[Loyola University Chicago]

LATN 303: Prose Composition

Fall Semester 2016


Once you've read Latin extensively and attentively enough to achieve fluency as a reader, you make your next step in mastery best by taking up your Latin forebears and carrying them with you. Prose Composition is all about learning by doing. Regular work through focused exercises builds a Latin-writer's perspective on the workings of the language. This knowledge in turn permits fuller exploration of Latin prose's expressive potential. Through practical application, students will develop a critical vocabulary of concepts with which to appreciate the technical artistry of Latin writing.

Our work this semester will pursue four main aims (plus the fifth, of having fun with them):

  • to write technically correct Latin sentences that express specified ideas accurately
  • to clarify, extend, and consolidate understanding of the principles of Latin syntax
  • to investigate the stylistic choices of recognized masters of Classical Latin prose
  • to formulate, test, and refine theories about the expressive aims and artistry of users of Latin prose - and, comparatively, English
marble statue of senator with ancestor-busts, last decade 1c BC


TTh 10:00am-11:15am
Crown Center 572
Dr. Jacqueline Long


Office Hours: TTh 9:00am-9:50am, Crown Center 563, or by appointment
phone: 773-508-3654, 773-508-3511
e-mail: jlong1@luc.edu

Texts


Plan of Approach

Week 1: 8/30-9/1 Introduction to Prose Composition and Stylistic Analysis BA Introduction
M 9/5 Labor Day
Week 2: 9/6-8 Vital Principles BA I, II, III, IV Cato
Week 3: 9/13-15 Modification, Space, and Time BA VIII, IX, XLI, XLII Cicero, letters
Week 4: 9/20-22 Verbal Adjectives BA XLIX, L, LII, LIII Caesar
Week 5: 9/27-29 Infinitive Gest BA V, VI, VII, XIII Cicero, treatises
Week 6: 10/4-6 Relatives and Correlatives BA X, XI, XII Cicero, oratory
10/10-11 Fall break
Week 7: 10/13 Midterm examination Midterm exam
Week 8: 10/18-20 Time and Mood in Direct Sentences BA XVIII, XIX, XXIII, XXIV Sallust
Week 9: 10/25-27 Purpose, Result, and Fear BA XIV, XV, XVI, XVII Livy
Week 10: 11/1-3 Questions and Doubts BA XX, XXI, XXII Seneca, letters
Week 11: 11/8-10 Great Cases BA XXV-LX Pliny, letters
Week 12: 11/15-17 Temporal, Causal, and Concessive Clauses BA LIV, LV, LX, LXI Tacitus
Week 13: 11/22 Numbers, Dates BA LXVI, LXVII
W 11/23 - Sa 11/26 Thanksgiving break
Week 14: 11/29-12/1 Oratio Obliqua BA LVI, LXV
Week 15: 12/6-8 Conditions BA LVII, LVIII, LIX Apuleius
T 12/13
1:00pm-3:00pm
Final examination.
Conformed with Loyola's Fall 2016 Final Exam Schedule.


Grades will be based on:
Participation (beyond attendance: active participation in discussion) 15%
Latin compositions cumulative average = 50%
Midterm exam 15%
Final exam 20%
Penalty for excessive absences (see below) particiation-assessment loses 2.5% for each absence falling within the definition of excess (see below)
The "midterm grade" will reflect the weighted average, pro-rated, of the components completed to date: participation, homework and quizzes to date and the midterm exam.

Letter-point conversions in the grade scale


A
A-

100-90
89.9-86.7
B+
B
B-
86.6-83.3
83.2-80
79.9-76.7
C+
C
C-
76.6-73.3
73.2-70
69.9-66.7
D+
D
F
66.6-63.3
63.2-60
59.9-0


Participation and other policies


Internet resources


Additional University resources


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Revised 24 August 2016 by jlong1@luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/classicalstudies/