I’m a new user here. I’ve found a lot of great info in the forum via Googling, so I wanted to join.
I have a BA in Comparative Lit, and I’ve been interested in Ancient Greek for a long time (dabbled in it for the past couple decades).
Recently, I’ve decided to change careers to become a Latin teacher, probably at a private high school. I live in the USA. So I’ve started learning Latin on my own, and I hope to get an MA in Classics someday. My plan is to master Latin and Ancient Greek before I apply for grad school. I know decent Spanish and German, and basic Greek and French, so those have helped me a lot in learning Latin.
I have been learning Latin using the Cambridge Latin Course books and also Lingua Latina. I love the reading approach, as far as it goes. I have Wheelock too and will probably do that for a review, when I’m done with the other books. I’m looking forward to reading Caesar when I get to intermediate level. I’d also love to read Tacitus, although I understand he is harder.
I have a question for you all:
What are the most important things to read by Latin authors (in English, for now), ranked more or less by importance for someone who wants to eventually get an MA in Classics?
So far I have (in English) the Aeneid, an anthology of ancient Latin authors, and also a couple general books on the history of the Romans.
For acceptance into a good Classics MA program you’ll need Classics BA equivalency, and some reading ability in Latin and Greek. So you might want to look into the Classics BA requirements at the institutions you’re interested in applying to, to get an idea of what you’ll need for admission to grad school. If you can demonstrate Classics BA proficiency without actually taking the degree that might possibly be enough, but usually it’s very hard without the formal qualification. You could contact departments in person (always go to the people who actually make the decisions in the department rather than to the graduate division bureaucracy) and ask about their policies. Your Comp.Lit. degree and your foreign language competencies will undoubtedly help, and will make you more “attractive” to admission committees. Not all US universities offer “terminal” MAs, however. (The more prestigious ones just want to produce PhDs, don’t ask why, and retain the MA simply as a means of graceful exit for students who are plainly not going to make it. The students will have an MA for their pains, and the schools lower their drop-out rate.) Several now offer post-bac programs for students underprepared for grad school. They tend to concentrate on getting the languages up to scratch.
A comparatively quick route to becoming a Latin teacher would be to take a one-year Latin MA rather than a Classics one and get teacher certification (which may not even be necessary for a private HS teaching job, but is highly advisable even in that cushier environment). You may find you’re closer to your goal than you think.
The most important Latin authors for these purposes? Cicero and Vergil, I suppose, as ever. But ranking is impossible. Level of difficulty? You’re unlikely to be expected to be able to read Tacitus at sight, and not more than the easier passages of other authors, and those only imperfectly. In translation, just read what you like. I hate to say it, but you don’t need to bother going later than Tacitus, though of course you ought to. The more you know of the literary history, and of ancient history in general, the better.
UK universities (UK?!?) adore MA applicants from the US, for financial reasons. A British MA/MPhil, esp. if it’s an Oxbridge one, or London or St.Andrews, or Trinity Dublin (not British, I know), looks good on a résumé and is a great experience; but they cost. US ones normally give some support.
Plotinus. Juvenal. Many would say they are not important, but if you want to really get the flavor of Rome ‘then’, you need to read them. Hope you’re not squeamish.