be presented on application Crown 8vo. Price 1s. 6d. Key, for Teachers only, 4s. net. A FIRST LATIN VERSE BOOK BY W. E. P. PANTIN, M.A. ASSISTANT Master at ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL London NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY "The First Part of this book was written for use in St. Paul's School, at the request of the head master, who gave the writer some general suggestions as to the way in which he wished the book constructed. The Second Part is new. Many teachers must have found that the recognised books of elementary exercises in Latin Elegiac Verse do not contain a sufficient number of quite easy exercises. A boy begins to do whole lines before he has learned to see at a glance when a vowel is long or short by position, and before he has acquired any skill in putting the words together. His difficulties are increased by the fact that the Vocabulary gives him several Latin equivalents for each English word. He writes down from ten to fifteen words, and then tries to select those which are suitable; but the matter is too complicated for his unpractised brain, and after wasting a good deal of time, he produces what a puzzled head may be expected to produce. Not only is very little learned in a large number of hours, but with many boys the sense of confusion produced by the multiplicity of details engenders a habit of blundering. On the other hand, it is possible to introduce the pupil gradually into the subject, and, with the help of notes to the text, to maintain the simplicity of the vocabulary so that a boy never has to deal with a confusingly large number of words: and then Latin Verse writing may afford a valuable opportunity for the acquisition of scholarly habits So much may be said in justification of the existence of a new Verse Book. It remains to describe its contents. After the first three exercises come six exercises containing half lines; in the three following exercises the same half lines are put together in whole lines. Thus the whole lines are easier, and the half lines do not remain meaningless. Part I. ends with a series of couplets. Part II. consists of twenty-eight pages, each containing continuous passages of ten or twenty lines. These passages are drawn from the Latin poets; but, as no poet offers continuous passages suitable for the beginner, it has been necessary to make some changes in them, and sometimes to add a line or two to complete the sense. A boy who has worked through these exercises several times will have a store of Latin poetry in his head, which may be the foundation of a sense of the difference between what is good and bad in literature."-Extract from Author's Preface. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS Manchester Guardian.-"Certainly the easiest introduction to Latin Verse Composition which has as yet been published. By the time the student reaches the end of it he will have gained a good familiarity with the mechanism of elegiac verse, and have a store of Latin poetry in his head which will be invaluable in his later stages. The book is to be warmly recommended." Irish Teachers' Journal.-"This little volume supplies a real want, and will be welcomed by Latin teachers. The difficulties of the subject are so carefully graduated and introduced by easy stages, that they will be scarcely felt by an intelligent pupil; yet anyone who works through it will have acquired a very considerable power of versification in Latin." Schoolmaster.-"The distinguishing feature in this excellent little book is the stepby-step system. From the smallest beginnings the pupil is gradually, indeed gradually should be emphasised, very gradually led on to do small portions of an hexameter and pentameter line, till he is able to do battle with these entire. He will be pleased with his little successes in the earlier portions of the work, and encouraged thereby to go on to the more difficult parts. If Latin Verse making is still to hold a position in the educational course of our grammar schools, we do not know of any book more likely to save worry and weariness, the usual attendants to the want of success on the part of the pupil, than this excellent manual.' 18 FIRST LATIN VERSE BOOK PART I EXERCISE 9. THE SECOND PART OF A HEXAMETER: 1. it-had-contracted the little shadows. 4. (my) better years having-been-passed 1. 10. "I-perish, dearest mother." 11. (He sees) the Gauls congregated in the valley. 12. most-sad (fem.) on-a-lofty rock. 13. she-was-driving-back the she-goats from-the-cliff. 14. about-to-enter (fem.) the little homestead. 18. for thou dost afford consolation. 19. thou leadest us down to the sea. 24. but the general did not think-them true-things. II FIRST LATIN VERSE BOOK 57 THE VOICE OF THE SLUGGARD. Now comes over the ocean from (her) elderly husband the times of sleep: And the bird sings (her) song with slender throat. Whither art thou hurrying, unwelcome to men, unwelcome to girls? 1 Stay thy dewy bridle with purple hand. Before thy rising the sailor 2 observes his stars better, 5 Nor does he wander without-knowledge in the midst of the water. 3 When thou dost come the traveller arises, however tired: And the soldier fits his arm-bearing hands to 5 arms. Thou art the first to see (men) burdened with the hoe cultivating the fields, Thou art the first to call the slow oxen under the curved yokes. Thou dost cheat boys of sleep, and give-them-over to (their) teachers, 6 That their tender hands may undergo cruel blows. How-often have I-wished that the night might not bewilling to yield to thee, 15 And that the stars might not move and fly-from thy countenance. How-often have I wished either (that) the wind might break thy car, Or (that) thy horse might fall, held-back by a thick cloud. I-could-wish 10 (that) it-might-be-permitted to Tithōnus to tell-stories about thee, (There) would not be any uglier tale in-the-heaven. 2 In pent. 5 ăd. 8 and that. 20 8 thou coming; " Hints, 8 (c). 6 optare. 7 that . . . not, nē not, neu. 9 Say "the stars having-been-moved might-fly from." 10 impf. subj. võle. |