The aim of Latin 3003 is twofold: first, to reinforce and extend the basic skills which you developed in beginning Latin and, second, to introduce you to some of the major prose writers of ancient Rome. In the first half of the semester, we will be reading selections from the second book of De bello Gallico, Caesar's account of his campaigns in Gaul (modern France and Belgium) in the 50's BCE; in the second half we will read the entirety of Cicero's Oratio in Catilinam I, a speech delivered before the Senate in 63 BCE, in which Cicero denounced L. Sergius Catilina, a disgruntled aristocrat who was plotting to overthrow the Roman state.
Most of our class time will be spent translating and discussing the texts we're reading. As noted above, you will be reinforcing and extending the skills you developed in beginning Latin, but instead of the readings reinforcing the grammar, as in first year Latin, the readings will take center stage; accordingly, most grammar and vocabulary work will be done outside of class. We will continue to encounter new forms and constructions, but much less class time will be devoted to them.