Leader Margaret Dews BA Hons Latin

Meetings 3rd Tuesday of month

We are a relaxed, enthusiastic group. Everyone has learned Latin before, sometimes to quite a high level, but many years ago. Initially we worked through Rhoda Hendrick's Latin Made Simple quite quickly and then 'Lingua Latina: Familia Romana', a text book entirely in Latin, but not as impossible as that sounds. As one of many diversions on the way we compiled a map of the London Underground in Latin (Londinium Subterraneum) which attracted some national publicity though, sadly, not the interest of the then London Mayor Boris Johnson. But it was fun and we raised over £1000 with it for the local Hospice.

Now we read Latin authors. There is no plan - it's all rather serendipitous. We translated Juvenal's description of life in Rome and followed that with accounts by Suetonius and Tacitus of the great fire, when Nero didn't fiddle but probably did sing. After some lyric poetry, Livy's account of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and Cicero's defence of Caelius, we read Vergil's Aeneid Book IV, the story of Dido and Aeneas. We have also translated Latin epitaphs for something completely different. Recently we have delved into Caesar's murder and Boudicca's rebellion, before enjoying weather forecasting with Vergil. Curently we are reading tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

If you ever read a set book at school, don't be put off by the 'Advanced' tag: we progress quite slowly, so do make contact if you are interested.