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February 03, 2004

New Feature

I have added a new category in the left-hand column: Teaching Texts II. This page links to twelve epigrams of Martial and one of Seneca, all chosen for ease of reading by not-very-advanced students. Since I use them in high school classes, none of them is obscene, though some are rather crass. Each comes with vocabulary notes and interpretative questions, and all but the Seneca fit on half a page each. They make good supplemental readings to introduce students to actual unedited Roman literature early on in their Latin careers. One of them (Martial 12.30) can even be read after only six chapters of (e.g.) Ecce Romani.

Teaching Texts I is the same as it was before: Propertius 2.29, 72 epigrams of Martial, and Aulus Gellius' story of Androclus and the Lion, with brief notes for somewhat more advanced students. They are accessible in either HTML or PDF format, and some of the Martial is not suitable for high school students.

There is not much overlap between the two Martial collections. The 12 epigrams in Teaching Texts II were chosen almost entirely for ease of reading -- no subjunctives, gerunds, gerundives, or supines -- rather than quality, while the 72 epigrams in Teaching Texts I were chosen more for quality, though all are quite short and relatively easy.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome, and may either be placed in the comments here or sent via e-mail.

Posted by Michael Hendry at February 3, 2004 07:56 PM
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