Summer Latin Institute - Day 48

Today is DAY 48.

For morning drill, we switch from Horace's Odes to his Epistles 1.2.

More lunchtime optional sight reading from Vergil's Aeneid.

After lunch, students continue reading Tacitus' Annals, Augustine's Confessions, or Vergil's Eclogues in their respective elective.

Afternoon sight: A passage from Hobbes' De Homine.

The end is truly near. The final exam is made up. Students will translate passages of Vergil (Aeneid) and Horace (Odes) that they have not seen before, with glosses, and they will answer questions about syntax and scansion and write brief interpretive essays. Each faculty member has prepared a section of the final addressing the electives we taught—one for students who studied Tacitus' Annals, another for those who studied Augustine's Confessions, and one for those who read Vergil's Eclogues.

In another important development, students have designed a tee shirt to commemorate their experience at the Latin Institute this summer, bearing the words of Seneca: quod acerbum fuit ferre, tulisse iucundum est ("what was bitter to bear is pleasant to have born"). Those will be delivered next Tuesday, when students come to get their final grades and bid their faculty a fond (?) farewell. 

Some celebration may be in store for Day 49, but we like to keep the details of that in the family, so as not to spoil any surprises that may be in store for students in subsequent summers. 

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.