CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

THE USE OF LATIN PROSE COMPOSITION.

WITHOUT enlarging on the advantages that have been claimed for the study of Latin prose composition, it may be fairly asserted that the habits of attention and accuracy which are absolutely essential to pass muster (not to speak of higher aims) must have a direct and real educational value on the mind. There is no other means whereby we can combine the accuracy required in the study of the exact sciences with the literary refinement that is indispensable to a liberal education. It is considered that to know a modern language one must be able to translate it and converse in it. Admitting that as a conversational language classical Latin is dead, Latin prose writing is the nearest approach to conversation in Latin. Why not try to know Latin as well, or nearly as well, as we try to know French or German? Latin is the most logical of all languages. From its study we get a habit of expressing ourselves logically and tersely. Latin words enter largely into the English language; how can we know our own language if we neglect nearly a third of it? Latin prose writing teaches us our own language as well as Latin; it explains many an idiom that we should otherwise use without understanding it. Perhaps one may never have occasion to write any Latin after one's school days, but the mental discipline this study entails will always be of lasting service; its effects will never disappear. If it is nothing else, it is a mental gymnastic that must benefit our reasoning faculties, just as fresh air and exercise benefit our bodies.

A

THE COMPARISON OF ENGLISH WITH

LATIN.

1. A full appreciation of the meaning of the English is absolutely necessary before we can attempt to put it into Latin. Read and re-read the whole passage till you thoroughly understand it, and then attempt your task. But remember you have to give the sense in your translation, so do not fall into the error of supposing that you have done so because you have given grammatically correct Latin equivalents for the English words. Thus you must not translate 'Rome is on the Tiber' by Roma in Tiberi est, which would mean 'Rome is in the Tiber,' but by Roma ad Tiberim sita est.

THE LATIN VERB.

2. Perhaps the greatest difficulty is in the correct use of the Verb. First the rules for the Moods and Tenses must be mastered. Then we find that the Latin Verb has more to do than the English one. It has to take the place of and express abstract ideas, many—indeed most-of which we express by Substantives, generally derived from the Latin, but often with meanings widely differing from their classical use. Thus, 'A longer occupation of the city' is not Longior urbis occupatio, but Diutius in urbe manere.

CLEARNESS OF EXPRESSION.

3. If on reading your translation there is any obscurity, you may be sure that it is not good Latin. Rewrite it. Be sure that any boy in your own form could construe it as easily as he would an ordinary piece of Latin before you are content with your work. Neglect of the proper stops is a frequent cause of obscurity. In reading Latin authors it is usually easy for a fairly advanced student to see the general drift of any passage, though it may be difficult to translate it into good English. Let then the meaning, at all events, of your Latin prose be quite evident.