I have put some resources on the site for chapters 20 and 21. I have looked a little further at Thrasea, using Wikipedia for his life “story”. I noticed that he was related to Arria, that wonderful Roman woman who was the model of a good wife and killed herself saying to her husband “non dolet, Paete”. There were two stories about her set for…[Read more]

Hi Lisa, We don’t have an A2 class this year but has decided to do the Sallust next year, with Virgil though not Prpoertius. Hope all well with you. Jo

Also, you sort of had to be there, but if there are questions, ask.

What a fab prezi! Keep it there a few more days, please! Need to find a little time to digest it.

This has really helped me – thank you, Steve

Well, I’ve set up both text sites so that anyone can leave a comment. All they need do is give a name and an email address, so there is the chance for some anonymity. You could ask your students to leave a comment, even as part of an assessment perhaps(?), or you could generate a class comment as a result of discussion in a lesson.

It’s surely…[Read more]

I’m going to be there! Looking forward to it!

I love it – most of them are too erudite for me but I shall definitely print off the ’Dactylic hexameter of epic proportions’ for my students.

I have also offered to Keynote to promote the day on The Classics Library, with the updated details!

Socrates would have been proud!

Keynote have now found a replacement, and updated information should be going onto their website soon. If you are interested in attending this event, or any of their other conferences, I’ve just promoted them, as promised, at http://www.theclassicslibrary.com/2012/11/08/keynote-conferences-in-gcse-and-a-level-latin/.

I agree that it is often very grey. And generally it is harder to do lit crit on prose passages. If you email me on das@warwickschool.org with your direct email I’ll send you some INSET notes (specifically on getting the better marks at A2) which may or may not help. (One of millions of things I keep meaning to get round to uploading onto this site.)

I also set my students an exercise out of John Taylor (5.16). I have compared it closely with the format of the Caesar unseen papers over the last few years. First of all, the number of words to translate is higher in the book ( typically about 80 in past papers). Also, the style of questions does not match up. It seems that we can expect a 6…[Read more]

I would appreciate anything you have.

Just added any outstanding Tacitus resources which have been uploaded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VIgOHNEKw0 (arson theory)

we’ve translated it … and i asked them… we came to no conclusions!

Not really really interesting – no. I agree with Tom – why not have the same prescription as last time Tacitus 15 was on which didn’t include this bizarre choice so we could re-use and share previously prepared material?

I am really at a loss on this one. It might be best to leave the early chapters to the end and focus first on the later and more entertaining chapters. I am seriously thinking of doing the Sallust instead, although there is a lot of historical background to get through to make it comprehensible. It’s a tough call however one chooses. Syme says…[Read more]

Yes, very sad – the first time in my whole teaching career that I’ve no 6th form Latin at all. But we never got on to the A2 texts as they had had enough [more than enough, so they told me] of the AS prescriptions. Ghastly! I don’t blame them for giving up as I’d probably have done so too if I’d had to slog through that boring Cicero.

A2 is the second half of the A Level course (the first half is called AS).

Not the answer to your questions as such, but some things on this list might be useful: http://www.memrise.com/topic/latin/wordlists/

struggling with this too!

Not teaching, but I found a copy of Furneaux and Pitman on my shelf (Annals 13-16 commentary). Dated and cursory, but it might help! Find it here: http://www.theclassicslibrary.com/Tacitus%20Annals%2015%2020-3%2C%2033-45.pdf

I am working on a commentary for the Tacitus, which should be available from Zigzag in November. I agree on the boring choice of the early chapters.

Tony Bartlett

No – caesurae are not required. Nor do they need to show the length of the final syllable [should be marked with an x]

If you look at the OCR Mark Schemes for 2010 1nd 2011 for A2 Verse paper, the caesura is NOT inserted and the marks are only awarded for correct feet.

Tony Bartlett

How about getting him to read/perform it aloud? To do this he will automatically have to develop a grasp of literary criticism, as he’ll be finding word emphasis, alliteration, etc. It will help with metre in the Virgil, too.

With the Tacitus I think it helps to fill in some of the historical/geographical context. I always precede/accompany it with a bit of Roman history including pictures – the Julio-Claudian emperors and their family tree, the background with Claudius, Octavia and Britannicus. A bit on the Republican background too to give an insight into the…[Read more]

For the general reading, ther’s a thing called ‘Aestimanda’ which appealed to me a lot at that age. Also, Yes, admit Tacitus to be neither history nor literature… and challenge him to coem up with equivalent tabloid press, and to rewrite sections in gutter press style. It might work… Also, it’s not very long, so tell him its a mark a…[Read more]

Why is he doing it if he doesn’t feel that literature is important either for its own sake or for the history and ideas that it can reveal? And if he truly resents the fact that Latin isn’t taught as a spoken language, how about making him do some English to Latin – this will provide some intellectual stimulation and also might make him…[Read more]

Hello. There is a handful of home-schooling parents who use the site, alongside the teachers. You need access to the Resources pages, which require a separate login (did you not get a pop-up asking to email me?). This login is for the knowledge of members only, so can I please ask you not to share it with your daughter, but to access the Resources…[Read more]

Zigzag have several companions/Guides on A/S and GCSE set texts. The Companion to Ovid Amores III, Poems 2,3,5 and 14 will be published shortly. It contains a translation and notes, mainly on style, which are not contained in the prescribed text. It also has an introduction on Elegiac metre (Hexameter and Pentameter).

Tony Bartlett

Hi, I was in exactly the same position as you last year! Apart from the resources already mentioned, I found Ingo Gildenhard’s Cicero Against Verres absolutely invaluable, also Introducing Cicero (Bristol Classical Press). The resources on this site are fanastic too! Re grammar: Latin Beyound GCSE by John Taylor is an abolutely must and Latin…[Read more]

There is an edition of the four poems in the Amores set for A/S shortly to be published by ZigZag education, which contains an introduction to the metre, translation and notes on style.

Tony Bartlett

Stevo, I’d be happy to help. In fact I’m one step ahead – I have ten or more unseens taken from various sources (Kennedy etc.). All they lack are comprehension questions. Want me to email them over?
Will