CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
May 2017
The Latin Reading Group
under the auspices of the Classical Association of Ireland
Perhaps some reader can recall when the Dublin branch of the Classical Association of Ireland first set up the Latin Reading Group: I regret to say that I can’t. When I began coming to its sessions in the mid-90s it was going strong and clearly had been around for some time already. Based in UCD as it was (and still is), I wonder: was it academics in UCD’s Classics Department that set it going? Certainly the Classics Department under Prof. Andrew Smith was very much engaged in supporting the Latin Reading Group, as is UCD’s School of Classics under Dr Alexander Thein in the present day. What drew me and others to it? A strong interest in and high admiration for Latin literature, a fascination with the Roman world and a desire to encounter it in as direct a way as possible, through reading its great works. It is spellbinding to listen to Cicero thundering against Catalina Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Reading Cicero’s In Catalinam is like standing there, outside the door into the gathering of the Senate: it’s just out of view but if you listen inwardly, you can hear Cicero’s voice remorselessly pounding Cataline 2,000 years on. That enthusiasm for the Roman world and for its literature is what motivates the Latin Reading Group today just as it did 20 years ago. I must add that we don’t restrict ourselves to literature of Classical Rome. Sometimes we stray into post-Classical times: after all, Latin literature did not end in 476AD. And sometimes we look at work from before Classical times. We have had much fun with passages from the plays of Plautus. I took on the job of Convenor of the Group in 2012/2013 and have helped plan each year’s crop of readings ever since. This academic year of 2016-2017 we met eight times to read, translate and discuss the poetry of Horace, Vergil (twice) and Ovid (twice), elements of Cicero’s writings on political philosophy, extracts from Lucretius and the biography of the Late Roman saint Paulinus of Nola. And by way of an outlier, we took a listen to bits of Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ as part of our session just before Christmas 2016! This is how our sessions work: each session has a leader who chooses the passages 6
for consideration. The leader explains the literary and historical context of the passages, then asks each of those present to read and translate in turn a certain amount of the text. No-one is obliged to translate; some people come just to listen. Then the passages are discussed and commented on by all who wish to do so; lively - and often merry - discussion can ensue. More often than not, the leader is an academic in the field of Classics, but two of our eight sessions this year were led by nonspecialists. Non-specialists will probably not have the same deep knowledge of the subject one could expect from a specialist but amateurs who love their literature can communicate an enthusiasm which is wholly at one with the purpose of the Latin Reading Group. Before every session, as convenor of the Group I mail out the Latin passages and translations in English to all Branch members and certain others. Members are welcome to bring guests along. The only requirement is that they are interested in the literature under consideration. Just before we break for the summer we have one more session but not with a given text chosen by a leader: in this last session, each person presents their own deliciae Latinae, their own precious favourites from Latin literature, and explains why they chose them; then we read, translate and discuss it together. Can a Latin Reading Group on the Dublin model be set up elsewhere? Without a doubt, assuming that there are a) at least some people around who feel able and are willing to act as leaders of sessions and b) a sufficient number of others with enough Latin to be able to work their way through a passage (with the assistance of a translation, perhaps). Indeed, I understand that there is at least one other group in the country doing what we do in the Dublin Latin Reading Group. The most important thing required is that people have enough enthusiasm in their hearts that they would want to do it… and enough purpose in their minds that they get up and actually do it! Liam Bairéad, Convenor