HOW TO READ LATIN
17. To read Latin well is not so difficult, if you begin right. Correct habits of reading should be formed now. Notice the quantities carefully, especially the quantity of the penult, to insure your getting the accent on the right syllable. (Cf. § 15.) Give every vowel its proper sound and every syllable its proper length. Then bear in mind that we should read Latin as we read English, in phrases rather than in separate words. Group together words that are closely connected in thoughts. No good reader halts at the end of each word.
18. Read the stanzas of the following poem by Longfellow, one at a time, first the English and then the Latin version. The syllables inclosed in parentheses are to be slurred or omitted to secure smoothness of meter.
EXCELSIOR [HIGHER]![1]
| The shades of night were falling fast, | Cadēbant noctis umbrae, dum |
| As through an Alpine village passed | Ībat per vīcum Alpicum |
| A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, | Gelū nivequ(e) adolēscēns, |
| A banner with the strange device, | Vēxillum cum signō ferēns, |
| Excelsior! | Excelsior! |
| His brow was sad; his eye beneath, | Frōns trīstis, micat oculus |
| Flashed like a falchion from its sheath, | Velut ē vāgīnā gladius; |
| And like a silver clarion rung | Sonantque similēs tubae |
| The accents of that unknown tongue, | Accentus lingu(ae) incognitae, |
| Excelsior! | Excelsior! |
| In happy homes he saw the light | In domibus videt clārās |
| Of household fires gleam warm and bright; | Focōrum lūces calidās; |
| Above, the spectral glaciers shone, | Relūcet gladēs ācris, |
| And from his lips escaped a groan, | Et rumpit gemitūs labrīs, |
| Excelsior! | Excelsior! |
| "Try not the Pass!" the old man said; | Dīcit senex, "Nē trānseās! |
| "Dark lowers the tempest overhead, | Suprā nigrēscit tempestās; |
- ↑ Translation by C. W. Goodchild in Praeco Latinus, October, 1898.
