I am catching up with myself again now in posting the second year's work and have nearly finished the second term. It would help me prioritise if any of you who are aiming to sit the exam in summer 2021 and have started on the second year materials now could drop me an email. If everyone currently using the course for exams is aiming for 2022 I can relax a bit!
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I am continuing to put up lesson pages but my rate of progress has slowed. This is partly due to pressure of other things and partly that as we get into the nitty-gritty of set books it is taking longer to write the lessons. I am still ahead of users although the gap has narrowed and I hope to pick up a bit of speed later this year. I think I have got the pace about right to finish the course in time for the exams in summer 2021 but if not I have a plan B which involves slotting in an extra day for Cicero alongside the Virgil. I take this opportunity to remind users that I am not a Latin expert (especially when it comes to grammar) although I am learning a lot as I do this website! If anyone finds anywhere where I have slipped up I'm happy to hear from them.
I've noticed an error in volume 9 of The Mothers' Companion flashdrive. In the Latin Without Tears pages p.200 appears instead of page 220 which is missing. You can download the corrected pages here: ![]()
The error has now been fixed so new flashdrives have the correct pages.
If you are looking for something to read aloud here is a very good Latin-related suggestion that I've discovered recently. John Buchan (yes – as in Greenmantle) wrote a biography of Julius Caesar! It's well written and well paced as you'd expect from this author as well as making the politics behind the Catiline Conspiracy and the events that led up to it quite easy to understand. Parts of Cicero's Second Oration Against Catiline are set texts for IGCSE Latin in 2020,2021 and 2022 so this is bang on topic. Recommended!
Those of you who are using the Latin lessons have probably reached somewhere around halfway through term two of the first year. I hope you are enjoying the course. Meanwhile I am preparing lessons for year 2 and at the moment I'm working on the background materials for the set texts for the exams in 2020. These include some extracts from Cicero's In Catilinam. Cicero lived in a very turbulent society where democratic institutions were breaking down as selfish politicians abandoned the statesmanship of earlier generations and instead acted only out of greed and hunger for personal power. The populous was kept amused with violent and cruel entertainments. Fornication, adultery and homosexuality were considered acceptable and the murder of unwanted babies was normal. Anyone recognise any of this?
Why was this happening? Roman society had no real basis for morality. True, the old gods were supposed to reward good behaviour and punish evil but any thoughtful person who considered how the gods themselves were supposed to have behaved would have wondered... In Cicero's day educated Romans were too sophisticated to believe the old myths and stories of the gods anyway even if they paid them lip service. But the philosophical ideas they tried to put in place of the old gods kept coming back to a fundamental problem. What is the basis of morality? If, as Protagoras, said “man is the measure of all things” there is no objective basis for moral judgement. My ideas are as good as yours or anyone else's. Stoics, Epicureans... how could you know who was right? Were any of them right? What does “right” mean? Even if, like Cicero himself, you pick and choose a bit of this philosophy and a bit of that philosophy you are no better off – who is to say what the right choices are? The person who is strongest is the only person who can impose his morals – or his will – on society. And, sure enough, Roman politicians found that to be the best military general was the route to power. The Republic ended in turmoil. The Empire began: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero... brutal tyrants who enforced their will by military power and were worshipped as gods. And it is at this time that Christians appear on the scene. May God give us grace to preach as they did and grant His church the power to grow as it did then – in times so very like our own. I have just started putting up the second year work. Deo Volente we will be looking at more grammar, some literature topics leading to the set texts and also doing some translations.
For those of you who do not already have a syncronological chart I've just noticed that you can get one here much more cheaply than from Amazon especially if you go for the unbound option. It would make a great Christmas present!
Very well done to those of you who have completed the first term's work. There has been a lot to take in but I hope you have found it enjoyable.
Have you ever sung the Christmas Carol “Good Christian Men Rejoice?” If so you know the tune to a macaronic (mixed language) carol, In Dulce Jubilo. The words are a mixture of Latin and (originally) German and the tune is the same as the one for “Good Christian Men Rejoice.” Below is a translation by Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795-1856) of In Dulce Jubilo. You can sing the mixture of English and Latin lines and the English translation of the Latin is also given in square brackets. My favourite line is, Trahe me post te! -- a prayer we can all pray both at Christmas and throughout the year. In dulci jubilo – [In quiet joy] Let us our homage show – Our heart’s joy reclineth In praesepio – [in a manger] And like a bright star shineth Matris in gremio! – [in the mother's lap] Alpha es et O! – [Thou art Alpha & Omega] Alpha es et O! O Jesu parvule – [O tiny Jesus] My heart is sore for Thee! – Hear me, I beseech Thee, O puer optime! – [O best of boys] My prayer, let it reach Thee, O princeps gloriae! – [Prince of glory] Trahe me post te! [draw me unto thee (I think this should strictly be translated “draw me after thee” but perhaps “unto” is nicer!] Trahe me post te! O patris caritas, – [O father's caring] O nati lenitas,-- [O newborn's mildness] Deeply were we stained Per nostra crimina – [by our crimes] But Thou, Thou hast gained Coelorum gaudia. – [heavenly joy] O that we were there! – O that we were there! Ubi sunt gaudia – [where be joys] If that they be not there? – There are angels singing Nova cantica: – [new songs] There the bells are ringing In Regis curia. – [at the king's court] O that we were there! O that we were there! A kind user just pointed out that a lot of files are being overwritten due to duplicate file names. I hope this is all sorted out now. If anyone notices anything that looks as if it is not in the right place perhaps you could let me know. The first two terms of lessons really are up and running now not just term two twice with the wrong headings.
I hope to be at the CHESS holiday at Cefn Lea, Newtown 3rd to 6th September so if you are interested in doing IGCSE Latin and plan to be there I look forward to meeting you!
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