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Why a new beginners' Latin book when so many are already available? The question may rightly be asked, and a justification is in order.

It is notorious that every year increasing numbers of students enter college without Latin; and consequently they have to begin the language in college, usually as an elective, if they are to have any Latin at all. Though some college beginners do manage to continue their study of Latin for two or three years, a surprising number have to be satisfied with only one year of the subject. Among these, three groups predominate: Romance language majors, English majors, and students who have been convinced of the cultural and the practical value of even a little Latin.Into the hands of such mature students (and many of them are actually Juniors and Seniors!) it is a pity and a lost opportunity to put textbooks which in pace and in thought are graded to high-school beginners. On the other hand, in the classical spirit of moderation, we should avoid the opposite extreme of a beginners' book so advanced and so severe that it is likely to break the spirit of even mature students in its attempt to cover practically everything in Latin.

Accordingly, the writer has striven to produce a beginners' book which is mature, humanistic, challenging, and instructive, and which, at the same time, is reasonable in its demands. Certainly it is not claimed that Latin can be made easy and effortless. However, the writer's experience with these chapters in mimeographed form over a number of years shows that Latin can be made interesting despite its difficulty; it can give pleasure and profit even to the first-year student and to the student who takes only one year; it can be so presented as to afford a sense of progress and literary accomplishment more nearly commensurate with that achieved, for instance, by the student of Romance languages. The goal, then, has been a book which provides both the roots and at least some literary fruits of a sound Latin experience for those who will have only one year of Latin in their entire educational career, and a book which at the same time provides adequate introduction and encouragement for those who plan to continue their studies in the field. The distinctive methods and devices employed in this book in order to attain this goal are here listed with commentary.

1. Sententiae Antiquae And Loci Antiqui

It can hardly be disputed that the most profitable and the most inspiring approach to ancient Latin is through original Latin sentences and passages derived from the ancient authors themselves. With this conviction the writer perused a number of likely ancient works, excerpting sentences and passages which could constitute material for the envisioned beginners' book. A prime desideratum was that the material be interesting per se and not chosen merely because it illustrated forms and syntax. These extensive excerpts provided a good cross section of Latin literature on which to base the choice of the forms, the syntax, and the vocabulary to be presented in the book. All the sentences which constitute the regular reading exercise in each chapter under the heading of Sententiae Antiquae are derived from this body of original Latin, as is demonstrated by the citing of the ancient author's name after each sentence. The same holds for the connected passages which appear both in the chapters and in the section entitled Loci Antiqui. Experience has shown that the work of the formal chapters can be covered in about three-quarters of an academic year, and that the remaining quarter can be had free and clear for the crowning experience of the year--the experience of reading additional real Latin passages from ancient authors, passages which cover a wide range of interesting topics such as love, biography, philosophy, religion, morality, friendship, philanthropy, games, laws of war, anecdotes, wit, satirical comment. These basic exercises, then, are derived from Latin literature; they are not "made" or "synthetic" Latin. In fact, by the nature of their content they constitute something of an introduction to Roman experience and thought; they are not mere inane collections of words put together simply to illustrate vocabulary, forms, and rules-though they are intended to do this too.

2. Vocabularies And Vocabulary Devices

Every chapter has a regular vocabulary list of new Latin words to be thoroughly learned. Each entry includes: the Latin word with one or more forms (e.g., with all principal parts, in the case of verbs); essential grammatical information (e.g., the gender of nouns, case governed by prepositions); English meanings (usually with the basic meaning first); and, in parentheses, representative English derivatives. The full vocabulary entry must be memorized for each item; in progressing from chapter to chapter, students will find it helpful to keep a running vocabulary list in their notebooks or a computer file, or to use vocabulary cards (with the Latin on one side, and the rest of the entry on the other). With an eye to the proverb repetito mater memoriae, words in the chapter vocabularies are generally repeated in the sentences and reading passages of the immediately following chapters, as well as elsewhere in the book.

In order to avoid overloading the regular chapter vocabularies, words that are less common in Latin generally or which occur infrequently (sometimes only once) in this book are glossed in parentheses following the Sententiae Antiquae and the reading passages. These glosses are generally less complete than the regular vocabulary entries and are even more abbreviated in the later chapters than in the earlier ones, but they should provide sufficient information for translating the text at hand; for words whose meanings can be easily deduced from English derivatives, the English is usually not provided. The instructor's requirements regarding these vocabulary items may vary, but in general students should be expected to have at least a "passive" mastery of the words, i.e., they should be able to recognize the words if encountered in a similar context, in a later chapter, for example, or on a test; full entries for most of these "recognition" items will also be found in the end Vocabulary.

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Excerpted from Wheelocks Latin 6th Edition Revised by Frederic M. Wheelock, Richard A. LaFleur
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.