Suggestions for an Adult Beginner's Latin Reader

Extract

Many people wish that they had learned Latin or are sorry to have forgotten it; but, being past school age, they shrink from beginning over again. How can we help or encourage these doubters?—Let us say:

1. Latin is not such a hard language as most people think. The belief in its difficulty has grown up from several causes, (1) In many schools Latin is the first subject that calls for serious effort. The approach to Mathematics is much more gradual nowadays than it was about 1900. The newer methods of teaching modern languages disguise or postpone many of the difficulties. (2) In many schools only three or four schoolhours a week are given to Latin, so that the pupil forgets his grammar in the intervals. (3) Pupils are made to read authors far too advanced for them, e.g. Caesar or Livy in the third year's course. This leads to discouragement. (4) Latin texts are nearly always cramped and awkward to read. The disuse of j and v adds to the beginner's confusion. (5) In many girls' schools Latin is taught as an odd subject by ill-informed teachers. Yet as a language Latin is not much harder than German: only the strangeness of an ancient tongue and the different way of thinking make progress slower.