Wednesday, May 29, 2024

12.06.24: Who's your favourite?

Who’s your favourite author in Latin?

Cicero, Caesar, Catullus?

Just a personal opinion: you can’t say who your favourite author is in Latin until you say who your favourite author was who showed you how to do it.

Catullus is my second favourite.

My favourites are:

Helen Chesnutt: the Road to Latin

https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/permalink/398898346054773/

Reed: Julia

https://www.fabulaefaciles.com/library/books/reed/julia

Appleton: Initium

https://www.fabulaefaciles.com/library/books/appleton/initium

Sonnenschein: Ora Maritima

https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Ora_Maritima/Text

Mima Maxey: Cornelia

https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Cornelia_Puella_Americana

What a wonderful world we live in, a zappy internet world with its flashy images, where everything has to be instant, an internet world where people argue endlessly, distract and make false claims, where people pretend it’s always easy – just click on the link – no effort required – all your Latin needs at the touch of a button: like, subscribe … pay. Are there tremendous sources online? Yes, there are. Before you reach the handsome prince, do you have to kiss a lot of frogs? Yes, you do – but you can avoid them.

My learning world was quieter. There was only one touch of a button required, because I had to start somewhere.

Mima Maxey: a New Latin Primer

https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/A_New_Latin_Primer

To put it another way, long before you meet Catullus, it might be a plan to meet Mima Maxey. She’s long gone, but, for me at least, not forgotten. She left a Latin legacy and I benefitted from it. I can read Catullus now, but I read Mima Maxey first.

Grātiās tibi agō.

Like the quotations chosen for the group: keep it short, keep it simple and keep it to the point.



 

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