Assignments for Latin 316A

Spring 2008

This page provides a compendium of assignments made throughout the semester. The assignments are arranged in reverse chronological order, i.e., the most recent assignment appears first. They are to be done by the date on which they are listed.

Note: The words HARD COPY in the assignments below indicate a portion of the assignment that is to be submitted as written work on the specified date.

Wednesday, 7 May

• Final exam. noon - 3 (JAC 105)
• Outline for study and review:
  • G. 1 (all).
    • You will be asked to respond to questions about grammar and syntax of selected passages in Latin.
    • You may be asked to translate selected passages.
    • You may be invited to comment in concise and short essays on how Vergil uses language and brings his creative imagination as a poet to bear on the didactic genre as we have it in the First Georgic. It may also be relevant to comment briefly on the historical backdrop against which this work is composed.
  • The ten Eclogues
    • You will be given selected passages in Latin and asked to comment on the context in which these passages appear. (NB You will not be expected to name the precise Eclogues from which the selections are taken.) Think about what Vergil is doing in a particular passage that characterizes and/or gives insight into his poetic approach to the genre of pastoral verse.
  • General note: You may use a dictionary for all sections of the exam, but not a reference grammar.
  • Brief suggestions for review:
    • Reread G. 1 in Latin, with some attention to Thomas' notes.
    • Spend some time looking over the Latin text of the Eclogues, but bear in mind that you will not be asked specifically about the grammar and syntax of the pastoral poems.
    • You might want to read quickly through an English translation, preferably a modern one, of the Eclogues.
    • Review our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 29 April

• Review G. 1.424-437.
• Read G. 1.438-514.
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.393-437 on our LatinitasWiki.
• Versu DXIV lecto, gaudete!

Thursday, 24 April

• Review G. 1.351-392.
• Read G. 1.393-437.
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.393-437 on our LatinitasWiki.
• In case anyone is interested in exploring the lexicon mentioned in Tuesday's class, this will take you to its search page: An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language (Valpy, 1828)

Tuesday, 22 April

• Review G. 1.281-286.
• Read G. 1.287-392.
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.287-392 on our LatinitasWiki.

Thursday, 17 April

• Review G. 1.204-246.
• Read G. 1.247-286.
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.247-286 on our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 15 April

• Review G. 1.136-146.
• Read G. 147-246 (NB Hold on to your hats. We need to read about 100 lines for today. The assignment for Thursday will be shorter.)
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.118-146 on our LatinitasWiki.

Thursday, 10 April

• Review G. 1.97-117.
• Read G. 1.118-146.
  • NB Do your best to be familiar enough with the Latin to read directly from the text in class today.
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.118-146 on our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 8 April

• Read G. 1.43-117
  • NB Do your best to be familiar enough with the Latin to read directly from the text in class today. At the very least, be prepared to do this for G. 1.43-70.
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.43-117 on our LatinitasWiki.

Thursday, 3 April

• Read in Georgics v. I (Richard Thomas, ed.):
  • 1. The Historical Background (p. 1)
  • 2. The Georgics and Virgil's Poetic Career (pp. 1-3)
  • Georgicon I, lines 1-42
    • NB Hereafter, book I of the Georgics will be referred to as G. 1. Thus, today's assignment would be G. 1.1-42.
  • Thomas' notes begin on p. 68. They are good.
• I misspoke in class today. The well-known Labor omnia vicit does occur at G. 1.145. Centenary's name appears in Wikipedia's entry for this Latin phrase.
• Post new questions and/or comments on G. 1.1.42 on our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 1 April

• Read E. 10.31-77.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 10.31-77 on our LatinitasWiki.
• Reread E. 1, and think about connections and/or relationships with E. 10.
• Read Theocritus First Idyll (Barriss Mills, trans.).

Thursday, 27 March

• Read E. 10.1-30.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 10.1-30 on our LatinitasWiki.
• QUIZ. Be able to define and identify examples of the following rhetorical figures. (nb Examples will be taken from E. 9.)
  • anaphora
  • anastrophe
  • epanalepsis
  • hypallage

Tuesday, 25 March

• Read E. 9.30-67.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 9.30-67 on our LatinitasWiki.

Thursday, 13 March

• Read E. 9.1-29.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 9.1-29 on our LatinitasWiki.
• QUIZ on E. 8.90-109.
  • There will be questions about grammar and syntax.
  • You may be asked to translate parts of this passage.

Tuesday, 11 March

• Read E. 8.42-109.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 8.1-41 on our LatinitasWiki.
• Last Thursday we talked some about the apparatus criticus in Clausen's text of the Eclogues. If you would like to learn more about an editor of a classical text notates his work, there is an excellent online reference, COMMONEST ABBREVIATIONS, SIGNS, ETC. USED IN THE APPARATUS TO A CLASSICAL TEXT, by Karl Mauer. His POSTSCRIPT is informative and eloquent:
  • Why even today is an apparatus usually written in Latin? Mainly for brevity. Latin can be made more laconic than any modern language; and over the centuries, the abbreviations themselves have evolved into a sort of sign-language, extremely clear yet of great subtlety.
    
    But why should one ever look at the apparatus? I have known full professors at "major research institutions" who never did, and even in hard places, seemed hostile to all speculations about the text. But the truth is that every classical text (even the soundest, like that of Vergil, for example) is to some extent a construction by modern editors. Often, at any given place, each particular MS has actually nothing but gibberish; and modern editors could construct a text only because each seemed to show part of the truth. And though, on the whole, they often did a splendid job, and arrived at a text that really must be very close to what Thucydides, or Vergil, or Cicero wrote, not one is perfect; and every now and then the lost truth, hidden in the gibberish offered by the MSS, is still recoverable.

