How far will D'Ooge take me ?

[Cathexis]

Meaning,

If I were to apply myself to "Latin for Beginners" (and finish it) and then sit down
with say, my copy of D'Ooge (for grammer,etc.)and a decent Latin-English dictionary
what Ancient Authors would I be reasonably prepared to tackle?

My interests run more to history than literature so I'd be thinking Late Republic & Early
Empire such as Caesar, Cicero, and Suetonius to give some examples. Caesar would be
first on my list and I do own a very old Interlinear of Gallic Wars that I picked up in the
Thrift Shop but I'd prefer to go at it on what I know along with some support for grammer
and vocab.

Any Thoughts ?

Cathexis

[modus.irrealis]

If I'm not mistaken, D'Oooge is designed to prepare you for reading Caesar, and it teaches you the grammar and vocabulary you need to read his works. I used Wheelock instead of D'Ooge, but Caesar was the first author that I managed to tackle on my own, although at first I depended a lot on this "Commentary on Caesar's Gallic War", one of whose authors is in fact D'Ooge, and which includes a glossary. I think using this kind of commentary would be the best way since it'll have answers to most of the problems you'll come across (it really helped me with getting used to indirect discourse and gerundives and all sorts of things that weren't covered in depth in Wheelock).

It might also be a good idea to get one of the more detailed grammar references, like Allen & Greenough's book. I've found it extremely useful for looking up details, and easier to use and more comprehensive than a textbook. (I've also come to prefer looking to translations rather than dictionaries when I have a problem, since you get in-context meaning and it gives more help for grammatical problems, but some people might think that's cheating .)

[Cathexis]

OK,

That about answers my question, thank you very much.
I am aware of that other title but I didn't know it was on
the 'net gratis so thank you for that as well. But how can
almost any help be considered "cheating" ? Most people
only read the Ancients (if at all !) in translation. To be
able to read the original language is a wonderful goal.

Cathexis

[modus.irrealis]

I agree with you -- my goal is to be able to comfortably read in the original language, and lately I've realized that using translations rather than dictionaries helps me reach that goal faster. The cheating comment comes from textbooks and school -- in my language classes we were (sometimes) allowed to use dictionaries, but never translations, since producing translations was the goal, but now I've been convinced by all the people who say that understanding should be the real goal, and being able to translate into English is something else, so translation then becomes just another aid rather than a cheat. (It's also a maturity thing -- I don't think this would've worked for me when I was younger because I would've just kept looking at the translation and been like, "yeah, I understand it", without really learning anything, instead of working things out and actually learning.)

It's been kind of quiet around here lately, so maybe more people will reply, because I'm also wondering what authors are considered the best to start off with, besides Caesar. With historians, I've read some Nepos and he's also very straightforward, but allegedly he's very loose with the facts.

[paulusnb]

It's been kind of quiet around here lately, so maybe more people will reply, because I'm also wondering what authors are considered the best to start off with, besides Caesar. With historians, I've read some Nepos and he's also very straightforward, but allegedly he's very loose with the facts.

Sallust and Eutropius are fairly easy for beginners. In fact, Eutropius is often used as an intro to real Latin text (Ecce Romani III for example).

These poems are fairly short, fairly easy, and absurdly famous.

Catullus 1, 2, 3, 5, 13, 51, 70, 72, 75, 85, 87, 109

Horace 1.5, 1.11, 1.13, 1.23, 3.9, 3.30


Also, buy Beginning Latin Poetry Reader.http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Latin-P ... 449&sr=8-1

[Auberon]

There is a famous poster on Textkit, Episcopus, who claimed to have learned solely through D'Ooge. I think he wound up at Cambridge. Does anyone remember this? I would say that's a good testimonial for D'Ooge!