Author: Crispinus

Dear Satirists,

For Wednesday, January 29, please do the following:

(1) Read G. B. Conte on Horace, who inherited the satirist’s torch from Lucilius; you may read the whole chapter, if you wish, but probably best to focus on pp. 292–6 (life and works) and 298–303 (the Satires). Note anything that resonates with you, so we can discuss it in class.

(2) Read and translate Horace, Satires 1.1.1–22 (that is, book 1, Satire 1, lines 1 to 22). Make use of Gowers’ commentary to help you through the more difficult passages.

If you need a refresher on commentaries and how to use them, try this.

---

SOME BEST PRACTICES

Reading through. Read sentences, not lines; do not stop at a line ending (unless a sentence ends there). For example, the first full sentence in Sat. 1.1 spans three full verses, so make sure you look ahead at least to verse 2 when you’re on verse 1; likewise, look ahead to verse 3 when on verse 2.

Making your own text. As noted in class, I recommend that you grab the text from the PHI Latin Texts database, paste it into a word processor, and space it out nice and wide so you have room to make notes. Of course, as I also said, you’ll have to check the PHI text against the text in Gowers. In case of discrepancy, Gowers wins. Print your text out and write on it freely, making notes on vocabulary, parts of speech, and anything else that will help you read (but not too much — see below). Draw lines and arrows as needed.

Use an ink-and-paper dictionary. I don’t recommend translating on the Perseus website because the site does too much of the necessary work for you, esp. when it comes to vocabulary. Use an ink-and- paper dictionary to look up words, and put a hash-mark next to each word. Do this every time you look up a word, even if it has previously been found and marked. If there are three or more hash-marks next to a work, you should make a flashcard or word list and test yourself frequently.

Don’t write out a translation. Don’t under any circumstances write out a full translation, either on your fungible text or in a separate notebook. Rather, use your annotations to help you put the Latin text together each time. When we read in class, I expect that you’ll work only from your own annotated text or from Gowers’ text. We will be looking at the Latin and interrogating it closely.

These practices will ultimately make you a better, more confident, and more independent reader of Latin. It might take you some time to be comfortable with them, but an investment now will save you time later. Short-cutting saves time, but ultimately incurs losses down the line.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

DC