Aeneas to Augustus: A Beginning Latin Reader for College Students, Second Edition (Paperback)

~ Mason Hammond (Author), Anne Amory (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Roman history in Latin readings sustained by English prefaces and generous annotation, Aeneas to Augustus is paper-bound and lithographed from typescript while practice tests its effectiveness. Prose (Part I) and poetry (Part II)--each Part a term's work with a full historic span--may be alternated during a year's course without losing continuity. Latin readings approximate a class hour's needs; each Part forms a sequence of graduated complexity; a vocabulary is included; and literary and linguistic annotations will interest both beginning and advanced students.

About the Author

Mason Hammond was Pope Professor of Latin Language and Literature, Harvard.

Anne Amory teaches Classics at University of California, Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 470 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press; Second Edition edition (January 1, 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674006003
• ISBN-13: 978-0674006003
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #549,146 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neat Book, December 4, 1999

By	Judd Michael Conrad (River Ridge, LA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read about a quarter of this book for a college Latin class and enjoyed it immensely. The notes at the end of passages really helped me understand the material better in many diverse ways. I also liked the format of the book, with the preparatory "watered down" Latin at the first part and then the more challenging, undiluted classical Latin at the end. It was challenging and I often knobbled over this book for more than two hours sitting at various stations (in my Dad's office at home, on my bed, at my desk, in the cafeteria, around the university library, etc.) but it was certainly worthwhile. I also got an A in the class.

The selected passages of Catullus, Virgil, and Ovid and their explanatory notes are particularly exceptional.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best latin reader, November 20, 2000

By	Jonathan B. Sands "JS" (indianapolis IN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For students who have absorbed basic grammar, this text is an outstanding basic reader. The early passages are simple enough to read with pleasure. The vocabulary is thorough but the strength of the book is in the notes. Every grammatical point is carefully explained so each passage is packed with painless instruction. The passages chronicle the history of the Roman republic. A better bridge between the inevitable conjugations and declensions and reading fluency is impossible to imagine.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take and read..., July 2, 2004

By	FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Actually, this book doesn't go that far ahead in history. The selections in this text are largely of the Roman Republic, i.e., the pre-imperial times (hence the '...to Augustus' part in the title). It does not start in Trojan times, however -- the idea of Aeneas is more a nod to historical idea that Aeneas was a founding personality for Rome (not always resting easily with the other founders, Romulus and Remus).

This book is divided into two sections -- part one is prose, part two is prose and poetry. The first section consists of 48 entries of progressively longer and more difficulty language. The first passage, dealing with Aeneas, is a mere 50 words on the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, taken from a fourth-century account 'Origio Gentis Romanae'. Many of the 'big names' of Roman history in letters are here -- Cicero, Livy, Seneca, Suetonius, Tacitus, and even a passage from Augustus himself, near the end of the section. The longest passage, appropriately, comes from Cicero, weighing in at 330 words. Most passages, however, are between 100 and 200 words.

In the second section, a similar weighty collection of writers is included, with many poets in the ranks. Again Cicero features prominently, together with Ovid, Juvenal, Sallust, Quintilian, Catullus, Lucan, Vergil and Horace. This section does have some passages from the Vulgate Bible at the end (taken from Isaiah, Micah and Luke) -- while the Vulgate is dated far beyond the end of the Republic, the source texts are dated much earlier.

The texts here match the Loeb Classical Library editions for the most part -- the clever student will use these to aid in translation, unless a clever instructor has checked out the relevant volumes for the duration of the semester.

There is a vocabulary glossary at the end of the book (some 60 pages long), but it is expected that the reader will use a dictionary in aid. Notes for the text are designed with this in mind. The notes also contain grammar and historical pieces of information, but it is assumed that the reader will have had a preliminary course in Latin, perhaps using Wheelock; additional grammar aids are also recommended (the authors here recommend Allen & Greenough; Henle was the book I used).

This is a fun book to use for the learning of Latin -- it incorporates stories from the actual history and personalities of Rome in an interesting, progressive way. One gets a feel for the language at the same time as learning about the poetry, politics, difficulties and pleasures of being alive during the Roman Republican times.