Introduction

Introduction

This series of exercises in reading Latin will be of use to anyone beginning Latin, but it is specifically designed to accompany my book [Gavin Betts Complete Latin (Teach Yourself Books), Hodder and Stoughton, London, and McGraw Hill, New York, fourth edition 2010].

Additional reading and its key

Each section provides additional Latin reading for the corresponding unit of the book.

Not all the words occurring in the additional reading will be found in the vocabulary of the TY Latin, and a small dictionary will be needed. D.A. Kidd, Latin-English, English-Latin Dictionary (Collins), which is inexpensive and readily available, is recommended. A larger, but more expensive, dictionary is C.T. Lewis, Elementary Latin Dictionary (Oxford U. P.). Students should be extremely wary of all other small Latin dictionaries at present available.

The reading for Units 2-5 is made-up Latin, except for proverbs. Almost all subsequent sentences and passages are original Latin, although sometimes adapted. By far the greater part of this material comes from classical authors, and references are given in the key for all original Latin from a known source; Roman numerals refer to books (e.g. of the Aeneid), Arabic numerals to chapters in prose works, but in poetry to poems and/or lines. As readers may not be familiar with all the many authors represented, some information is given when an author is cited for the first time. No reference is given for proverbs and proverbial expressions; most have been taken from Publilius Syrus and collections such as the Adagia of Erasmus.

In the key, explanations and more literal interpretations are given in round brackets. Some, but by no means all, words which have no specific equivalent in the Latin original but which must be supplied in English are enclosed in square brackets. Translations are as literal as possible and are not to be taken as models of English style or as reflecting that of the original. In verse passages long vowels have been indicated where a student would otherwise be handicapped by ignorance of the metre involved; occasionally long vowels have also been marked in prose.

Revision exercises and their key

These exercises are also to be used in conjunction with the fourth edition of Complete Latin (Teach Yourself Books).

Suggestions for further study

Listed here are a few books and resources from the vast range available to readers who wish to continue their studies in Latin.

Carmina Burana

The original texts, together with translations, of the Orff selection from the Carmina Burana have now been added for those interested in medieval Latin.

Contact

Gavin Betts passed away in February 2013, at the age of 80. A Eulogy and a Order of Service booklet with short autobiography have been placed online.

For questions about this website, please contact Christopher Betts at chris@pegacat.com