Review of Eleanor Dickey: Learning Latin the Ancient Way. PDF

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522 F. Bellandi: Dimatteo, Giovenale, Satira 8 Queste lievi e ‘dubitanti’ divergenze non intaccano in nulla il giudizio altamente positivo che si deve dare di questo lavoro. 1 Il commento è ricco e informatissimo, davvero eccellente la competenza nel campo dei Realien con un encomiabile dominio dell...

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F. Bellandi: Dimatteo, Giovenale, Satira 8

522

Queste lievi e ‘dubitanti’ divergenze non intaccano in nulla il giudizio altamente positivo che si deve dare di questo lavoro. 1 Il commento è ricco e informatissimo, davvero eccellente la competenza nel campo dei Realien con un encomiabile dominio della bibliografia specifica e generale, pregevole il ricorso ai commenti antichi (tramite le edizioni di M. de Marolles, Lutetiae Parisiorum 1658, e di H.Ch. Henninius, Ultrajecti 1685) e l’uso senza soggezione di quelli più moderni (in più punti il pur fondamentale lavoro di Courtney viene fatto oggetto di critiche fondate e di opportune precisazioni). Veramente notevoli, inoltre, la sensibilità e la competenza con cui D. conduce l’analisi sui fatti di lingua e stile col risultato di poter proporre non poche fini osservazioni puntuali e di cogliere nel testo sfumature inedite. In definitiva, siamo davanti a un lavoro di grande pregio e utilità, che si pone senza alcun dubbio come un’acquisizione durevole nel campo degli studi giovenaliani. Pisa Franco Bellandi * Eleanor Dickey: Learning Latin the Ancient Way. Latin Textbooks from the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 2016. XII, 187 S. 49,99 (Ppb. 17,99) £.

O sola infandos Troiae miserata labores, quae nos, reliquias Danaum terraeque marisque omnibus exhaustos iam casibus omnium egenos urbe, domo, socias – grates persolvere dignas non opis et nostrae Dido

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That, dear reader, is how ancient Greeks learned Latin. They took a chunk of Virgil’s Aeneid in Latin (1.597-601), memorized it, and then set the text in columns with a few words per line, next to which they wrote in an unidiomatic, word-for-word crib. That is what an advanced student did. At an earlier stage of their education, these same Greeks learned Latin in an even more familiar way. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

1 Non mancano, purtroppo, refusi e piccole sviste, per lo più facilmente individuabili e correggibili da parte del lettore: a p. 47 Tiziano è il nome del destinatario della lettera di Plinio (1, 17), non il nome di Capitone (Titinio); al v. 64 maiorum è un trisillabo molosso e non un quadrisillabo coriambico (D. 96); al v. 123 bisogna stampare a testo auri atque argenti, non auri et argenti (ametrico, a meno di postulare uno iato prosodico).

GNOMON 6/89/2017

https://doi.org/10.17104/0017-1417-2017-6-522 Generiert durch Cornell University Library, am 07.08.2017, 18:10:57. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig.

M. Fontaine: Dickey, Learning Latin the Ancient Way

Surrexi mane expergefactus... calciatus ergo accepi linteum... allata est aqua ad faciem... dentes fricui et gingivas sic enim decet puerum ingenuum discere.

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[I got up in the morning after waking up... So after putting on my boots, I took a towel... Water was brought for my face... I brushed my teeth and gums... You see, that’s how it’s fitting for a nice boy to learn.]

This second extract is the essence of the book. Through scores of monologues or colloquia like this, all or most found on papyrus, Eleanor Dickey shows how Greeks (and other foreigners, one assumes) learned Latin ‘the ancient way’, as her title aptly puts it. What she shows is that they learned it the same way we learn modern languages: by memorizing made-up dialogues that illustrate stereotypes of the target culture, and by then going back and analyzing each word for its grammatical function. They did not teach it to beginners via the philological/analytical/crack-the-code method we’ve been using for over two centuries now. Dickey proves all this with stunning thoroughness in her remarkable and impressive new book. Indeed, I have not seen a book as successful as this in a long time. From design to execution and from beginning to end, ‘Learning Latin the Ancient Way’ is a flawless book and a complete delight. The results are eyeopening and fun, and Dickey’s editorial interventions – her introduction, her correction of spelling, her wise choice to get rid of the scholarly apparatus – are just right for her intended audience. The bulk of the book (c. 150 pages) is given to the dialogues themselves. A short introduction (nine pages) addresses three questions: Who learned Latin in antiquity? (Answer: a lot of Greeks.) How do their textbooks survive? (Answer: some on papyrus, some in manuscripts.) How did ancient students learn Latin? (Answer: via the method the rest of the book demonstrates.) And having witnessed this method, what are we supposed to do with the book? Dickey answers: «This book aims to show modern Latin teachers and Latin students how ancient Latin learning was conducted… .It is designed to complement a textbook and/or to be used by those who have already mastered the basics.»

I suspect this book will do even more. Throughout my career I have met people who think the Romans were smarter than us, even superhuman, because the code-like grammar of their language is so imposing. This book should put a pin in that idea. As Dickey shows, Latin is just a language, no more, and the ancients studied it like one. I would therefore put this book in the hands of every Latin lover, from very beginner through seasoned expert. It is a complete success and a complete delight. Ithaca Michael Fontaine GNOMON 6/89/2017

https://doi.org/10.17104/0017-1417-2017-6-522 Generiert durch Cornell University Library, am 07.08.2017, 18:10:57. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig....