- Spring 2019
Syllabus Description:
Latin 103 Introductory Latin
First year Latin courses give you direct access to the thoughts and writings of the ancient Romans and allow you to explore the dynamic and often dangerous cultural, social and political world in which they wrote. Learning to interpret and use an ancient language requires you to explore unknown areas and think in new ways. Our focus is on Latin as a literary language. Course activities are designed to foster a collegial and collaborative atmosphere and to encourage you to make strong connections between the ancient language and literature we are exploring together and your other interests, passions and pursuits.
This course counts for VLPA if you are not using it to meet the foreign language proficiency requirement.
Course Goals:
Through your work in the course this term you will demonstrate that you can:
- Read and translate short selections from ancient Roman authors and compose simple sentences in Latin
- Understand and explain the literary, historical and cultural context of texts by ancient Roman authors
- Analyze and explain Latin grammar and syntax, including subordinate clauses and the uses of the subjunctive
- Analyze and describe the influence of the Latin language on subsequent languages and literatures
By completing the first year sequence (101-102-103) you equip yourself to read any Latin author. In our second year courses (304, 305, 306, 307) students read selections of Caesar, Horace, Catullus (305), Cicero and Ovid (306), and Virgil (307), and other authors (304).
Textbooks: Wheelock's Latin; Groton and May, 38 Stories
Grades will be calculated on the basis of the following percentages:
40% completion of homework assignments, including maintaining a well organized reference notebook, and in-class exercises
40% quizzes
20% final exam (as specified in the University schedule for finals)
At any point, please feel free to ask about adding a major or minor in Latin or Classical studies. If there are logistical obstacles that stand in the way of your wish to pursue Latin or Classics, please let us know as sometimes the Classics Department is able to take steps to reduce or eliminate such obstacles.
During this term we will cover Wheelock Chapters 29-40. In chapters 1-15 we learned how to state facts in simple sentences. In chapter 16–28, we learned more uses of the cases, the passive voice, indirect statement and started learning the subjunctive. In addition to expanding our vocabulary we will now be introduced to various kinds of subordinate clauses and ways to talk about non-factual situations. It will remain important to be able to memorize forms and vocabulary and we will continue to emphasize reading paragraphs adapted from authentic ancient literary, historical, and philosophical texts.
Tentative Schedule
NOTE: Any exercises or readings listed for a particular day are meant to be completed for that day.
Week 1
M Apr 1 Syllabus and Review
T Apr 2 Wheelock Chapter 29: Imperfect Subjunctive; Result Clauses
W Apr 3 Vocabulary, Ch. 29 Exercitationes 1, 2, 5–9, 13; Sententiae 1, 4
Th Apr 4 Catullus reading in Wheelock (p. 242); Sententiae 5, 6, 11
F Apr 5 Wheelock Chapter 30: Perfect and Pluperfect Subj.; Indirect Questions
Week 2
M Apr 8 Vocabulary, Ch. 30 Exercitationes 1–3, 5, 7–10; 12; Sententiae 9, 12
T Apr 9 Wheelock Chapter 31: Cum Clauses; Ferō
W Apr 10 Vocabulary, Ch. 31 Exercitationes 2–7, 11, 12, 14; Sententiae 4, 8
Th Apr 11 38 Latin Stories: Lucretia: Paragon of Virtue
F Apr 12 Review Day
Week 3
M Apr 15 Quiz #1
T Apr 16 Wheelock Chapter 32: Adverbs Comparison; vōlō, mālō, nōlō; Proviso Clauses
W Apr 17 Vocabulary, Ch. 32 Exercitationes 1–3, 5–7, 10, 11; Sententiae 7, 11
Th Apr 11 38 Latin Stories: Vergil Praises the Rustic Life
F Apr 12 Wheelock Chapter 33: Conditions
Week 4
M Apr 22 Vocabulary, Ch. 33 Exercitationes 2–4, 6–9, 13; Sententiae 6
T Apr 23 38 Latin Stories: The Helvetians Parley with Caesar
W Apr 24 "B.Y.O.B" Catullus reading on pg. 277 of Wheelock (Ch. 33)
Th Apr 25 Review Day
F Apr 26 Quiz #2
Week 5
M Apr 29 Wheelock Chapter 34: Deponent verbs; Ablatives with Special Deponents
T Apr 30 Vocabulary, Ch. 34 Exercitationes 2, 5–7, 9, 10, 16; Sententiae 1, 2, 14
W May 1 38 Latin Stories: Sallust's View of Human Nature
Th May 2 "Pretty" and "On Lesbia's Husband" Readings in Wheelock Ch. 34 (p. 290)
F May 3 Wheelock Chapter 35: Datives with Adjectives, Special Verbs, Compounds
Week 6
M May 6 Vocabulary, Ch. 35 Exercitationes 2–5, 7, 9–10; Ovid reading on p. 299
T May 7 Catullus Carmen 101 and other readings (I'll give you the handout Monday)
W May 8 Wheelock Chapter 36: Jussive Noun Clauses; Fīō
Th May 9 Vocabulary, Ch. 36 Exercitationes 1–4, 7, 10, 13; Sententiae 2, 14, 16
F May 10 Review Day, Catullus "I Love Her..." and Horace "Who is Truly Free?" readings on p. 309
Week 7
M May 13 Quiz #3
T May 14 Wheelock Chapter 37: Conjugation of eō; Place and Time Constructions
W May 15 Vocabulary, Ch. 37 Exercitationes 1–3, 7, 10, 14 Sententiae 12, 15
Th May 16 38 Latin Stories: Horace Meets a Boorish Fellow
F May 17 Wheelock Chapter 38: Relative Clauses of Characteristic; Supine
Week 8
M May 20 Vocabulary, Ch. 38 Exercitationes 2–7, 10, 13; Sententiae 14
T May 21 Martial and Sallust Readings provided by me
W May 22 Wheelock Chapter 39: Gerund and Gerundive
Th May 23 Vocabulary, Ch. 39 Exercitationes 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 12 Sententiae 3, 7
F May 24 Review Day
Week 9
M May 27 Memorial Day: No Class
T May 28 Quiz #4
W May 29 "Promises, Promises!" in Wheelock (p. 337); Chapter 40 Wheelock
Th May 30 Vocabulary, Ch. 40 Exercitationes 1–7, 9; Sententiae 9
F May 31 "Hannibal; The Second Punic War" up to line 15 (ending with imperātor factus est) in Wheelock Locī Antīquī p. 356
Week 10
M June 3 Finish "Hannibal; The Second Punic War" Wheelock Locī Antīquī p. 357
T June 4 Vergil's Aeneid Book 4. 1–14 AND 20–30: . I've uploaded the scan here. If you need additional help, there is a good commentary with running vocabulary accessible at this link.
For Group 2, here's the translation for lines 15–19 which you don't need to translate but might be helpful to make sense of your passage.
"If the fact that I am not willing to join myself to anyone in a marriage bond did not sit fixed and immovable in my heart, after my first love disappointed me, me cheated by death; if I weren’t completely tired of the bridal chamber and marriage torch, perhaps I could have yielded to this one weakness."
W June 5 Vergil Aeneid Book 4.615–629. Additional commentary and vocabulary available here. Line 621, fundō means "I pour out". The other vocabulary is either on the handout or in the back of your book.
Th June 6 Review Day
F June 7 Review Day
FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, June 12th, 2019, 8:30–10:20 AM in Miller 316