Author Description

Learn to read Latin by reading it. This book is an excellent learning device for all students beyond the first year. This edition of seventeen letters of Seneca the Younger makes quality material from antiquity accessible to intermediate and higher levels. The formatting helps students to understand the Latin phrases more quickly, bit by bit, and in sequence. An interleaved translation keeps the context clear. The most important thing in language learning is the practice of comprehension. "Dividing and conquering" and getting familiar with the vocabulary and structures that you meet here should markedly improve your understanding of Latin, even without extended grammatical explanations. This device allows for the absorption of far more content in a given amount of time. A continuous Latin text is also included for unassisted practice. These texts deal with matters of universal interest. Seneca speaks, sometimes very graphically, about what is truly valuable in life, about friendships, about the way to use one's time, about how to live, about the attitude to take toward various lifestyles and lesser values, about the importance of spirit, about what a philosophical life promises, and about so much more. He loves getting to the point...again and again. Spending time with this thinker will repay you with much more than a better knowledge of Latin. This philosopher, after all, wants us to learn not just for the classroom, but for life.