Scholars Online Course Description for Latin IV (Caesar and Vergil)

Latin IV (Caesar and Vergil) • 2017 listing - for reference only • Grade 9 or above • Latin Sequence

Primary Instructor

Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]

Section 1 Instructor: Bruce McMenomy: Classes meet from September 5, 2017 to June 1, 2018; Monday 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM ET • Thursday 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM ET; Enrollment Policy: Full Year Only; Tuition: $500.00

Website

Please review more extensive materials at the teacher's Latin IV (Caesar and Vergil) website.

Description

This course follows the College Board's AP 2012 revised curriculum for Latin (Caesar and Vergil). It cannot be called AP Latin, since I am not seeking official approval from the College Board, but our students routinely go on to take the exam and to do well in it. Students read all assigned passages from the De Bello Gallico and the Aeneid, with an eye to the nuances of language and the literary features of both works, including Latin metrics and figures of speech, as well as their cultural and political backgrounds. We begin with fairly moderate readings; as students improve in fluency and stamina, we work up to reading about 120 lines of Vergil in a week. The AP Exam is not required but a student who completes the course successfully will be prepared to take it.

Meetings

This course meets 2 times per week for discussion and review of assigned homework.

Homework

Bi-weekly translation assignments, regular vocabulary quizzes, and readings from secondary interpretive literature. The amount of time required will vary, but students should generally count on spending about an hour to an hour and a half outside class each day.

Prerequisites

Latin III or equivalent. Serious preparation in Latin prose and history. Students not entering through Latin III should contact the instructor: the course begins at an easy pace, but accelerates continuously throughout the year.

Recommended background

Western Literature to Dante is highly recommended, but by no means required; familiarity with the Homeric epics is recommended as well, but the material will be covered.

Instructor's Notes

Students in the past have routinely scored well on the Latin AP Exam, but the AP Exam is not required.

Textbooks and Materials

Caesar: Selections from his Commentarii De Bello Gallico
Hans-Friedrich Mueller, G. Julius Caesar

This text is required.
ISBN: 0865167788
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore

Syntactical Mechanics (Edition: 1)
Bruce A. McMenomy

This text is required.
ISBN: 0806144947
Publisher's website: Syntactical Mechanics
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore
Other information: This book is also required for Latin III, so continuing students will already have a copy.

Vergil's Aeneid: Expanded Collection
P. Vergilius Maro, Barbara W. Boyd

This text is required.
ISBN: 0865167893
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore
Other information: This OR the other Aeneid edition is required. I've listed this one as required because it's less expensive and more comprehensive. Do not feel obliged to buy this one, however, if you've already acquired the other.

Why Vergil?: A Collection of Interpretations
Stephanie Quinn

This text is required.
ISBN: 0865164185
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore

Vergil's Aeneid: Selected Readings from Books 1, 2, 4, and 6
Barbara W. Boyd, P. Vergilius Maro

This text is recommended; purchase and use is optional.
ISBN: 0865167648
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore
Other information: SOME version of this text is necessary, and it has to contain the lines required (the older Boyd version does not). On the other hand, the price of this has gone through the roof, and it has been replaced in the Bolchazy-Carducci lineup with the Aeneid Expanded Collection, which I've also listed here, for a much more reasonable price.

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