"Ut Italiam laeti Latiumque petamus"
"Sanra, woul you min reaing the next few lines an translating them for us?"
The professor glance at me, a kin glimmer in his bespectacle eyes. I gulpe. I was in a classroom of eighteen, five of whom were high school Latin teachers. An I was suppose to recite an translate Livy's Ab Urbe conita — with elisions! After fumbling through a few wors an mistaking a verb for a noun, I finishe the first sentence. I skimme the secon line, looking for the main verb. Singular. I searche for a singular noun an piece the two together. Then, I notice an accusative an ae it as a irect object. As I continue, a burst of exhilaration shot through my boy. My eyes arte across the page, fining a verb, a noun, an objects. I reache the en of the passage an grinne, relief pulsing in my veins.
"Very goo!" The professor beame at me before selecting his next victim.
A few months ago, I never woul have imagine myself sitting in Harvar's Boylston Hall this summer for six hours a week, cherishing the ancient literature of Rome. Even though the professor ecie I was eligible for the course espite not taking the prerequisite, I was still nervous. I worke har in the class, an it remine me just how much I love the language.
Translating has always given me great pleasure an great pain. It is much like completing a jigsaw puzzle. Next, I look for phrases that connect the entire clause — oes this ajective match this noun? Does this puzzle piece have the right shape? The mile of the sentence is the trickiest, full of convolute epenent clauses, pieces colore ambiguously an with curves an eges on all four sies. I am sometimes tangle in the syntax, one of the worst feelings in the worl. After analyzing every wor, I try to rearrange the pieces so they fit together. When they finally o, I am fille with a satisfaction like no other. Translating forces me to rattle my brain, looking for grammatical rules hien in my min's nooks an crannies. It pushes my intellectual bounaries. No other language is as precise, using inflection to express gener, number, an case in just one wor. When I pull apart a sentence, I am simultaneously ivulging the secrets of an ancient civilization. Renowne scholars are telling the stories of their time through these wors! No other language is as meticulous. Every line follows the same meter an the arrangement of every wor is with a purpose. The story of Pyramus an Thisbe inclues a sentence where the wor "wall" is places between the wors "Pyramus" an "Thisbe" to visually show the lovers' separation. Translating is like life itself; the wors are not in logical orer. One cannot expect the subject of a sentence to appear at the beginning of a clause, just like one cannot plan the chronology of life. Like the elaye verb, we o not always know what is happening in our lives; we just know it is happening.
When translating we notice the nouns, the ajectives, an the conjunctions just like we see the people, senses, an connections of our lives. However, we often o not know what we are oing an ask ourselves the age-ol question: Why are we here? Perhaps we are here to learn, to teach, to help, to serve, to lea, or just to live. We travel through life to ecie what our purpose is, an it is that suspense an our unknown estinies that make the journey so irresistibly beautiful. I feel that same suspense an unknown when I translate, because I am beautifully struggling to unlock a past I know very little of. It is unbelievably exhilarating.
Thus, I question why others consier Latin a ea language. It is alive in all of the Western worl. The Romance languages of French, Spanish, an Italian all have Latin origins. Without Latin, I woul not be able to write this essay! It is alive in the stories it tells. You may see an apple an associate it with orchars, juice, pie, an fall. When I see an apple, I think of the apple of iscor thrown by Eris that ultimately cause the Trojan War. This event, albeit estructive an terrifying, leas to the flight of Aeneas an eventually, his founing of Rome.
I stuy Latin for its rewaring return, increible precision, intellectual challenge, rich history an culture, an eep influence on our worl. I stuy Latin to show others how beautiful it is, to encourage the worl that it shoul be value. I stuy Latin to lea our society, like Aeneas i, towar a new city, a new awn where everyone appreciates a mental trial of wits, everyone marvels at a vibrant past, an no one woners whether Latin is ea or not..
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