Introduction

My name is Leo Tepper. I hold a MA in Classics and a MA in theology from Groningen University. On this blog I will be posting Latin texts with introductions and commentaries. For a long time I have been teaching Latin and made notes on texts. They are now on my pc for the benefit of nobody, so I thought it a good idea to publish them on internet. Fluency in reading Latin can only be achieved by reading a lot of texts, but often students give up after staring at the first sentence and trying to make sence of it. That’s a pity, as with some help many will manage handling a text.

That Latin is more problematic to learn than say French or German has not only to do with all the infections and declensions, but also with the texts. Of course Latin was a spoken language, but the texts which have survived from the classical period are all highly literary. No Roman would have conversated in sentences of a Livyan length talking to his or her lover or would have exploded in hexameters ordering bread and wine at the taberna!

The texts I will publish are not only from the classical period, but also later Latin texts, whatever I find interesting, as it is nonsense to confine to the classical period, as is often done in Latin courses.

The text are taken from this site http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/  These are not the latest editions and lack a critical apparatus, but for our purpose that is not a problem.

Of course I would like to hear your comments!