An introduction to the basic grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of Latin designed to enable students to read and understand simple Latin prose and verse.

This course aims at increasing facility in reading Latin prose and poetry and introduces students to the literary culture of Republican Rome. We will read selections from Catullus, Caesar and Cicero.

This course aims to build skills in reading literary Latin in a variety of genres, both poetry and prose, while introducing students to an important social function shared by many kinds of texts: Winning status and prestige by slandering a rival. The kind of insult that wins over an audience tells us much about Roman values in various realms of public and personal behavior.

Quintilian famously identified satire as the only genre that the Romans did not borrow from the Greeks. In this course we will ask the following questions about Roman verse satire, with a focus on the works of Horace and Juvenal. How does satire relate to other literary genre? How does it reflect social realities of its day? Why do the satirists use the auto-biographical mode? Who are the targets that the satirists attack? Is there a moral purpose to their rants? We will also think about the response of the audience, both ancient and modern, to the satirical voice.

The class will focus on Petrarch's Latin works and the legacy of classical antiquity. The aim is to read select Latin works in the original. We will also look into Petrarch's personality as presented in his work, his belief in the moral and practical value of studying the classics, and his inspiring humanist philosophy more generally. There will be guest speakers.