Sermones Romani

Lingua Latina per se Illustrata

by Hans Henning Ørberg

This text provides readings from Latin authors for students who have completed the first book in the Lingua Latina series. As with all Lingua Latina materials, the text and notes are all in Latin.

Genres: Language, Ancient History, Classics

80 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Irena Pasvinter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why Sermones Romani? Because it was mentioned in "What's next" section at the end of the online course Gustatio Linguae Latinae.

Unlike heavily abridged and simplified retellings of Ovid in Fabulae Syrae, the texts in Sermones Romani are very close to Latin original, with minimal changes. For a short book of just 80 pages, the selection is of great variety: Plautus, Cato (with an excerpt from his omnipresent De Re Rustica), Phaedrus, Tacitus, Evangelium Lucam, Horace, Aulus Gellius, Cicero, Martial, Pliny, and a few more. As a result, Sermones Romani is both considerably more challenging than graded readers a la Fabulae Syrae and immensely more rewarding.

Reading ancient texts is the next best thing to jumping into a time machine. I'm constantly amazed by the duality of my impression of these time travels: on the surface, everything seems so different, but if you look a bit deeper, nothing has really changed: at their core, humans are very much the same, with the same old fears and weaknesses as back in the time of Cicero disputing the fear of death in De Contemnendo Morte (The Contempt of Death), or Horace desperately trying to get rid of a tiresome acquaintance Garrulus Molestus (Troublesome Chatterbox), or Valerius Martialis (Martial) ridiculing an insufferable poet in Nimis Poeta Es, Ligurine! (You're Too Much of a Poet, Ligurine!):

Et stanti legis, et legis sedenti,
currenti legis, et legis cacanti!

You read [your work to people] when they're standing, and when they're sitting,
and when they're running, and when they are shitting!

A note to self: try not to be like Ligurine!

And just one more quote, this time from Horace. His Troublesome Chatterbox says:

Si bene me novi, non Viscum pluris amicum,
non Variem facies: nam quis me scribere plures
aut citius possit versus?

If I know myself well, you won't be better friends with Viscus or Varius. For who could write better or quicker than me?

"Who the hell are Viscus and Varius?" I thought. "Viscus, Varius, poetae nobilis," explained the nearby note in the margins.

Famous poets, Horace's friends, so how come I've never heard of them? A quick detour was in order. Varius's literary fate left me open-mouthed. According to Wikipedia:

He was a friend of Virgil, after whose death he and Plotius Tucca prepared the Aeneid for publication, and of Horace, for whom he and Virgil obtained an introduction to Maecenas. Horace spoke of him as a master of epic and the only poet capable of celebrating the achievements of Vipsanius Agrippa (Odes, i.6); Virgil (under the name of Lycidas, Ecl. ix.35) regretted that he had hitherto produced nothing comparable to the work of Varius or Helvius Cinna.

While Varius played a crucial role in preservation of Virgil's Aeneid, nothing is left today of his own work except a few tiny fragments. Life isn't fair, and has never been.

Still, it's amazing how much writing has come down to us through the ages, due to pure luck and chance, and how pertinent it can be today, thousands of years later. Sermones Romani is a tiny but vibrant sample of these literary treasures.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haec complurium auctorum colloquia in emendandam latinam discipulorum edita sunt.

Pleraque pars huius libri mi valde placuit, etsi quadam colloquia nil moror (Ciceronis praecipue).

Ceterum facile lectu. Medio in grado discipulis commendo.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So interesting to read Latin basically at my level, instead of struggling through Tacitus...I don't have to steel myself before sitting down to read it!

[Samuel Parkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid little book for anyone who wants some lesson practice that isn't too hard. The contents are varied and mostly interesting, with the exception of some of Aesop's fables - is there anything duller then Aesop's fables?
As part of the Lingua Latina series, this is the transition to Latin that's relatively 'real'. Of course, that means some of it is a *lot* harder than Familia Romana, and harder than the initial parts of Roma Aeterna.
The main issue I had was that Latin like this isn't much helped by Lingua Latina style marginal notes. They are helpful, but the challenge at this level isn't primarily understanding individual words. For the latter half of the book, I found myself pulling up translations on the internet to resolve difficulties, and therefore wondering why I wasn't just reading a diglot.
The other negative point is that it is very short indeed for the price. While I don't regret reading it, anyone wanting to save money could easily just move on to the Vulgate/Caesar/Eutropius etc.

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of texts from a wide range of Latin authors, with varying degrees of difficulty and topics. Some of the texts made me want to read more of certain authors. The (monolingual!) explanations, pictures and annotations next to the text – Ørberg's method – were immensely helpful. My recommendation, after reading his Familia Romana.
The only negative point I'd like to raise is that some of the texts are a bit too difficult to understand and would need even more annotations.

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originele Latijnse teksten met annotaties volgens de LLPSI-methode.

De teksten zijn op het niveau van leerlingen in klas 4. Bruikbaar in de les: docentgestuurd.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liber bonus est sed difficilior est quam Familia Romana fortasse ob verborum novorum multitudinem.

[Gregorius Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've got a bit sick of reading about Roman history again and again, but there are also stories in this book and the history parts are way less well known than the history parts chosen in most Latin learning books. It is actually a good book though.

[Emmanuel Wallart · Rating 5 out of 5]

clarissimus liber. Facilis legere.