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Rating: 
Summary: Take and read...
Review: Actually, this book doesn't go that far ahead in history. The selections in this text are largely of the Roman Republic, i.e., the pre-imperial times (hence the '...to Augustus' part in the title). It does not start in Trojan times, however -- the idea of Aeneas is more a nod to historical idea that Aeneas was a founding personality for Rome (not always resting easily with the other founders, Romulus and Remus). This book is divided into two sections -- part one is prose, part two is prose and poetry. The first section consists of 48 entries of progressively longer and more difficulty language. The first passage, dealing with Aeneas, is a mere 50 words on the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, taken from a fourth-century account 'Origio Gentis Romanae'. Many of the 'big names' of Roman history in letters are here -- Cicero, Livy, Seneca, Suetonius, Tacitus, and even a passage from Augustus himself, near the end of the section. The longest passage, appropriately, comes from Cicero, weighing in at 330 words. Most passages, however, are between 100 and 200 words. In the second section, a similar weighty collection of writers is included, with many poets in the ranks. Again Cicero features prominently, together with Ovid, Juvenal, Sallust, Quintilian, Catullus, Lucan, Vergil and Horace. This section does have some passages from the Vulgate Bible at the end (taken from Isaiah, Micah and Luke) -- while the Vulgate is dated far beyond the end of the Republic, the source texts are dated much earlier. The texts here match the Loeb Classical Library editions for the most part -- the clever student will use these to aid in translation, unless a clever instructor has checked out the relevant volumes for the duration of the semester. There is a vocabulary glossary at the end of the book (some 60 pages long), but it is expected that the reader will use a dictionary in aid. Notes for the text are designed with this in mind. The notes also contain grammar and historical pieces of information, but it is assumed that the reader will have had a preliminary course in Latin, perhaps using Wheelock; additional grammar aids are also recommended (the authors here recommend Allen & Greenough; Henle was the book I used). This is a fun book to use for the learning of Latin -- it incorporates stories from the actual history and personalities of Rome in an interesting, progressive way. One gets a feel for the language at the same time as learning about the poetry, politics, difficulties and pleasures of being alive during the Roman Republican times.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is an excellent Latin reader. If anyone is looking for a selection of Latin texts that have plenty of variety, this is the one to get!
Rating:
Summary: Florilegium praeclarissimum
Review: This is not just a great Latin reader, it's one of the best anthologies I've seen in any language. Actually, it's two readers in one: the first half amounts to a digest of Roman history down to Augustus, based entirely on original texts, while the second offers a literary history of the same period, mixing prose and verse. Both halves proceed at approximately the same pace, beginning with very simple Latin and ending with selections of moderate to advanced difficulty. Passages average a page long, or just long enough to fill a single period of class discussion. The notes are amazingly good. Besides clarifying difficult points of grammar or syntax, they call attention to many cultural and political details which otherwise might fly right past the tyro. Appropriate for students who have completed Wheelock or the equivalent. (And superior, in my opinion, to the Wheelock reader, even though this one seems drier.) Every Latin student should have a course in this before going on to study individual authors.
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