally, there are two free compositions with the opening sentences provided. Solutions to both of these exercises are given in the Answer Key. Next an exercise requires students to rewrite a third text (unidentified) using impersonal verbs about weather (from a list of nine). The sentences paraphrase the text of More. One requires completing the blanks of nine sentences with words from a list of eight impersonal verbs ( interest, pudet, miseret, refert, taedet, paenitet and piget). (necessity)” The Answer Key provides two versions: ” Publicis in hospitiis curare aegrotis necesse est” and ” Publicis in hospitiis curentur aegroti necesse est.” Another selection from the text of Utopia is given, followed by exercises. Sentence #1 is ” Aegroti publicis in hospitiis sunt curandi. Although the passage contains no examples of this construction, the first exercise asks students to rewrite ten sentences using licet, oportet and necesse est (an example is given). Then comes a short paragraph from Thomas More’s Utopia. First, reference is given to the sections in the grammars of Allen & Greenough and Bradley’s Arnold where detailed explanations regarding impersonal verbs may be found. The twenty-five chapters (180 pages) supply more than enough material to keep a class busy for one semester.Īs a sample of the methodology here is an outline of Chapter 10 on Impersonal Verbs. If you have the luxury of teaching an entire semester of composition, you might simply follow the order of the book. Thus if you wanted to use this text in coordination with a class in Cicero, for example, you could easily do this by selecting the seven chapters that contain excerpts from Cicero and perhaps ignoring the others. It would appear that after the first two chapters the others could be taken out of order as the teacher might wish. The Table of Contents lists the familiar names of grammatical constructions covered in each chapter (there is no Index). Here also the introductory sentence is provided. Each chapter contains a proverb that serves as the basis for a short composition exemplifying the use of the proverb. There are also exercises in using Latin expressions as well as “free compositions” following an introductory sentence created by the authors. Exercises require them to add words that change the emphasis of the original extract or rephrase sentences with different grammatical constructions. Thus students must re-read the Latin excerpts very closely and develop their own compositions within that context. The key difference from traditional books of Latin composition is that the assignments are not simply translations from English, but rather exercises in helping students compose sentences and paragraphs based on the reading. These texts range from classical authors like Cicero and Seneca to Renaissance writers like Thomas More and Erasmus, although most are from the ancient Roman world: Caesar, Livy, Nepos, Pliny the Younger, Plautus and Tacitus. Prepared by the team that heads the Institutum Latinum at the University of Kentucky, it consists of twenty-five chapters that provide selections from Latin readings as models for composition. This is an excellent little book filled with varied exercises in Latin composition.
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