Thursday, 6 March

• Read E. 8.1-41.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 8.1-41 on our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 4 March

• Read E. 7.29-70.
  • Post new questions and/or comments on E. 7.29-70 on our LatinitasWiki.
  • Think about who has sung the better song, Corydon or Thyrsis, and why. We'll talk about this today in class.
  • Put finishing touches on reciting (in correct meter) E. 6.31-40.
  • I think it would be fun to perform the singing contest in E. 7 in class. So, here are your assignments. Practice performing the lines assigned to you, and we will enact the competition in class today! --
    • Kyle: 7.29-32 (Corydon) and 49-52 (Thyrsis)
    • Colleen: 7.33-36 (Thyrsis) and 53-56 (Corydon)
    • Lindsey: 37-40 (Corydon) and 57-60 (Thyrsis)
    • Kathryn-Alizabeth: 41-44 (Thyrsis) and 61-64 (Corydon)
    • Emily: 45-48 (Corydon) and 65-68 (Thyrsis)

Thursday, 28 February

• Review E. 6.74-86.
  • Post new questions and/or comments on E. 6.74-86 on our LatinitasWiki.
• Practice some more on reciting E. 6.31-40.
• Read E. 7.1-28.
  • Post new questions and/or comments on E. 7.1-26 on our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 26 February

• Read E. 6.31-86.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 6.31-86 on our LatinitasWiki.
• Practice reading E. 6.31-40. Think about where the primary stress naturally falls in each word. We will spend some time reciting in meter today.
• Have a good look at these two sites:
  • J. O'Hara's Very Basic Hexameter page. We'll talk some about this in class.
  • hexametrica. We'll talk about your experiences with this site too. I think you'll find it an excellent resource.

Thursday, 21 February

• Read E. 6.1-30.
  • I've e-mailed my word list to members of the class.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 6.1-30 on our LatinitasWiki.
• Read E. Coleman, "Poetic Diction, Poetic Discourse and the Poetic Register" in Adams and Mayer, edd., Aspects of the Language of Latin Poetry, p. 30, sections 4.6 - 4.7).
• QUIZ (to be written in class)
  • Be able to write the scansion of E. 6.1-5.
    • NB At line 2 the last metron consists of the final two vowels of Thalêa - long e and short a.
  • Then be able to label each metron in these lines as homodyne, heterodyne, or neutral.
    • NB This means you must be aware of where the primary stress is in each word. A quick review in three steps of the rules for determining primary stress:

1. Begin by looking at the next-to-last syllable.
2. If that syllable contains a long vowel, a diphthong, or a short vowel followed by at least two consonants, it has the primary stress.
3. If none of the conditions in step 2 is met, the primary stress recedes one more syllable.

Tuesday, 19 February

• Read E. 5.36-90.
• HARD COPY. As you've done before, write the scansion of E. 5.45-52.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 5.36-90 on our LatinitasWiki.

Thursday, 14 February

• Read E. 5.1-35.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 5.1-35 on our LatinitasWiki.
• QUIZ. Write responses to these items at home, and bring them to class for submission today:
  • NB All these items refer to Eclogue 4.

1. What is the case of arbusta (line 2)?
2. Explain why the dative puero (line 8) is used.
3. In what year was Pollio consul?
4. simul (line 26) is short for what fuller expression in Latin? (NB Your answer must be in Latin.)
5. On what does the infinitive temptare (line 32) depend?
6. Identify the mood of adgredere (line 48) (i.e. indicative, subjunctive, imperative)
7. What is the case of mensa (line 63)?

Tuesday, 12 February

• Read E. 4 (all).
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 4 on our LatinitasWiki.

Thursday, 7 February

• Review E. 3, especially lines 78-111.
• Post new questions and/or comments on E. 3.78-111 on our LatinitasWiki.
• HARD COPY. As you've done before, write the scansion of E. 3.106-111.

Thursday, 31 January

• Do your best to finish E. 3 (lines 44-111). This may seem like a lot of lines to read between a Tuesday and a Thursday, but I think you will find that much of this moves quickly.
• Post questions and or observations about the passage on our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 29 January

• Read E. 2.31-73, paying attention to Clausen's notes.
• Read E. 3.1-43, again with attention to the notes.
• Post questions and or observations about the passage on our LatinitasWiki.

Thursday, 24 January

• Carefully read E. 2.1-30.
  • Pay attention to Clausen's notes.
• Post questions and or observations about the passage on our LatinitasWiki.
• HARD COPY
  • Carefully type or neatly write Ecloga II, lines 1-5.
  • Leave plenty of space between each line.
  • Scan each line by writing macrons or brevia (symbols for a short syllable) over the appropriate syllables.
  • Draw vertical lines to mark the divisions between the metra (i.e. the metrical units, either dactyls or spondees).
  • NB In preparation for classwork, practice scanning these lines aloud.

Tuesday, 22 January

• Review your work on Ecloga I, lines 1-45.
• Carefully read Ecloga I, lines 46-83.
  • Pay attention to Clausen's notes.
• Post questions and or observations about the passage on our LatinitasWiki.
• HARD COPY
  • Carefully type or neatly write Ecloga I, lines 40-45.
  • Leave plenty of space between each line.
  • Scan each line by writing macrons or brevia (symbols for a short syllable) over the appropriate syllables.
  • Draw vertical lines to mark the divisions between the metra (i.e. the metrical units, either dactyls or spondees).

Thursday, 17 January

• Carefully read Ecloga I, lines 1-45.
• Pay attention to Clausen's notes beginning on p. 33.
• Post questions and or observations about the passage on our LatinitasWiki.

Tuesday, 15 January

• Introduction to the course
  • Virgilian pastoral poetry in the tradition of Hellenistic pastoral
  • Principles of scansion

Site design by Stephanus
Last updated on 29 April 2008