A New Latin Primer - Softcover

"A New Latin Primer teaches Latin language in the context of Roman society as a whole, locating the grammatical and syntactical components of its instructional mandate in a fuller picture of Roman cultural readings. It thereby manages to do what other grammars often do not: it begins from the key instructional principle that the language of a given culture is made most accessible and interesting to students when it is taught within its cultural context, not apart from it."--Gareth Williams, Columbia University

"This is a wonderful grammar-based approach to teaching Latin using unadapted, authentic texts from a wide range of genres, registers, and historical periods."--Madeline M. Henry, Purdue University

"What is special about A New Latin Primer is the way that it couples, in each chapter, an introduction to an important facet of Roman civilization with authentic Latin texts that illuminate that facet from a variety of angles. This unique achievement is made all the more valuable by the fact that it is integrated with a bracingly direct, no-nonsense introduction to the essentials of Latin grammar and syntax."--John Carlevale, Berea College

Featuring a traditional, grammar-based approach, A New Latin Primer offers beginning students a solid overview of Latin grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. It provides concise, straightforward grammatical explanations and illustrates them with unadapted Latin examples so that students can learn from Roman authors how to employ the syntax under discussion. Each of the thirty-six lessons contains twelve short practice sentences along with fifteen passages of unadapted Latin from a wide variety of important classical and medieval authors: Catullus, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Martial, Caesar, Cicero, Livy, Sallust, Tacitus, Augustus, Seneca, Pliny the Younger, Pliny the Elder, Augustine, Bede,inter alios. Explanatory notes and definitions of unfamiliar vocabulary appear immediately below the passages. All of the passages in a single lesson are tailored to one or two aspects of Roman culture or history, demonstrating how the study of Latin provides first-hand access to the texts that shape our understanding of the Roman world.

Ideal for use in introductory courses, as a self-study volume, or as an intensive review,A New Latin Primer is accompanied by a Student Workbook and a Companion Website that contain a variety of drills, additional practice sentences, translation practice, and word games. An Instructor's Resource Manual is also available to adopters.