9th Annual Competition
 
Matthew Chaldekas
Kicking the Habit:
Learning to Read Greek and Latin

Matthew Chaldekas and his collection

The first Latin book that I ever bought was Moreland and Fliescher’s Latin: An Intensive Course in my senior year of high school. This was the beginning of an attempt to teach myself the language after being thoroughly frightened by an MSU representative who warned me that I would probably never pass Latin. The only marginalia in this almost brand new book is my confused attempt to decipher the Latin case system on page seven. That was as far as I got.

My next attempt at self-taught language came after completing Latin my freshman year and was to be guided by Peter Jones’ Learn Ancient Greek. Coincidently, this came at the warning of my Greek professor for the next year. I didn’t even open the book until recently. But this experience produced an interesting situation with far reaching effects. Jones is also the author of an introductory Latin book. I had already taken elementary Latin and still had the book from my failed attempt a year before. Buying this book was like that first cigarette or the first can of beer. I felt odd about it: I didn’t really enjoy it, but something told me to do it. This sparked a bona fide addiction. I began buying used introductory Latin textbooks and grammars, Latin composition textbooks, and, when I had completed enough Greek to lose my fear of failing, Greek textbooks as well. (I took a liking to used books because they have lots of marginalia and doodling which only the student of Greek and Latin can fully appreciate, and I like the idea of saving something that someone else didn’t want anymore.) Most of these textbooks are cookie-cutter, small, blandly-colored editions from the turn of the last century. I didn’t get any particular use out of my collection besides the thrill of a new acquisition, and, as with all addictions, the pleasure began to wane.

I decided to take a break and spend my money on something a little more diverse. So I studied abroad in France. I came back with about 60 pounds of books. I left two pairs of shoes and all of my toiletry items in France in order to fit them all in my suitcase. The books I found in Europe were different in two important aspects: they were primary texts, and they were well-aged. As Professor Tyrell sagely imparted after I had completed first-year Greek, “you only take first year Greek once,” then you have to put the textbook down and start reading. I have enjoyed reading Greek and Latin since then, and somewhat sadly have kicked my addiction. I still buy and own many book about Greek and Latin, but they no longer own me.

 

 
Bibliography
Textbooks1
 
Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar. Rev. by Anne Mahoney. Newburyport, MA: Focus 2001.
  - A new edition of the standard Latin grammar. I was a little bummed because I ordered it used hoping for one of the older editions. This book has no dust jacket or cover illustrations. The pages are very white.
   
 
**Bennett, Charles. Latin Grammar. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 1908.
  - Originally, from the private library of M.C. Baarman. I use this simple, portable grammar when any questions in my Latin readings. I have two so that I can keep one at my girlfriend’s apartment just in case.
   
 
Bennett, Charles. New Latin Grammar. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 1948.
  - This grammar has a very tight binding after the introduction. Someone must have giving up Latin soon after buying it. Inside of front cover is labeled “Bob Murrary, #3 Barracks 7”
   
 
Burgess, Theodore and Robert Bonner. Elementary Greek. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1907.
  - First-year textbook based on Xenophon. Interesting because it teaches the dual number and as reading passages for every lesson. The binding tightens up after lesson IV. Someone’s German homework is tucked inside the front cover.
   
 
Collar, William and M. Grant Daniell. The First Latin Book. Boston: Ginn, 1901.
  - A remedial version of “The Beginner’s Latin Book.” This edition has suffered some water damage. Someone cut out one of the pictures, apparently a horseman, on page 43.
   
 
Collar, William and M. Grant Daniell. First Year Latin. Boston: Ginn, 1901.
  - I had to search for this one. We used an e-book version of this revised by Professor Tyrell in my Latin 101 and 102 classes. It is a very stately and handsome book. There is an American Red Cross stamp from 1915 on the front inside cover.
   
 
Crosby, Henry Lamar and John Nevin Schaeffer. An Introduction to Greek. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1928.
  - The standard introductory Greek textbook. We used this in my Greek 101 and 102 classes. This edition is the 1993 reprint. The front cover is starting to come off and the cover illustration is very faded. I have been told that if your book isn’t in this condition by the time you finish first-year Greek, you probably won’t continue on. There are tea stains on pages 73 and 107 at particularly hard lessons and a post-it note about an advising meeting inside the back cover that I have decided not to remove.
   
 
D’Ooge, Benjamin. Latin Composition. Boston: Ginn, 1904.
  - Professor D’Ooge was a member of Michigan State Normal College (now known as Eastern Michigan University). This thin, red book is very concise. I bought it because it looks cool.
   
 
Goodwin, William Watson. Greek Grammar. Rev. by Charles Burton Gulick. Boston: Ginn, 1930.
  - This is the grammar I use for any questions that arise in my Greek reading or composition homework. It is concise and has cute silver lettering on a black cover.
   
 
Hale, Williams Gardener and Carl Darling Buck. Latin Grammar. Boston: Ginn, 1903.
  - A very thorough and historically minded grammar. Has seen a lot of use. There is marginalia, but not of much interest. For example, this back cover contains an almost illegible table of the sequence of tenses.
   
 
Halpron, James, Martin Ostwald, and Thomas Rosenmeyer. The Meters of Greek and Latin Poetry. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1963.
  - A really good introduction to the complex meters of Greek and Latin verse. Discharged from Herrick Public Library in Holland, Michigan.
   
 
Higley, Edwin. Exercises in Greek Composition. Boston: Grinn, 1897.
  - An intermediate composition textbook based on Xenophon’s Anabasis and Hellenica. Contains a few word lists that have come in hand in the introductory composition class I am taking this semester.
   
 
Jones, Peter. Learn Latin. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1997.
  - A fun introductory Latin textbook with cartoons, jokes, and a relaxed style. I have doubts about its actual ability to teach Latin. Learning Latin is not fun. The book is based on a weekly column Jones wrote for a British newspaper.
   
 
Jones, Peter. Learn Ancient Greek. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1998.
  - The counterpart to Jones’ Latin book. The jokes are funnier than his previous book, and the end-piece is a selection of Homer that is still completely unreadable using this knowledge accrued from the preceding lessons. Has a very handsome orange cover.
   
 
Minkova, Milena and Terence Tunber. Readings and Exercises in Latin Prose Composition. Newburyport, MA: Focus, 2004.
  - This is a great idea for a composition textbook, featuring diverse reading selections followed by lessons based on the readings. The lessons vary from extremely difficult to mind-numbingly simple, and the answers are never concrete. It requires that the student buy 3 separate grammars—but only the editions specifically published by Focus because the topics are referred to by page number, not section number as usual.
   
 
Moreland, Floyd and Rita Fleischer. Latin: An Intensive Course. Los Angeles: U of California P.
  - Intended to be taught in a four week workshop. It appears to be the most daunting Latin book ever written. Each lesson has a vocabulary list near 50 words. If I had made it out of the Introduction, I wouldn’t have made it past Lesson 1.
   
 
Riemann, O. Syntax Latine. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck, 1936.
  - One of the few textbooks I bought in France. This edition, the seventh, has been revised by the famed French classicist Alfred Ernout. This book was actually useful for reverse-intuiting some knowledge of French.
   
 
Simpson, D.P. Cassel’s Latin Dictionary. New York: Wiley, 1968.
  - This is the 2000 edition. Big, reliable, bright orange. I use this mostly to press leaves.
   
 
Smyth, Herbert Wier. Greek Grammar. Rev. by Gordon M. Messing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1968.
  - This thick, pint behemoth is the definitive Greek grammar. Someone has written “By Rebecca H. Bennett” below the author’s name on the title page.
   
 
Ullman, B.L. and Norman Henry. Second Latin Book. New York: Macmillan, 1935.
  - This thick, rust-brown book was one of the less satisfying acquisitions of my addition. It does have some nice full-color maps and diagrams though.
   
 
White, John Williams. The First Greek Book. New York: Ginn, 1896.
  - Another introductory Ancient Greek book based on Xenophon. A previous owner, presumable a young boy, has labeled an illustration of four ancient horsemen on p. 175 "лιειε (pete?), ιαχ (jack), αλβερτ (albert), μαρχ (mark), and μιε (me).” A hoplite on p. 177 is saying “woof!” and a trumpeter’s shield on p. 211 says “Little for president!”
   
Reading Texts
 
Bazouin, Albert. Les Textes Latins. Paris; Librairie Hachette, 1932.
  - Selections from Latin authors intended for a fourth form secondary school student with notes in French. Features Caesar, Cicero, Ovid, Tibullus, and others.
   
 
Beeson, Charles. A Primer of Medieval Latin. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1953.
  - Selections from Medieval Latin prose and poetry, including selections from the Gesta Romarnorum, Geoggrey of Monmouth, Carmina Burana, and some drinking songs.
   
 
Benner, Allen Rogers. Selections from Homer’s Illiad. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma P, 2001.
  - This is the definitive student edition of the poem that started western literature. Benner’s edition contains vocabulary and grammar notes to aide in the translation. For comparison, the Greek of Homer compared with standard Ancient Greek is analogous to Chaucer’s English and modern English.
   
 
Caesar. The Gallic War. Ed. Jeffrey Henderson. Trans. H.J. Edwards. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1917.
  - The Loeb Classical Library began publishing in 1911 to make works in Latin and Greek readily available to normal people. The pocket sized editions with facing English translation were revolutionary at the time, but have set the standard for many classical texts. This edition is Caesar’s account of his exploits in Gaul. Caesar’s concise, straight-forward style is fast paced and easy to read.
   
 
Catullus. The Complete Poems. Ed. And Trans. Guy Lee. New York: Oxford UP, 1990.
  - This Oxford World’s Classics edition has Latin and facing English translation. The works of Catullus are renowned for their lyricism, passion, and occasional obscenity. This is the perfect book for a college-aged man.
   
 
Cicero. De Amicitia. Ed. H.E. Gould and J.L. Whiteley. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1941.
  - This is the great Roman orator’s attempt at a Greek philosophical tract on the meaning and benefits of friendship. Reprinted in 2004, this edition has a helpful vocabulary and grammatical notes.
   
 
Euripide. Les Bacchantes. Ed. And Trans. Henri Gregoire. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1979.
  - Euripides is one of the hardest Greek authors to read. This play is not as hard as most, and so is a standard for undergraduates. These editions from the Collection Des Universites De France appear to be the French equivalent of the Loeb Classical library. There is an owl tilting its head on the cover.
   
 
Hediod’s Theogony. Ed. Richard Hamilton. Bryn Mawr, PN: Thomas Library, 1990.
  - This text rivals those of Homer in being one of the oldest in Western literature and in featuring the antecedents of almost all Greek mythology.
   
 
Hesiodi Carmina. Ed. F.S. Lehrs. Paris: Instituti Regii Franciae Typographo, 1841.
  - This gorgeous, old book contains the collected works of Hesiod (Theogony, Works and Days, Shield of Heracles, and Fragments) along with the Argonautica of Apollonius, Musaeus’ Hero and Leander, and works from 9 other authors. All are in Greek with Latin translations. All of the indices and commentary are in Latin.
   
 
Homer. Odyssey IX. Ed. and Intro. J.V. Muir. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1980.
  - This episode describes Odysseus’ encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus. It is one of the most famous passages of the Odyssey. This edition is riddled with Greek typos, which can be very frustrating for the second-year Greek student.
   
 
Horace. Odes and Epodes. Ed. G.P. Goold. Trans. C.E. Bennett. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1968.
  - The poetry of Horace was an inspiration for poets through the Romantics. His verse shows the quality of well-written and well-revised prose. This is the 1999 reprint.
   
 
The Idylls and Epigrams Commonly Attributed to Theocritus. Ed. Herbert Kynaston. Oxford: Clarendon, 1869.
  - Theocritus is the founder of pastoral or bucolic poetry. A lot of scholarship has been completed on these poems since this book’s publication, so it is a bit out-dated. It is in really good shape and has an olive green cover. This is the fifth edition.
   
 
Lysias. Discours (I-XV). Ed and Trans. Louis Gernet and Marcel Bizos. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1959.
  - Lysias the slave was a speechwriter for many important politicians in Athens. Many of his speeches survive. This paperback edition has a facing French translation.
   
 
Museo. Ero e Leandro. Ed Luciano Migotto. Prodenone, Italy: Studio Tesi, 1992.
  - Not much is known about the Greek poet Museus. He has been dated around the fifth century CE. His short epic poem Hero and Leander draws material from Homer’s Odyssey, Ovid, and Plato.
   
 
Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine. Ed. Augustinus Merk. Rome: Scripta Pontificii Instituti Biblici, 1947.
  - New Testament Greek is interesting to read because it shows many influences from Hebrew. This edition has facing Greek and Latin texts.
   
 
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Ed. T.E. Page et al. Trans. Frank Justus Miller. 2 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1956.
  - The Loeb Classical Library edition of this text. Ovid’s Metamorphoses is the basis for much of our modern understanding of Greek and Roman myth.
   
 
Petrone. Le Satiricon. Ed and Trans. Alfred Ernout. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1970.
  - The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter is considered by some to be the first novel ever written. It features the famous Cena Trimalchionis, an elaborate description of a dinner among Roman nobles. Because of its extreme obscenity, this book is often left out of undergraduate curricula.
   
 
Plato. Protagoras. Ed. J. Adam and M.A. Adam. London: Cambridge UP, 1905.
  - The Greek of Plato is complex in grammar, but uses a small vocabulary of technical terms and is easy to pick up with a little perseverance. This Socratic dialogue discusses whether it is possible to teach righteousness. Adam and Adam is a standard text.
   
 
Pliny. Selected Letters. Ed. Constantine E. Pritchard and Edward R. Bernard. London: Oxford Clarendon, 1964.
  - The letters of Pliny give what classicists hope is an accurate account of the life of Roman nobility in the first century CE. His letters to Tragan are the first non-Christian account of the early Christians and their practices. This edition has a handsome sea-green cover.
   
 
Plutarco. Vita di Cesare. Trans. And Ed. Alessandra Inglese. Prodenone, Italy: Studio Tesi, 1994.
  - Plutarch’s Life of Caesar with a facing Italian translation. Plutarch’s 46 Parallel Lives compare the deed and ethics of famous Greeks and Romans and are one of our greatest sources for ancient biography.
   
 
Plautus. Amphitruo. Ed. David M. Christenson. New York: Cambridge UP, 2000.
  - We read this play last semester in my Latin class. This is Plautus’ version of the conception of Hercules. There is highlighting and cribbing in the sections of the book which we performed for the Classics Club.
   
 
Sophocles. Philoctetes. Ed. Sir Richard Jebb and E.S. Shuckburgh. New York: Cambridge UP, 1906.
  - The plays of Sophocles are famous for their intensity of psychological and social significance. This play deals with an episode during the Trojan War in which the abdandoned and very-bad-smelling Philoctetes must be coerced into re-joining the Greeks by Odysseus.
   
 
Sophocles. Trachiniae. Intro and Ed. Maclcolm Davies. New York: Cambridge UP, 1906.
  - The Trachiniae of Sophocles is a very interesting text. Scholars in the nineteenth century thought it so inferior that they claimed it had been written by Sophocles’ son. This commentary and another by P.E. Easterling have sought to restore this play to its good reputation.
   
 
Suetonius. Divus Julius. Ed. H.E. Butler and M. Cary. London Bristol Classical Press, 1993.
  - Suetonius wrote around the same time as Pliny the Younger. This is the first of his Lives of the Caesars, biographies of the first 12 emperors.
   
 
Tunberg, Jennifer and Terrence Tunberg. Cattus Petasatus. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2000.
  - This is The Cat in the Hat in Latin! This is one of many attempts (including other Dr. Seuss books and Harry Potter) to make writing in Latin cool again. This authors use a few meters found in Beeson’s book noted above to achieve Dr. Seuss’ characteristic pulse.
   
 
Vergil’s Aeneid Books I-VI. Ed. Clyde Pharr. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1964.
  - This is a great student edition of Virgil’s famous Latin epic. It’s thick. It’s pink. And each page has twice as many notes and vocabulary items as text. This is the 2004 reprint.
   
 
Virgil. Georgic IV. Ed. T.E. Page. London: MacMillan, 1925.
  - Virgil based his Georgics on the works of the Greek poet Hesiod. This pocket edition offers a vocabulary for the student and grammatical notes.
   
   
 1 I have not included serveral books which I will need for class and will be unable to part with for the competition showing.
 
Past Contest Winners and Finalists:
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006  
1999 2001 2003 2005    

 
 
Return to Home MSU Libraries Home Page
     
Page Editor: Breezy Silver
May 1, 2006