Latin (LAT)

Major Requirements for the B.A. in Latin

  1. Twenty-seven hours (including Senior Seminar) in Latin courses.
  2. Twenty-one hours would be in courses numbered above 102.
  3. Supportive courses as follows: six semester hours chosen from Art 101, History 301, or Philosophy 301.

Minor Requirements in Latin

  • Eighteen hours in the language, including six semester hours in courses numbered above 300.

101-102. Elementary Latin (3,3)
An Introduction to the syntax and grammar of Classical Latin, with attention to historical, cultural, and literary background. Offered yearly.

201. Intermediate Latin (3)
Prerequisites: LAT 102 or equivalent. Review and further study of the syntax and grammar of Classical Latin. Attention to historical, cultural, and literary background. Exploration of computerized resources. Offered yearly.

202. Introduction to Literary Texts (3)
Prerequisites: LAT 201 or equivalent. Rapid review of the syntax and grammar of Classical Latin. Attention to historical, cultural, and literary background. Survey of Roman literature through readings in Latin of Cicero, Caesar, Catullus, and Virgil. Exploration of computerized resources. Offered yearly.

315. The Golden Age of Latin Prose (3)
Prerequisites: LAT 201-202 or equivalent. This course consists primarily of the study of selections from Cicero's speeches. The Pro Archia and the First Catiiinarian Oration will be read in their entirety. Portions of other works may be read in English translation. Areas of concentration include Cicero's political role in the years of the Late Roman Republic, his rhetorical techniques, and his use of language. An emphasis throughout the course will be on close reading and discussion of the selected works; in addition, matters of syntax and morphology will be carefully considered. Relatively brief passages from Caesar's Gallic Commentaries will be read in Latin for purposes of stylistic comparison. Offered in alternate years.

316. Virgilian Pastoral Poetry (3)
Prerequisites: LAT 201-202 or equivalent. This course examines Virgil's Eclogues as a manual of Augustan poetic technique and esthetic. Close readings of all of the Eclogues reveal a young and ambitious poet who is sensitive to the poetic tradition in which he writes and who is keenly interested in the relationship of pastoral poetry to the artificial and complex environment of Augustan Rome. Viewing Latin Pastoral Poetry in the light of its Hellenistic models, the course will explore Virgil's particular innovations as he develops a poetic idiom that reaches its full expression in his epic The Aeneid. Offered in alternate years.

395,396. Selected Topics (3)
Prerequisites: LAT 202 or equivalent. In-depth study of prose authors and poets of the Golden and Silver Ages, such as Cicero, Catullus, Virgil, and Ovid. Attention to historical and cultural background, as well as to literary genres. Exploration of computerized resources. Offered on demand.

415. The Poetry of Catullus (3)
Prerequisites: LAT 201-202 or equivalent. This course consists of the study of the poems in the Catullan corpus. Areas of concentration include the place of Catullus' poetry in the tradition of Roman lyric, amatory, and satiric verse; perspectives on Roman society of the first half of the first century B.C.; the poet's use of language and imagery; and the structural unity of individual poems. Emphasis is placed on close readings of the poems, including treatment of literary issues, as well as of syntax and morphology. Some odes of Horace will also be read and discussed in comparison with Catullan Lyric. Offered in alternate years.

416. Roman Epic Poetry (3)
Prerequisites: LAT 201-202 or equivalent. In this course students will read all of Virgil's Aeneid in English translation and selected passages in the Latin. The epic will be studied with close attention to the poet's use of language and imagery. A sine qua non in our work will be a thorough control of the Latin. Other areas of exploration include a comparison of Virgil's epic technique with that of Homer, the structural and thematic relationships of the books of the Aeneid, the poet's use of dactylic hexamenter, and his critique of Roman imperium. Offered in alternate years.

491-493. Independent Study (1-3)
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. Advanced study in the Latin writers such as Cicero, Virgil, Ovid, Plautus, Terence, Livy, Sallust, and Lucretius. Individual topics may not be repeated for credit.

Last updated May 23, 2007.