Salvete Omnes!
(That's Latin for "Hello, Everyone!") Mr. Martin here with an introductory post. I'm delighted to be at Ascension Academy and back in my hometown of Amarillo. I've been teaching Latin and English for the past 24 years, and I'm looking forward to the new faces, surprises, opportunities, and challenges to be found here at Ascension.
Since Latin is now a required subject, many of you might understandably be wondering "what's the big deal about Latin?" I'll confess that I'm biased about this, but let me attempt an answer.
What other academic discipline allows one to geek out so thoroughly over 13 centuries worth of riveting history and compelling personalities? Imagine tracing Rome's steps as it rises from a scattering of wattle and daub huts hunkered above a pestilential swamp by the Tiber River to grow into a immense empire encircling the entire Mediterranean.
With typical Roman modesty, they called the Mediterranean "Mare Nostrum" = i.e., "Our Sea." These weren't shy and retiring folks.
Since the Romans were never too worried about borrowing the furnishings of cultural heritage from other lands, let's not forget the hundreds of stories, tales, explanations, and adventures that make up Greek mythology, all of which found their way into the Roman mindset - and eventually into the fabric of our own daily lives. The Goodyear "winged" logo? It's merely a recasting of Hermes' swift foot. Nike? She's the Greek goddess of victory.
Now, let's consider the literature and with its opportunities to read the words of the Romans themselves - from the snarky jibes of Martial to the philosophical musings of Horace and Cicero; from the military propaganda of Caesar to the epic sweep of Vergil - Roman writers explored the entire realm of human experience. Love, war, fear, humor, ambition, loyalty, envy - when have these ever passed out of style?
Finally, let's look at the language itself. A teacher/friend of mine often tells her Latin classes that they must "put a toga" on their minds as they engage in the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of the Romans. Learning the Latin language allows us 21st century types a chance to enter a time machine and capture a glimpse of a culture that shaped the foundations of our civilization. Latin's influence lurks still in the deepest roots of our vocabulary. (All those yellow words have Latin ancestry...) For better or worse, 18th century grammarians swiped a fair amount of the rules for English from the syntax of the Romans. To know Latin is to be closer to the roots of our own literature and language.
And I haven't mentioned art, architecture, or concrete.
I could give you lots of statistics about the leaps in S.A.T. vocabulary acquisition to be derived from the study of Latin. Surveys of college and university directors of admission show a strong preference for candidates with a background in the classics. All of these are simply icing on the cake. I hope you will love the language and culture of the Romans for its own beauties.
Welcome to Latin. I think you're in for quite a ride.
