A note about "Latin Composition" (Gage, 1961)

I mentioned in my introduction to the forum that I’m currently working through the book “Latin Composition” by Breslove.

I wanted to mention that if you use this book you and you also want to do the exercises based on Caesar, you will also need to get a copy of the author’s book “Latin Prose Selections”. This is because the exercises based on Caesar in the prose composition book refer to specific line numbers in the Latin Prose Selections book.

For example, in Lesson One, there are four sets of exercises. The “A” exercises are general in nature (not specifically based on Caesar). The “B” exercises are based on Lines 1 to 13 of the reader. The “C” exercises refer to lines 705-721 of the reader and the “D” exercises are based on lines 1445-1454 of the reader.

For example, Lines 1 to 13 of the reader are from De Bello Gallico, Book I, Chapter 10. Lines 1445-1454 of the reader are from De Bello Gallico, Book 7, Chapter 63.

I really like this composition book because the Caesar exercises in the individual lessons are unconnected sentences (i.e., not continuous prose exercises). Although, the book does have continuous exercises based on Caesar near the end of the book.

The other thing about the book I like is that while it is thorough in terms of the grammar it covers, it is not overly detailed. I’ve gone through the whole book once doing the “C” exercises and now I’m doing the book again but doing the “B” exercises. I haven’t done any of the continuous prose exercises, though.