In TRV-311 Latin Reading II, students study the epistes of the Roman philosopher and statesmen Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC). Cicero, or “Tully” as he’s called in literature, is considered the master of the Latin language and has been the model for all Latin studies throughout Christian history.
I provide students with free access to the Loeb Classical Library, where all of the works of Cicero can be found–both the original Latin text and English translations. These English translations are intended for comfortable reading and are not literal translations of the Latin text. Students will study Cicero’s writings with the help of the Loeb translations and a good Latin dictionary.
To do this, students must be able to find Cicero’s epistles in the Loeb Classical Library. Thankfully, this is not difficult to do because of an old numbering system that is used in our old course textbooks and retained in the Loeb Classical Library. Students need just a little help, which I provide here.
In the screenshot above, from our old course text, sudents can see (1) the epistle number, which corresponds to our course lesson numbers. Here, that number is 13. The other bit of information (2) identifies the source of the Latin text. We can read “Fam. lib. 16, Epistl. 25.” The word “Fam.” stands for “Epistulae ad Familiares”, which translates into English as “Letters to Friends”. Then, we find the book (lib.) number — 16 — and the epistle (Epist.) number — 25. So, the epistle studied in lesson 13 is epistle number 25 from book 16 of Cicero’s “Letters to Friends”.
That’s the info we need to find the epistle in the Loeb Classical Library.
Using the link on the Study Center (which is required for access), we must select “Cicero” from the list of authors, then browse through the catalog of his works until we find “Letters to Friends”. When we open the correct volume, we must then find the epistle.
At the top of the page, we can see the epistle information in parentheses. We see that this first epistle is V.1, or epistle 1 from book 5. We want epistle 25 from book 16, so we will enter VXI.25 in the search box at the bottom of the page.
After searching and selecting the result, we would come to this page:
Here, at point 1, we can confirm that we have the correct epistle: Book 16, Epistle 25. To be sure, at point 2, we can also check the first line of text and make sure it matches the epistle in our lesson. We see, “Etsi iusta et idonea” which, if you look back to the old textbook above, you’ll see is the right epistle.
On the left page, we have the Latin text and on the right page (point 3) we have the English translation.
For most of the epistles, it will be this easy. If you run into any troubles, let me know.
God bless your studies,
Mr. William C. Michael, O.P.
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
mail@classicalliberalarts.com
