Image: a bust depicting Gaius Maecenas.

Sight Reading Passage

It is very important to practice reading and understanding Latin sentences. While working on the reading handout, read each sentence aloud and listen to the recitation. Be sure to look for ideas in the passage as you read: see if you can get a general sense of the story just from reading out loud. Then practice translating each sentence into English. As you encounter new vocabulary words in the story, think about English cognates and context within the sentences to help you decipher the meaning.

This statue bust in the image above depicts Gaius Maecenas.

Sight Passage Documents - the Latin text

Download the VF Reading Log handout.

Complete this document to fully explore the story.

Be sure that it is complete before you move ahead in the course - the remaining content on this page is designed to assist you in the completion of the handout.

Story Notes

Pseudolus served as the imperial magister for the children in Augustus' household. Most of his duties centered around training the children in the basics of reading and writing. However, certain members of the house continued their training with Pseudolus and learned more advanced topics. Even Marcellus himself had trained with Pseudolus as his rhetor (teacher of oratory). Pseudolus' prize student, Selene, was also the rarest in Rome, since women were rarely offered the chance to seek advanced educations. Of course, Selene was not Roman - her background as an Egyptian princess and the daughter of the highly educated Queen Cleopatra, made it so her education was a natural expectation. Selene spent many private and secret hours learning advanced grammar, poetry, rhetoric and logic from eius custode - her guardian.

Pseudolus had decided early on to train Selene in the advanced arts of grammar and rhetoric. From the moment that he promised to protect her, no matter the current circumstances, he had taken extra care to open her mind and to share his vast wisdom. Selene was a quick and clever pupil, learning things with a certain aggression, as though proving to herself and the rest of the world that she was important. Pseudolus often mused that no student of his had ever shown as much talent and acuity as haec puella - this girl.

Maecenas had met Pseudolus only once before. When Marcellus was learning about advanced poetry, Pseudolus had invited him to speak with Marcellus about his role as a patron (a patron was a person who financially supported artists). Maecenas had been flattered by the invitation and greatly enjoyed his conversation with young Marcellus. He had found Pseudolus' occasional interjections to be clever and had left the meeting with a positive view of Augustus' prized magister. He returns to Pseudolus now with a much more serious concern.

Sight Passage Audio and Practice Exercises

Please listen to the narration of the Latin passage as you read along with the text in the handouts. There are also practice questions about the passage: please check your understanding of the story before completing the Reading Log Handout assessment.

Sight Passage Review: