Edward Adolf Sonnenschein

“ Speaking of the course as a whole, we may say that the learning of grammar should proceed side by side with the reading of a text. The old view, which is far from extinct at the present day, though it is rarely carried out in all its rigour, was that the pupil must learn the rules of the game before he attempts to play it. The modern view is that just as in whist or hockey one learns the rules by playing the game, so in the study of a language one learns the grammar best by the reading of a simple text. ”

“ While it is of importance that the pupil should come across nothing which might react disadvantageously on his future composition, it is mere pedantry to insist on any exalted standard of literary excellence. The writer who works under the limitation imposed by the conditions of the problem should not attempt any high style of diction; it is sufficient if his Latin is up to the standard of such isolated sentences as usually form the mental pabulum of the beginner, though it might well be somewhat higher. ”

“ And further, to run over all the declensions without proper understanding of their meanings and uses with and without Prepositions is a real danger, as begetting all sorts of misconception and error—so much so that the muddled pupil too often never learns the syntax of the Cases at all. No doubt all the Declensions and Conjugations must be learned before a Latin author is attacked. But when a few of them have been brought within the pupil’s ken, he finds little difficulty in mastering the others in a rapid and more mechanical fashion. ”

“ For English pupils learning Latin the reconciliation ought to present little difficulty; but nearly every great nation of Europe has its points of contact with Rome, and therefore its opportunities of constructing Latin Readers which are national in more senses than one. On the modern side they may be patriotic in tone, and inspired by that love of nature which appeals so directly to the youthful mind ”

“ It is sometimes forgotten that mental training is not synonymous with the inculcation of a mass of grammatical forms which only burden the memory, and that the habit of reading with care and fluency is itself a mental discipline of the highest value. ”

“ All Latin authors as they stand, are far too difficult to serve as a basis of study for beginners: and they are also, I may add, not well adapted in respect of subject matter and sentiment to appeal to the mind of the very young. Caesar may no doubt be made interesting to a boy or girl of twelve by a skilful teacher with the aid of maps and pictures. But, after all, the Gallic War can never be what it was never meant to be, a child’s book. The ideal “Reader,” which should be the centre of instruction during the early stages of a young pupil’s course, should be really interesting ”

“ But still the old rule of “festina lente” would warn the teacher not to impose too great a burden on the young or even the adult beginner; it is no light task to learn simultaneously forms and their meanings, vocabulary, and the fundamental facts of syntax. It must be admitted that the method which I am advocating is a slow one at first; but it is sure, and binds fast. The method of preliminary grammar might be called the railroad method. The traveller by rail travels fast, but he sees little of the country through which he is whirled. The longest way round is often the shortest way home ”

“ A fair vocabulary is acquired—without effort—in the course of reading; for the learning of new words, especially if they are chosen so as to present obvious similarities to English words, is a task eminently within the powers of the youthful mind ”

“ In my opinion, existing manuals are disfigured by a disproportionate amount of lifeless Accidence. The outcome of the traditional system is that the pupil learns a multitude of Latin forms (Cases, Tenses, Moods) , but very little Latin. That is to say, he acquires a bowing acquaintance with all the forms of Nouns and Verbs—such as Ablatives in a, e, i, o, u, 3rd Persons in at, et, it, and so forth—before he gets a real hold of the meaning or use of any of these forms. But, as Goethe said in a different connexion, “What one cannot use is a heavy burden” ”

“ There should be no preliminary study of grammar apart from the reading of a text. The declensions and conjugations, learncd by rote apart from their applications, cannot be properly assimilated or understood, and often prove a source of error rather than enlightenment in subsequent study. They have to be learned over and over again—always in doses which are too large for digestion, and the pupil has meanwhile been encouraged to form a bad habit of mind. ”

“ And the forms of the adjective taken by the different classes of nouns are called by the same names.
In order to know to which class a noun belongs (and therefore which form of the adjective it takes) , observe the following rules:-
Nouns of the 1st Declension are feminine, except those denoting male persons, which are masculine: thus insula, casa, ōra, amita, are feminine; agricola, nauta, poēta, incola, are masculine. ”

“ The pupil who has mastered this book ought to be able to read and write the easiest kind of Latin with some degree of fluency and without serious mistakes: in a word, Latin ought to have become in some degree a living language to him. ”

“ There must be many University teachers who, like the present writer, feel dissatisfied with the scrappy and haphazard knowledge of the classics commonly presented by students reading for Pass degrees. ”

“ A continuous narrative from beginning to end, capable of appealing in respect of its vocabulary and subject matter to the minds and interests of young pupils, and free from all those syntactical and stylistic difficulties which make even the easiest of Latin authors something of a problem.
2. A work which shall hold the true balance between too much and too little in the matter of systematic grammar. ”

“ In the present book I have dealt directly with only three declensions of Nouns and Adjectives and the Indicative Active of sum and of the 1st Conjugation (incidentally introducing some of the forms of Pronouns, and those forms of the Passive which are made up with the Verb-adjectives, as in English) ”

“ That would depend altogether on the aim which the writer set before himself. There is plenty of room within the limits of the first declension and the first conjugation for the training of the mind in habits of accurate thought and expression ”

“ I herewith express my cordial thanks to those teachers who have pointed out to me misprints or omissions in the vocabularies—in particular to Professor Postgate, Mr. F. E. A. Trayes, Mr. R. S. Haydon, Miss A. F. E. Sanders. These oversights—not very many in number—have all been corrected in the present issue. ”

“ Syllables closed by two or more consonants are mostly long, as in vīLLa, luSCinia, iNTeRDum, paRTem, uMBRa, feneSTRa; so too are syllables containing a double vowel, as in nAUtAE. But many syllables ending in a single consonant and containing a single vowel are also long, because the vowel is itself a long vowel: these vowels are marked in the text and vocabularies of this book. Thus beata and antiqua have the middle syllable long, and are therefore marked beāta, antīqua: and it is because the middle syllable in each of these words has a long vowel in it that it is accented (beáta, antíqua) . ”

“ SINGULAR. PLURAL. 1 vir, a man virī, men 2 vir, o man virī, o men 1 virum, a man virōs, men 1 virī, a man’s virōrum, men’s 1 virō, to a man virīs, to men 6 cum virō, with a man cum virīs, with men There is no other word in Latin exactly like ‘vir’: but ‘Leir’ is declined in the same way in some Latin Histories of the Britons. ”

“ Nouns of the 2nd Declension ending in us or r are masculine: e.g. numerus, scopulus, patruus, liber, vir. Some exceptions will be found later.
Nouns of the 2nd Declension ending in um are neuter.
Prepositions Hitherto Found with the Ablative. ”

“ And the illustrations should also have this two-fold character; they should include subjects both ancient and modern, it being always remembered in regard to the former that their object is not to make the boy or girl an archaeologist, but simply to act as an aid to the imagination and enable it to realise what ancient civilisation was like. A good modern fancy sketch may often be more instructive from this point of view than a cut taken from a dictionary of antiquities. ”

“ Nouns and Adjectives in -um SINGULAR. PLURAL. 1, 2, 3 oppidum, a town, o town oppida, towns, o towns 4 oppidī, of a town oppidōrum, of towns 5 oppidō, to a town (with a verb of ‘giving’) oppidīs, to towns (with a verb of ‘giving’) 6 in oppidō, in a town in oppidīs, in towns Similarly with an adjective: oppidum antīquum, an ancient town. ”

“ Leir Lear rēgulus ruler, petty king fortūna misera unhappy fate [miserable fortune] dēplōrō I deplore, lament stultitia folly culpō I blame animus ingrātus ingratitude (lit. an ungrateful mind) accūsō I accuse fortūna aspera harsh fate fīliae impiae unnatural [impious] daughters constantia constancy ex poētā nōminātus named after (from) the poet ”

“ My aunts visit cottages. Amitam meam amō. I love my aunt. Amitās meās amō. I love my aunts. Amitae meae vīlla est bella. My aunt's country-house is pretty. Amitārum meārum vīllae sunt bellae. My aunts’ country-houses are pretty. Cum amitā meā ambulō. I walk with my aunt. Cum amitīs meīs ambulō. I walk with my aunts. Notice that the forms in -am (Singular) and -ās (Plural) occur after certain Prepositions:
ante iānuam, before the door; post cenam, after supper; prope vīllam, near the house; inter fēriās, during the holidays. without any Preposition, to complete the sense with certain Verbs. ”

“ But the foundations must be laid during the long school course, as the developed flower must be present in the germ. By not hurrying over the initial stages, and by a wise guidance of the later steps, the consummation of a worthy classical culture may be reached in the end. ”

“ There are pretty country-houses, or The country-houses are pretty. Villās bellās amo. I love pretty contry-houses. Iānuae villārum bellārum sunt apertae. The doors of the pretty country-houses are open. In villīs bellīs habitant. They dwell in pretty country-houses. ”

“ Note in the above:—1. corvī nīdificant, crows make nests. 2. vōs, corvi, you, o crows. 3. corvōs spectō, I watch crows. 4. numerus corvōrum, a number of crows. 5. corvīs dat, gives to crows. 6. cum corvīs, with crows.
SINGULAR. PLURAL. 1 hortus bellus hortī bellī 2 horte belle hortī bellī 3 hortum bellum hortōs bellōs 4 hortī bellī hortōrum bellōrum 5 hortō bellō (with a verb of ‘giving’) hortīs bellīs (with a verb of ‘giving’) 6 in hortō bellō in hortīs bellīs §8. ”

“ KS" In this and the foUowing Preparations the verbs of the ist Con- jugation Present or Past Imperfect Tense will be given in the ist Person Sing. of ihe Prescnt.
hTc
here^ at tliis
GalHa
Gaul
point
in (with Acc.)
to, into
nonne
not ? ( = non H-
causa*
for the sake
ne ; cf. ver-
frumentum
corn
umne, §17)
armentum
herd
ille
/le {i.e. the
catulus
dog
teacher)
venaticus, a.
um
hunting
aedifico
I build, §12
servus
slave
loca (neuter)
plural of 'locus
captlvus
captive
(masc.) ”

“ Ifa?ic} think
Eng. 'etcetera
itaque
therefore,
importo
/ ifnport
accordingly
mediocricer
mode?-ateIy,
plane
altogether
tolerably
barbarus, a, um
barl>arotiS
humanus, a,
um
civilized
agrl cultfira
agriculture
[humane]
(cultivation
nec
a?id ?iot
of the land)
multum
viuch, very
etiam
even, also
dlversus a
different froin
mercatura
cojnmerce
a = ab, §1
[merchandize]
Galll
thc Gauls
Venetl
a tribe on the
west coast of Gaul
•Note the Ablative without a Prcposition, hcre meaning 'by': causa, hterally by cause or by reason ; hence for the sake. ”