Learn More About Ancient Rome

As we move ahead in Familia Romana, you will learn a lot about the culture of ancient Rome (as well as the Latin language) by reading the stories in the textbook about the members of the Iulius household. Some of you, however, are already getting a little impatient to learn more about the culture, so here are some reading suggestions that may interest you:

• Read histories by Roman writers, such as Livy's History of Rome (which I've referred to in class) or Sallust's history of the Conspiracy by Catilina to bring down the Roman republic.
• If you have trouble telling the difference between the ancient Romans and the Greeks, you might want to read some of Plutarch's Parallel Lives, biographies of Greek leaders and their nearest Roman counterparts, in which Plutarch compares two similar leaders and judges which of them was greater. There is also one edition that includes just the six biographies of Roman statesmen who put in motion the events that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic (later reconstituted by Caesar Augustus as the Roman Empire).
• Read modern novels that accurately reflect and bring to life Roman culture. On my reading blog, I am currently discussing three series of murder mysteries currently available, which not only tell great stories but also bring to life ancient Roman culture. I can particularly recommend the SPQR mystery novels by John Maddox Roberts for illuminating Roman life and historical events in the day of Cicero and Julius Caesar, and the (quite funny) Marcus Didius Falco mysteries by Lindsey Davis, for giving entertaing glimpse into popular culture in the days of the emperor Vespasian and his sons, Titus and Domitian. Both of these series are not only highly entertaining but also give a fairly accurate view of Roman life in the periods they describe. I can also recommend the historical novels of Robert Harris, including his Pompeii, which takes place the day Mt Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79.
• If you are interested in the intersection of life in Rome and the early Christian church, there are some novels that illustrate this pretty well. For instance, Quo Vadis, the story of a Roman tribune who falls in love with a young Christian woman during the time of Nero. You'll learn a lot about the trials and heroism of Christians at a time when they were being violently persecuted and martyred. You might also like some of the biographical novels by Louis Wohl that deal with early Roman Christians, such as his The Restless Flame: A Novel About Saint Augustine or The Living Wood: Saint Helena and the Emperor Constantine

Put Audio Files on your MP3 player

Did you know that you can practice with the resources on your Familia Latina CD even when you don't have access to a computer? After you have installed the CD software on your computer, here is where you will find the audio files (assuming the drive to which you installed is drive C):

• C:/Program Files/LLPSI/Familia Romana/latmedia/

The audio files have names like cap1.MP3, etc., and can be played on any device that plays files in the MP3 format. So if you have an iPod or similar player, you can practice your listening and pronunciation skills all through the day, if you just load the audio files onto your MP3 player.

Homework for Week 6 (Class April 10-11)

Nota bene: There will be no Latin class meeting during the Sacred Triduum, so the next time we will meet will be on April 10/11).

Since it will be two weeks before our next class, you would be well advised to spend some time during Holy Week practicing everything we've been reading and discussing in class, to get it really well ingrained in your memory, before concentrating on the current lesson, Lectio Secunda in Capitulo Secundo (vv. 25-61 in Cap. II). Then, in the week after Easter Sunday, you should complete the following:

• Cap. II, lectio II (vv. 25-61)
• Exercitia 5-9 for Capitulum Secundum
• The relevant portions of the instructions for Chapter 2 in Latine Disco (this will be everything for Chapter 2 except the last two paragraphs).

Just a couple of reminders to help you keep up or catch up during the next two weeks:

• You will learn more easily -- and more permanently -- if you use the "slow drip" method: a little at a time, with plenty of mental repetition and practice. Therefore, it is better to study and practice for twenty minutes a day over six days than to cram in 2 or 3 hours of intense study the night before class.
• But don't simply do the same thing every day; vary your activity and build from passive familiarity (reading the lectio) to active use (making up a little dialogue or monologue about the contents of the reading). Active use will be more challenging, but if you can spontaneously produce a correct and complete answer to even a very simple Latin question (such as, "Cuius filia est Iulia?") you will know that you are mastering the material.
• Give as much time and attention (or even more!) to learning and using case endings (or other relevant grammatical constructions) as you do to learning new vocabulary. Since Latin creates meaning through inflection (word endings that vary according to how the word is being used) rather than through word order, accurately use of word-endings will be more and more important as we progress in our study.
• Have fun with your study. See if you can find ways of practicing Latin that will make your time with Latin interesting and pleasurable rather than letting it become tedious drudgery. If you come up with any fun study techniques , let the rest of us know! You might be able to inspire others to do likewise.

