The choices, preferences, experiences, and particular strengths and weaknesses of a given book’s creators will unavoidably shape its presentation of the Latin language. Any and every introductory text will have a bias of some sort or other.
The good news is that there’s something for everyone. There are books for folks who want or need lots of help, there are versions for those who just want to engage the plain Latin text. If you’re somewhere in between, well, you’re covered too.
Words are our windows to the mind of our predecessors, and what we find there might surprise us. And, quite possibly, enlighten us.
So, in the end, the big question is this: do the strengths of the exclusive focus on Ovid outweigh the drawbacks? On the whole, I think they do . . . with conditions.Â
Every time we sing it or listen to “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” we stand with the previous sixty-odd generations of forebears who sang the same song. Eternity is now.
Phaedrus, it seems, had high expectations for children’s literary understanding.  Or maybe, as A.A. Milne does in his Winnie the Pooh stories, he wanted to throw in a little something for the benefit of the adults who do the actual reading.Â
And what, you may wonder, are the strongest features? Glad you asked.  As is the case with the first book in this series, clarity and thoroughness are the strengths of Jenney’s Second Year Latin.
With Caesar as teacher, we can be his co-teachers.  We can help our students see and feel the drama in his narrative.
Julius Caesar as Storyteller? Well, yes. We remember Caesar as many things: general, tyrant, reformer of the calendar and, yes, author.  But how often do we give him credit for his virtuosity in spinning yarns?
Now, I can’t deny that “seize the day” sounds a lot more inspiring than “pluck the day.”  How does one pluck a day, anyway? Here’s where it pays to go to the source. What exactly is Horace getting at in the eleventh poem in his first book of odes?