Summer Latin Institute - DAY 39

Day 39 was Friday, August 3, 2012.

Vergil in the morning...

TODAY IN AENEID BOOK 4 (219-295): Moved by the prayer of Iarbas, Jupiter sends Mercury to Aeneas to remind him of his high destiny and of his duty to his son Ascanius. Mercury hastens from Olympus to Carthage. Mercury finds Aeneas busily engaged in furthering Dido's plans; he delivers his message and disappears. Obeying the divine commands, Aeneas instructs his followers to prepare secretly for the voyage, and seeks a favorable opportunity for informing Dido of his plan to depart.

—Summary courtesy of Clyde Pharr.

Vergil's phrase in tenuem auram ("into thin air"), with which he describes the sudden disappearance of Mercury (4.278) may have inspired Shakepeare to write: "These our actors, / As I foretold you, were all spirits and / Are melted into air, into thin air." (Tempest, IV.1.148-50)

After lunch, Patrick led students in reading some poems of Catullus and Horace in a variety of lyric meters. I closed out the instructional day with an optional sight reading of the opening passage of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura.

The end of the day brought us to the end of Week 8. Next week, our electives begin, with different students choosing to study Vergil's Eclogues, Tacitus' Annals, or Augustine's Confessions.

Does all of this sound too good to be true? Tell your friends. Tell your students. Just think—You could be doing this next summer!

More soon...

Note: The opinions expressed in this blog entry are those of the blogger, and do not represent the opinions of the CUNY Latin/Greek Institute, its students, faculty, or administration.