Homework for Week 5 (Classes March 27 & 28) -- Capitulum Secundum

First, those who missed class on March 20/21 and did not take the quiz need to be prepared to take it this week. It's crucial that, before we move too much ahead, we all see what problems from the first chapter may need to be dealt with. Each chapter will be building on the previous one(s), and we need to make sure that we are building on a foundation that is rock-solid, not shifting sand!

In class, we began reading Lectio Prima in Capitulo Secundo, "Familia Romana," in which we are introduced to the Roman family whose life we will be following through the rest of the book. As should be almost routine by now, you should:

• First, look at the illustration at the beginning of the chapter carefully, trying to understand what it is depicting. This is a visual introduction to the written narrative that follows.
• Read through the lectio (vv. 1-24) carefully, perhaps first silently but later aloud (to practice pronunciation), pausing at the end of each paragraph to take note of the new vocabulary and grammatical features that are being introduced.
• Pay attention to the marginal notations, which point out the significance of new grammatical instructions. Try to figure out what they are pointing out, and make a mental note. Re-read relevant sentences to see if the context in which new things occur helps you to understand what they mean.
• After you have digested the reading, move on to the Exercitia in the workbook for the lectio you have just finished (for this week, exercitia I-IV on p. 4). Practice these orally before writing them out. Remember that even in the exercitia, there are marginal notations are there to help you -- they indicate the possible answers for the blanks to be filled in, so that you don't completely have to guess what is being asked for. 
• Write out the exercitia after you have practiced them to the point of ease and familiarity -- write the entire sentence or, if answering a question, a complete sentence that provides a factually and grammatically correct answer. Bring your work to class.

Nota bene [Note well]: If you have time, you should also try discussing the subject material spontaneously in Latin, just summarizing or paraphrasing the information contained in the lectio. This week, you can quiz yourself on the identities of Iulius, his wife Aemilia, and their children, Marcus, Quintus, and Iulia. Be sure to use the proper word endings, especially the new endings that indicate relationship (casus genetivus or genitive case: Iulius pater MarcI, Iulia filia AemiliAE, etc.).

Homework for Week 4: Review Capitulum Primum (for class March 20/21)

In class, we have completed all III lectiones in capitulo primo, so this week you should review and practice. We'll have a written quiz in class this week. Here's a study plan you can use:

• First, complete any written exercitia that you have not yet done.
• Then, practice orally the pensa at the end of Capitulum Primum (as we did in class). Notice that these are similar to the written exercitia you have been doing, but are designed to be practiced aloud (which may be a little more difficult than writing them).
• While doing the pensa, try to avoid looking back at the lectiones for answers. All of the vocabula introduced in the chapter are listed in the margin beside Pensum B, so use that list to help you decide what should go in the blanks of Pensum B -- but remember to use the correct endings!
• When you get to Pensum C, answer in complete sentences that are both factually and grammatically correct.
• Finally, spend some time spontaneously generating discussion IN LATIN of the map of the Imperium Romanum at the beginning of Capitulum Primum. Imagine you are describing it to someone who can't see it: ("Britian is a large island in the Atlantic Ocean; Sicily is also a large island. Melita is not a large but a small island," et cetera.
• Or, even better, speak both sides of a dialogue in which one person is asking questions and the other is answering: "Where is Delphi? Delphi is in Greece. What is Delphi? Delphi is a small Greek city. Is Delphos in the Roman Empire?" etc.

After we practice a bit of this orally at the beginning of our next class, we will have a written quiz that will include the following:

• Dictation. I will say a Latin sentence, and you will write it down. This will test your recognition of correct Latin pronunciation, as well as spelling (including macrons over long vowels).
• Q & A. I will ask a question in Latin, and you will write a sentence that answers the question. This will test your understanding of spoken Latin and your ability to answer questions spontaneously in that language.
• Translation. I will give you two or three sentences in English, for you to render into Latin.

As you can see, if you practice (aloud!) using the plan I suggest above, you will be well prepared for the written quiz. Good luck!

