Caesar for the Absolute Beginner

Textkit is a learning community- introduce yourself here. Use the Open Board to introduce yourself, chat about off-topic issues and get to know each other.
Post Reply
quickly
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:18 pm

Caesar for the Absolute Beginner

Post by quickly »

As I am discovering, and as I am finishing the last Wheelock's chapters, merging translation - which is often slow going - with reading is the hardest task. Poetry becomes easier than prose, because your mind has been trained to approach Latin as a crossword puzzle (2 down: participle beginning with "c" in the genitive, related to "tineo"), and the prose becomes difficult for that reason.

I found an edition of Caesar's de Bello Gallico on Google Books which, hopefully, can help others bridge that gap, and which has been helping me. If textkit would upload it, I would think others could find use in it.

It is, of course, overkill. By the time you're reading Caesar, you should know what "ab" and "ipse" mean. But for the more terse constructions, and especially moving away from text with macrons (for instance, some classmates were tripped up by the second sentence: "ipsorum lingua," until realizing it was ablative), it has been extremely helpful to me.

Just FYI

User avatar
thesaurus
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1012
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:44 pm

Re: Caesar for the Absolute Beginner

Post by thesaurus »

If you did want to read a version of the Gallic Wars with macrons and tons of Latin and visual apparatus for the beginner, I suggest Hans Orberg's selected edition. It's done on the same plan as Lingua Latina.

http://www.amazon.com/Lingua-Latina-Cae ... 01&sr=1-14
Horae quidem cedunt et dies et menses et anni, nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur nec quid sequatur sciri potest. Quod cuique temporis ad vivendum datur, eo debet esse contentus. --Cicero, De Senectute

User avatar
Scribo
Global Moderator
Posts: 917
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:28 pm
Location: Between Ilias and Odysseia (ok sometimes Athens).

Re: Caesar for the Absolute Beginner

Post by Scribo »

I tried reading Caesar, it certainly helped with speed...but..I don't know, having read it in English I wasn't overly keen. I can't even think about trying to work through a complete text. Just do a series of passages from interesting authors.
(Occasionally) Working on the following tutorials:

(P)Aristotle, Theophrastus and Peripatetic Greek
Intro Greek Poetry
Latin Historical Prose

Post Reply