Familia Romana CD user tips

If you are using the Lingua Latina CD, you may have noticed that the user interface is somewhat primitive and seems to lack features that have come to be standard in most Windows-based software. If you are having any problems finding your way around, you may be interested in the following tips:

• Understand the Latin labels. Like the textbook, the software interface is all in Latin, so you need to know (or figure out) what the Latin labels mean. "CAP. +" and "CAP. -" will take you to the beginning of the following (+) or previous (-) capitulum. "VOX" will play a recording of Hans Orberg reading aloud the current chapter. "FIX" will allow you to set up to V (5) bookmarks. "PENSA" will allow you to complete a written version of the pensa exercises at the end of each chapter -- with immediate feedback to let you know if your answer is correct. If you want to go back to the reading when you've finished the pensa, just click the "TEXT" button.
• Menus. At the top of the screen, you can use the "CAPITVLA" menu to go directly to the desired capitulum; the "TABVLAE" menu gives access to all the indices and appendices found in the back of the reader.
• Changing pages. While you can change pages by manually entering a page number in the little circle next to the word pagina, that can be cumbersome if you simply want to go to the next page. Instead, just LEFT click on the current page image, and you will see it change to the following page. To go to the previous page, RIGHT click on the page image.

Homework for Week 3: Capitulum I, Lectio III

Homework preparation for class on March 13/14: Finish the final lectio of Cap. Primum (Litterae et Numeri), and then practice, practice, practice what we've been learning! Do the written exercitia as usual (the ones marked for Lectio Tertia, sets 8-11). Take some time to look at the Grammatica Latina section at the end of the chapter, which summarizes all the new grammar and syntax introduced in the chapter, and the Pensa, which are practice exercises similar to those in the written Exercitia.

You'll notice that this week's lectio is short and introduces only a few new things -- but don't forget to read the relevant section in Latine Disco, to make sure you are noticing and understanding the new material. Since the lectio is relatively short and simple, we will be able to take some time in class to practice everything in Capitulum Primum before going on to the next chapter.

Homework for Week 2: Capitulum Primum, Lectio II (ll. 22-61)

Homework preparation for class on March 6/7: The assignment for this week is to finish Lectio II in Capitulum Primum (lines 22-61), which we began in class, and complete the associated sets of Exercitia (4-7). Follow a pattern similar to that suggested for Week 1, doing a little each day, and reviewing at the beginning of each day's study time, before moving ahead to newer things -- in this way, each day you will reinforce what you've already learned and also learn something new.

Here are some tips that can help you make the best use of your study time:

• As you read each new paragraph in the lectio, try to notice new vocabulary and grammatical constructions being introduced. Spend a little time just noticing what is new and then spend a moment testing whether you understand the new material. Look for any marginal notations or illustrations and familiarize yourself with the wordless way they try to get you to see what is going on.
• Set yourself a goal for each day. For instance, one day you might say, "Today I will read the next two paragraphs in the lectio and practice the material until I can pluralize fluvius and oppidum, with the appropriate form of est, without having to stop to think about it or look at the textbook." Another day, you might say, "Today I will practice looking at the map and describing what I see, using the vocabulary and grammar introduced so far, in complete sentences."
• Always read aloud to practice good pronunciation. Remember to try to make long vowels (and double consonants) actually sound longer. If you have the CD, listen carefully to Hans Ørberg’s pronunciation, and try to emulate it. Read expressively when you can (make magnus sound BIG and parvus sound small, to help yourself remember their meanings).
• Try to make study and practice fit into your daily routine. If you say, "I'll do half an hour of Lingua Latina before watching my favorite TV show (or right before breakfast, etc.)," it will become a daily habit, and you'll learn gradually and incrementally. Be the slow and steady tortoise rather than the jackrabbit. If you leave everything until the day before class, you won't have the time or repetition to learn the material properly; conversely, if you try to do everything right after class, while you are still keyed up about Latin, you may become complacent in the following days and forget the new material before the next class.
• Read the instruction in the student manual, Latine Disco, after you have been through it thoroughly on your own. Hopefully, you will find out that you have already been able to notice and understand on your own many of the points that the manual instructions discuss.
• Take note of anything that seems to be giving you problems. Always try to learn contextually first, then look to the student manual for help, but if you are still having trouble with something, make sure to mention it in class.

Good luck building a good study routine this week! See you in class this weekend. Remember to bring a written set of Exercitia 4-7 (complete sentences) to class.